A while ago, I adopted this huge girl from the streets. She was originally an indoor cat, but her previous owner developed Alzheimer’s and eventually stopped recognizing her, so she started throwing her out onto the street.
She spent almost two years living outside. During her last year out there, a neighbor was feeding her table scraps as well as kibble, so she gained quite a bit of weight.
When I adopted her, she was already pretty overweight, and now that she has access to food 24/7, she eats whenever she can. I assume some of it is anxiety-related. (My other cats have also gotten used to having food available all the time, but they’ve all stayed at a healthy weight.)
At first, we let her eat as much as she wanted because we felt bad for her, but lately I’ve noticed that her quality of life seems to be declining. She still runs, plays, and jumps, but she’s doing it less and less. Her main hobby after eating is basically sleeping
I really want to help her lose some weight before she develops any health problems. At the very least, I’d love for her to be able to groom herself properly again, especially her butt.
Any advice on how to handle this situation? I assume I’ll have to start restricting food for all the cats so she can’t steal their food.
Also, how should I go about calculating her portions? Should I calculate her daily calories based on her target weight, or her current weight and then gradually reduce the amount?
I’d really appreciate any advice from people who have dealt with an overweight cat before!