My chubby kitty has the dreaded front-butt syndrome
Posted Apr 20, 2010, 3:22 PM UTC
2311
While adorable, I hope he's on an appropriate diet :) I would hate to see such a cute kitty end up with feline diabetes.
4
He's on a medically-supervised diet: he would be in danger of hepatic lipidosis were he to lose the weight too quickly.
He was a chunk when he adopted him.
7
What is the best thing to do to help cats lose weight / keep them from gaining weight? One of my cats is turning into a chubber.
1
Consult a vet and find out what crude fat and protein percentages you should be aiming for in their diet. Gradual steps are key. There are a lot of resources out there, but I tend to be skeptical about pet advice on the Web, so I'd advise asking a professional.
1
caution with consulting vets.. most vets are NOT pet nutritionists.. and often reccommend crappy foods like Hills Science Diet (they are paid to sell and endorse foods.. so without proper training on ingredients and brands most vets sell cleverly marketed.. but crappy.. foods.)
2
Good point, but I tend to trust them a bit more than the average mom online that also believe in homeopathy. Your vet will disclose if they have food deals (actually, I don't know if they're legally required to, but any honest vet you'd trust with your pet's health should disclose anyway). There is, unfortunately, a lack of professional attention on pet diet so it's difficult to find reliable and trustworthy sources of information.
If you do research on your own, look into veterinary research articles dealing with diet. They will usually list the exact nutrient breakdown of the diets used in their research methods, and you can find (or, if you so chose to do so, build) a diet that matches. I would still advise vet monitoring if you do any radical change to make sure there is no compromised health to your pet.
1
Ok, thanks
1
Where do you live? In Ithaca, where I am, Cornell University has a vet school with a nutrition program, so there are scads of nutritionists to be had. If you're not near hear, I might be willing to put you up if you want to bring your beastie in for a nutrition consult.
1
That is a FUPA. Literally.
2
Omigosh-- it's true!
1
When we adopted this beastie he was more than 20 pounds; as he's lost weight, he has developed a more and more prominent front butt.
His name is Professor Plum, though we often call him Professor Plump (or Plumpkin), for obvious reasons.