Baco is still not losing weight...

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Ruby&Baco

Ruby&Baco

Member Since 2016
Hi Everybody,

I shouldn't be complaining, because I've already got the best gift ever.... OTJ:p
But...I've been tracking Baco's food amount for the past 5 weeks and weighing her (before that I didn't weigh her food but she got almost the same every day, because of the insulin, but I did it by 'eye') and she isn't losing weight.....
She went from 200 grams (7.06OZ) to 150 grams (5,295OZ) and she is staying around 7.11KG (15,93LBS)
What should I do? Give her, again, less food? 140 grams? (4,942OZ) or maybe even to 130grams (4,589OZ)?
She isn't really a playfull kitty, and my house is really small so she hasn't got enough space to run like a maniac so she usually just sits, sometimes walks around but doesn't really play. If I do have time to play with her with a toy, she does run around but after 3 to 5 minutes she will stop running and will sit again and just watch me 'work out':facepalm:

So if anyone has tips, please share them. And I would like to know if I should cut her food amount again (I already find 150grams really low) this because I did a calculation and if she wants to be a cat that will weigh 5,5KG this amount is the max to eat for her everyday.
Please see my SS, 3th tab you can see her weight loss.
 
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Oh btw, I spoke with my vet 2 weeks ago about it and she told me it's not something to worry about because when Baco was diagnosed her weight was 6,3KG (A month before that she was 7,5KG) so she lost a lot of weight because of the diabetes.
She told me Baco would gain weight because her muscle will rebuild itself because that's what has been effected by the diabetes.
Well she gained back a couple of grams, but the vet told me although Baco is OTJ it could really take a lot of time for her to lose weight because her body is still recovering her muscles... Well that part for me is something I don't really find logical and I think her muscles already have been building up th last 3 months and I don't think they are still building up.... So what do you think about that theory?
 
Hmm....the muscle thing sounds odd to me. I'm not saying it is wrong, but...to me it doesn't make sense.

What is Baco's ideal weight?
 
Hi Rachel, well the story about her muscle loss and she needed to gain a little to heal, that is correct and I think that is what she did in the first month, but not now anymore that seems a little long for 'healing'.
Baco needs to go back to 5,5KG (12,10LBS) and she is still right now between 15,5 and 16LBS So she has a long way to go and i'm getting frustrated to not see a little bit of weight loss in 5 weeks of monitoring it carefully.
 
She should have already lost like 4 to 5% off her body weight, because it's recommended to max lose 1% a week but she isn't losing anything... She eats all raw food so that isn't the problem I think because there are no carbs in it.
She should have been around 14,5LBS now if she lost 1% every week.....
 
Ruby, muscle tissue is heavier than fat so if Baco lost muscle mass from the diabetes she may still be rebuilding that muscle up. The other possibility is that you need to feed her a bit more. I know that sounds totally backward but if the human body thinks it's undernourished, it will slow the metabolism to conserve calories & stop weight loss. That is the reason human often lose quickly when starting a diet and then they plateau. Maybe our cats do the same thing. Did you manage to find out how many calories are in Baco's food? I'd start there to see if she is getting more or less calories than she needs for her ideal weight.
 
Oh forgot to do that! As soon as I read your post I've send an email to 3 companies who I buy this raw food from.
Hope I will get a quick reply this week.

Well, I don't know about giving more food, I know what you mean how that goes with humans, but I've done a lot of diets myself and I also got stuck sometimes but if you push it a little bit longer you will lose weight again.. So i'm not sure that giving more will work.
I will give her 140gram as from tomorrow and then I will wait for a reply from the emails i've just send. @MrWorfMen's Mom can you then help with that calculation for it if I got the information?
She really needs to lose that excess weight because I want her to be healthy again and play more and stuff like that.
I do think Baco has lost weight (i'm seeing it at her paws/legs and face that she is a little slimmed down) but her belly is still the same. So I do think that i'm not seeing it on the scale because it is her muscle that has 'gained' again.
But do you still think it is still rebuilding? That what my vet told me but I can't imagine this because it's been longer than 3 months ago that she's been diagnosed (and probably before that she was already losing her muscles)
 
@MrWorfMen's Mom I picked up a pack of raw food I had (minced meat) and put everything in this calculation thing, see the link http://scheyderweb.com/cats/catfood.html )
Can you explain to me what this means? The info is of a pack that contains 500grams of food (17,65OZ)

upload_2016-7-3_20-50-2.png
 
Hey Ruby, here is a formula for the correct amount of calories for kitties. It is 13.5 X the ideal weight plus 70. So let's say you want her to weight 12 lbs. Then it would be 12 X 13.5 = 162 +70= 232 calories for the day. Once you find out what the calorie count for the food , you can determine how much of it to give her day divided into several meals. Hope that helps you. :cat:
 
Ruby&Baco said:
and probably before that she was already losing her muscles
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Precisely why she may still be building muscle. Muscle takes longer to come back and she may have lost more than you think she did.

