Fatty’s dieting progress!

The more observant reader of my blogs will realise that a while ago I started my cat Fatty (an embarrassingly appropriate name) on a diet and resolved to write about his progress.  You may also have noticed that I haven’t updated you for a while!

I had decided I would practice what I preach and do all the things I regularly advise my clients to. I started with the very best of intentions, like we all do on diets!  I was going to weigh out his food every day, stop all the treats and make him eat out of a special bowl to slow him down.  Well, lets just say, 1 out of 3 ain’t bad! (Or 1 out of 4 if you count regularly blogging about his progress and failing to do that as well!)

You see, as well as owning a fat cat I am also a working vet, have two small children, one large (tall not fat, I’m not some sort of weird feeder person) husband and a house to look after.   Basically I have a life, a busy one, and dieting the cat (even though I know how important it is) doesn’t rate highly on my list of priorities.  Much like most of my clients I suspect.

So, over the past few months Fatty as simply been eating out of his Northmate feeder and eating Hills Metabolic food.  It has not been weighed.  Essentially I chuck a handful of kibble in his direction when he asks for it, which (because he is terribly lazy and spends the vast majority of his time asleep) is about 3 or 4 times a day.  He has also had the occasional treat of table scraps, sometimes given but often stolen!

Fatty with his his Northmate Catch feeder and Hills Metabolic food.

So, when I speculatively stood him on the scales last week I was expecting the worst.  I was certainly NOT expecting him to have lost a whole kilo!  Yes, a kilo!  On pretty much the least intensive diet regime ever.  Brilliant!  1kg equates to 15% of his body weight and changes his body condition score from a 5/5 (very hefty) to a slightly more respectable 4/5 ( big but not eclipsing the sun).  It also means that the risk of him developing diabetes, fatty live disease and crippling arthritis are much reduced.

The picture above is Fatty before his diet and the picture below is now. As you can see he looks much slimmer!

 So, I can highly recommend Hills Metabolic food.  In addition to Fatty being well on his way to becoming Thinny, many of the clients at my clinic have been having great results too.  The food causes a double whammy of increasing the metabolism of over-weight pets and reducing their appetites.  In studies 88% of pets lost weight within two months, a very impressive statistic.  However, in our clinic every single animal on the food is now slimmer than when they started!

I also really love the NorthMate feeder, it keeps Fatty entertained for ages picking out his biscuits but it’s not so good when stepped on in bare feet, so watch where you tread if you put one in your kitchen!

** Also, just in case you were wondering, this blog represents my genuine opinions and personal experiences.  Neither Hills or Northmate asked me to review their products or funded me in any way!**