more than half the cats in the u.s are overweight or obese and most of us are feeding our cats
wrong 82% of us are feeding dry food either exclusively or most of the time seems obvious what
the problem is hey friends it's jess and jericho and the first mistake that you're probably making
with your overweight cat is free feeding free feeding is the all-access buffet 24/7 whenever
you want eat when you want a lot of cat parents tell me that their cat grazes on cat food all day
but this is not appropriate for cats because cats are hunters not grazing cows free feeding doesn't
work for cats because the more the cat eats the hungrier the cat gets the less satisfied
they are the more likely they are to overeat this especially happens with dry cat food dry
cat food is high in carbohydrates and that just fuels hunger and weight gain a more appropriate
feeding schedule would be two to three meals per day so if you're feeding your cat all day long
leaving the bowl out whenever he wants to eat i would suggest trying to go down to four meals a
day and then slowly go down to three and then two meals a day another great thing you can do is use
treat release toys or food puzzle toys and that'll kind of entice your cat to work a little bit for
his food that can also get your cat a little active as well you can hide his food around your
apartment on top of condos on top of ladders and that'll help your cat get a little active
to get his food now i'm not saying to leave the treat release toys or the food puzzle toys out all
day i'm saying instead of putting it in the bowl or the plate you can use these food puzzle toys
during that specific meal time leaving food out all day is not good for your cat it's also very
unsanitary because the longer the food sits out the more likely bacteria and mold and rancid fats
are to grow these feeder toys you can hide around your apartment and incentivize your cat to hunt
and work for his food and your cat will also get a little active in order to eat which is great
so this is a much more normal and natural way for cats to eat hunting around for their food rather
than having an all-access buffet because again cats are hunters not cows how about everybody
comments below cats are hunters not cows so that more people can see this video and wonder why
we're telling them that cats are hunters and not cows the second feeding mistake you're probably
making if your cat is overweight is feeding dry food now i already mentioned this before
dry food is extremely high in carbohydrates and those carbohydrates aka starchy ingredients are
necessary for kibble because that's what holds it together that's what gives it that crunchy kibble
shape that cats get addicted to carbohydrates are no good for cats because there are carnivores and
their natural diet is about less than 10% carbs on a dry matter basis but most dry cat foods average
about 33% carbs on a dry matter basis i've even seen as high as 49% carbs these carbs are
dangerous because they break down into sugar again they fuel hunger they fuel weight gain they wreak
havoc on the pancreas and insulin production and that's also why overweight cats are more likely to
develop diabetes so please stop feeding dry food dry food is also inappropriate for cats because
of its low moisture content high moisture food is absolutely necessary for cats they rely on
food for moisture and that extra moisture is necessary for digestion assimilation of nutrients
and your cat's bathroom habits give me a polydactyl thumbs up so that more cat parents
that are feeding their cats dry food can see this video and stop doing it thank you so much so your
cat weight loss plan should include transitioning from dry food to either wet or raw food then after
the transition you can slowly decrease the amount of food that you're feeding first it's super
important to get your cat onto better quality food before you reduce the amount of food fed another
reason that kibble is bad for cats is because it's low in meat based protein so a lot of dry cat food
brands as i mentioned they have to include carbs and starches like peas legumes grains all that
stuff binds the ingredients together but cats can't use those ingredients they need meat based
protein if your cat is really really picky about food because let's be honest most cats are and
you've tried wet food before he wouldn't eat it he only wants dry food then i would suggest to you
try an air dried food or freeze-dried raw food and instead of rehydrating it just pretend that
it's dry food because a lot of it looks very similar to the texture and the appearance
so your cat might think that it's dry food especially if you just put in the bowl and walk
away it's just like don't hover over your cat just pretend that it's dry food he'll probably eat it
without even realizing it now this only works if your cat's eating at scheduled meal times because
a lot of cat parents also tell me well i tried the new food he doesn't want to eat it so then
i cave and put down dry food your cat has to be used to eating at scheduled meal times because
your cat will understand this is my food for this meal time and i'm not going to eat again until
the next meal time so i need to eat this so that i don't starve all day so pretend that the air dried
food or freeze-dried raw food is dry kibble you'll start with a very very small amount and gradually
increase the amount of the new food that you're feeding and slowly decrease the amount of the
kibble that you're feeding every day once your cat starts getting adjusted to the freeze-dried
raw food i'd suggest slowly rehydrating it day by day so that your cat can get used to the wet mushy
texture because ideally you would feed either wet or raw that's full of moisture freeze-dried raw is
definitely far superior to kibble but it's still very low in moisture so you'll want to rehydrate
it with water so that your cat is getting his moisture from his food if the pieces are super
hard and crunchy like dry food i'd suggest putting it through a blender to crush it
down into dust basically and then put water in it let it sit in the refrigerator for a few minutes
so it can really soak up that moisture and you would do that slowly very gradually each day
so your cat can get used to that texture another reason that cats` are super picky about new food
is that maybe you're feeding a fish flavored food cats get very very addicted to that fish flavor
so if your cat is one of those cats i'd suggest just food for cats this video is not sponsored
but there are affiliate links in the description and i also reviewed that my mother's four cats
tested just food for cats so that's a separate video i'll put that in the description as well
so you can use a food like that to get your cat off of the current food get them used to
eating better quality ingredients and then you can continue to upgrade from there now
don't rely on fish flavored foods forever because you don't want to have a picky cat that just
turns his nose up at new food whenever you try to offer it so again use it just in the transition to
get him used to eating new new food and better quality ingredients and then upgrade from there
and introduce a variety of proteins and once your cat is eating 100% fresh wet or raw food then you
can slowly decrease the amount of food that you're feeding now an important note here if your cat is
severely overweight or obese he shouldn't lose too much weight too quickly he's at risk for
fatty liver disease if he drops too many pounds too quickly so a general rule of thumb is half
a pound lost per month but you'll have to confirm this with your cat's doctor just to make sure that
he's not losing too much weight too quickly so let's say your cat weighs 13 pounds and you want
to get him down to 10 pounds if we go by half a pound lost per month that would be six months
total so month one you would gradually decrease the amount of food that you're feeding until you
reach what a twelve and a half pound cat would require month two you work towards twelve pounds
month three you work towards eleven and a half pounds and so on and i'd suggest weighing your
cat weekly just to stay on top of how much weight he's losing and the amount of food
that you're currently feeding to make sure that you're staying on track upgrading your
cat's food will absolutely help but exercise is important too so i'd suggest playing with your cat
every day and you can also harness train your cat to go outside safely you can check
out this video right over meow to see how i harness train jericho thanks for watching