As for her belly, is it solid or floppy? If it's floppy she may just have a primordial pouch which some kitties have naturally but we don't realize because they are overweight! My little guy who is at perfect weight for him has a floppy flap that swings back and forth when he runs! Too funny for words!

Ruby, change all your commas to periods and recalculate. The calculator works for US/UK/Cdn numbers and we use periods for decimals instead of commas. I think that will solve your mystery.
 
Bobbie, so she then can have 232 calories a day if she wants to weight 12LBS right?
okay thats one question down, one more to go about how much she is eating right now hahahaha!
 
OKAAAYYYYYYYYYYYYY getting sooo excited right now because we are like CSI, solving mysteries hahahaha!
but what does this mean now?

upload_2016-7-3_21-1-17.png
 
wow, so what I think i'm reading right now is if she receives 150 grams of the minced meat raw package, she is getting 309 calories.......
 
Yes that is what it looks like but you ended up with a negative number in the carbs and that has me stumped as I would have expected it to be 0 not a negative number. I'm not sure if that calls the other numbers on the package into question or not. Eliz is good with the food calculations so maybe she can explain this for you (and me!) @Elizabeth and Bertie can you explain what a negative number for carbs means on the Scheyder calculator? Does that call the other numbers used to calculate into question?
 
Well this is really going to s*ck! Because every flavor has his own set of calories I see.... soooo I'm putting together every flavor she has, and i'm putting it in excel so I can see what flavor she's eating and how much she may get from it each day.....
 
This one also has a negative number, this is the rabbit flavor she really loves:
but this one, she can eat more from it because it has 153 calories per 100grams.
upload_2016-7-3_21-11-2.png
 
So i've calculated them all and it seems pretty accurate. Some brands had there calories on the package but they were a little off with the calculation i've did, not that much though but a little.
But it seems that Baco is having less food from now on than she is used to...
 
Poor Baco! Well at least you now have a reasonable idea of the caloric counts and can make adjustments accordingly. Hopefully Baco will be a model shaped pussycat very soon! :)
 
Okay, look at this, this is her schedule of calorie intake from each brand and flavor:
I will cut out those flavors that have more calories because I don't want her to be 'hungry' and only getting 89 grams a day you know.


upload_2016-7-3_21-35-15.png
 
And I think I will try the automatic food machine so she can have a little more food during the day. She only gets fed twice a day now, but I will try 3 to 4 times a day.
 
MrWorfMen's Mom said:
Precisely why she may still be building muscle. Muscle takes longer to come back and she may have lost more than you think she did.

As for her belly, is it solid or floppy? If it's floppy she may just have a primordial pouch which some kitties have naturally but we don't realize because they are overweight! My little guy who is at perfect weight for him has a floppy flap that swings back and forth when he runs! Too funny for words!
Click to expand...

It is a little floppy BUT if she lies on her back and I touch her belly it's really solid. But I know she's overweight, at first she couldn't clean her behind.....:rolleyes: and she still is having trouble with it so that belly needs to go:p

hahahah too funny! my cat Sam, who died, had the same thing! the vet told me that was because of his neutering? it had something to do with that.
 
It's not neutering or spaying that causes the flap although it does often become more prominent following those procedures. It's a protective piece of skin that all cats have but some are much more noticeable than others. It's there to protect their viscera. Cats will kill prey by kicking the prey's stomach area and cats are built to protect themselves from any predator that might do the same to them. It's skin elasticity that makes it more prominent after neutering, as they age or if they lose a lot of weight. :woot: If Baco is having a hard time grooming then she definitely does have some weight to lose.

The auto feeder might be a good idea. Maybe Baco won't notice the decreased amount of food as much if it's spread out more throughout the day. ;)
 
MrWorfMen's Mom said:
Baco is having a hard time grooming then she definitely does have some weight to lose.

The auto feeder might be a good idea. Maybe Baco won't notice the decreased amount of food as much if it's spread out more throughout the day. ;)
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haha yes she really needs to lose the weight if she can't clean herself properly :woot: I had to help her sometimes,, luckely I don't need to anymore!
Well that was my thought on the auto feeder, that she wouldn't notice that she isn't getting so much food anymore, hihi! And Minnie will not eat from it because he's being a little brad about raw food so that's lucky for Baco and me! Baco has the auto feeder alllllll to herself:p
 
Lucky you! I have two mischievous furkids who pilfer each other's helpings. They literally will push each other out of their respective bowls if very hungry unless I stand guard between them. I sometimes feel like a lunchroom monitor around here and goodness knows what happens when I have to leave food out because I won't be home to feed them! The only auto feeder that would work for me is one that opens for a specific cat's microchip and they are very expensive. I'm still thinking about it. :woot:
 
I know right! Baco did that to Minnie, but now she can't anymore because like you, I have to stand there like a lunchroom lady :p But only for Minnie's food to watch, because Baco would love Minnie's food, but Minnie doesn't like Baco's food so I make sure Minnie has eaten everything and then I can relax haha;)
Yeah I was looking at those microchip feeder too, but they are indeed very expensive!
 
