cats

One of my cats recently gained some weight without my realizing it.

He's old. Doesn't move around much. never has. Has hairballs. So I put him on a hairball dry food maybe 8 months ago.

I recently checked, and the hairball food definitely has more calories than his old.

And it smells sweet.

Now the back says it doesn't have any sugar in it. But I don't understand how it can smell sweet if it doesn't. I'm suspicious.

And cats can convert sugar to fat.

Anyway the hairball food really helped with the hairballs so I bought a weight management food and I mix it 50/50 with the hairball food.

Still seems to work and cuts out the extra calories.

Hasn't lost weight but stopped gaining it.

Meow meow meow meozempic.

Nah. Put her on the paper towels.

Do you feed wet food already? The cat can eat so much more of it while taking in way less calories compared to dry food. Also generally healthier and you get some water into them. Our cat only gets a few dry food snacks in a food puzzle over night and day in between her two meal times.

Chase her around some more and only feed 2x/day (every 12 hrs essentially+take it away after 20 minutes. No more free feeding

That's like three of my cat.

Before changing anything, talk to your vet. There are conditions that can cause your cat to put on weight and your vet may want to check on that.

You could well be right that her getting spayed was a trigger in putting on weight, though. Cats' metabolisms can slow down after being spayed or neutered resulting in them burning 20-30% fewer calories. Feeding the same amount after spaying as before can cause your cat to gain weight. You might try reducing the quantity per feeding or switching to a less calorie-dense feed.

As for feeding three times per day, if your schedule permits it, go for it. Many cats do just fine on two feedings per day but they will be happier with smaller more frequent meals.

Again, talk to your vet first to rule out medical issues and get their thoughts on if and how you should change your cat's diet.

Depend on the age

I read the majority of cats are obese in the US. Obviously it's the food.

I'm very grateful that my Sphynx is an overactive nutcase. He free feeds and gets wet food at 6pm every day and is at his bowl every 20 mins when he's awake. He's so fit and jacked that it blows my mind haha

We have one of those cat wheels and he's on it for a decent amount of time every day

At least she's not papertowel crushing chonkers