Going to sleep now, talk to you all tomorrow!
Thanks for all the help today, Baco isn't going to be happy as of tomorrow with her calorie intake decreasing haha!
:kiss:
 
Ruby&Baco said:
And I think I will try the automatic food machine so she can have a little more food during the day. She only gets fed twice a day now, but I will try 3 to 4 times a day.
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That's a good idea since you will be reducing the amounts some and she won't feel so deprived to eat more often.
 
Well right now I made her ideal weight 6KG (13.20lbs) because I want her to adjust to the decrease of food, she doesn't need to be on a crash diet you know what I mean? :woot:
So when she reaches 6,5 or 6 KG, I will do the calculation (the one you gave me) again but then I will go with 5,5KG (12lbs)
But for now the 6KG goals doesn't really decrease THAT much in food, some flavors are less than I give normally, and some just a little bit more, so I will start with feeding 3 times a day instead of 4 right now. We have to wait and see how she will react to that.
 
Ruby&Baco said:
Well right now I made her ideal weight 6KG (13.20lbs) because I want her to adjust to the decrease of food, she doesn't need to be on a crash diet you know what I mean? :woot:
So when she reaches 6,5 or 6 KG, I will do the calculation (the one you gave me) again but then I will go with 5,5KG (12lbs)
But for now the 6KG goals doesn't really decrease THAT much in food, some flavors are less than I give normally, and some just a little bit more, so I will start with feeding 3 times a day instead of 4 right now. We have to wait and see how she will react to that.
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Good idea, baby steps.
 
Ruby, good luck with Baco's diet. Regardless of how much she weighs if she's got such a big tummy that she can't clean herself, she will not be healthy and her diabetes can come back anytime so you're on the right track.
I have the same problem with Rocky - he does not want to exercise so we are trying to slim him down by diet alone. Now, when he is well regulated he is more accepting of lower amount of food and we are trying (from today) feeding tiny portions every 3 hours.
Rocky lost quite substantial amount of weight and looks almost normal but the biggest weight loss was when he was an uncontrolled diabetic.
Let's see what is achievable for Baco with new calorie controlled diet.
Keeping my fingers and Rocky's paws crossed for success. :)
 
Thanks Marlena,

Well now Baco can clean herself better than before the diagnose, so she is doing better than before.
She is hungry, I can tell because she got less food today. I did begin with feeding 4 times a day and she is loving that.
I've did buy a cool pack that fits right underneeds her auto feeder so her raw food is kept fresh, that was the main problem when I tried to use the auto feeder. She first didn't like it and wouldn't eat her raw food because it was warm instead of chilled like she normally gets when i'm at home. So that cool/ice pack really helped! Her bowl is empty for the first time today! ;)
 
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Maybe this is a stupid question, but what do you call it when is 12 hours in the afternoon? is it called 12AM of 12PM?
and the same for in the evening?...
 
Oh and btw, i'm feeding her 4 times a day now, so for example 6 oclock 12 and then 6 and 12 again. Do you think this is a good schedule? 6hours between each meal?
 
12:00 pm is mid-day
12:00 am is midnight

Do you think you could take her for walks on a harness? She would need to have flea preventative on to be safe.
 
Thank BJM, no I won't do that. I live in a crowded neighborhood with people with a lot of dogs that get walkes by there owners without being held on a ropeso I'm not risking that with Baco. And she will get high BG because of the stress it will bring with that. She goes (just like now) into the garden with a fence around it and I don't have to watch her, but that's all she does outside.
 
I'm not sure how good these exercises are, but love to look at that little cat. We need some pics of Baco doing the exercises...
 
Hahaha but you can see the look on her face...
Her eyes were on the price baby! She loves does dry freezed snacks
 
Sharon14 said:
Maybe Baco should do an exercise video for overweight cats!
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Well maybe she does need to do that but I think she wouldn't be taken seriously because of her name.....
Baco stands short for Bacardi and coke. So that's not a good name for an exercise teacher and/or program! :rolleyes:
It doesn't work well with weight loss
 
Yeah that's right she did, and so did Colin , he had a few Baco's himself I think after that hangover picture the day after :rolleyes::smuggrin: hahahhaa
 
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