Ruby&Baco
Very Active Member
Yes I really did struggle with Baco's weight, but since the last reduction in calories and playing with her every day (or every other day) she's losing weight finally!!!Hi Ruby I have see you are struggling with Baco's weight. My kitty Fritz is also struggling big time with his weight..... He was 28lbs at DX lost 3 pounds when we first started Prozinc. He eats 234 to 250 calories a day raw Rabbit, Venison or Quail all lean meats. It is so frustrating and I have lost so much sleep and stress over his weight. This has been going on what seems like forever.
I just read about weight gain on insulin. I am leaning towards believing this as I have been doing everything I can to get his weight to budge.
Fritz has gotten so bad it is major effort just to move around. I have tried to play with him with every toy under the sun, leash walks, free walks out doors he walks a few steps and lays down. I even put freeze dried chicken treats in a food ball for him to roll around the RV.
I do weight him weeklyup a tiny bit down even a tiny bit less.
Well Deb if you want some help? I can help you with that. I tried to count calories and that is really the trick (finally!) for Baco and playing.
Also Baco didn't really want to play but if you try it every day for 15-20 minutes with different toys and games they will get interested. Fritz does the same thing as Baco, few steps and then lays down but Baco, now after 1 week of intense playing 15-20 min a day, is so much more active and is even running by herself from the house into the garden and stuff like that. They need to get the motivation (I guess) from something.. Try playing everyday really consistent with Fritz, although he will lay down, just try playing with him. And try the freezed snacks.. Baco loves them and if I only grab the container she's going nuts for it. I walk with her around the house for 5 to 10 minutes with that 1 or 2 snacks and she walks with me, jumps on the sofa, chairs, tv cabinet stuff like that untill I find it well enough and then she gets the treat.(She's such a wh^re for food hahaha
)Don't give up, you will get there.. I've been struggling so long with Baco's weight but i've cracked the code I guess.
Gaining weight while on insuline is partial correct, let me tell you why. Baco was 6.3KG when she got diagnosed (few months before she was 7.5KG) so she lost a lot of weight because of diabetes. But then after she started insulin she gained weight and was almost all the way back at 7.5KG.
I talked with the vet about it but the vet told me (and I think this is 100% true) When a cat gets diabetes, they lose muscle, not fat! The muscle starts to go away because of the diabetes, that's what you are seeing on the scale. As soon as the diabetes is being diagnosed and treated they will gain weight indeed, but they will gain muscle again, not fat! So the fact that you don't see the weight loss, but you see weight gain on the scale doesn't mean it's fat!
Baco also gained it, but I could see that her paws and face were much leaner then she was before her diagnose.
And the process of gaining muscle again is a really long one so don't force Fritz to lose a lot off weight right now, just give a little bit less calories and play with him so he loses it really slow and he still can build up the muscles!
If you need help with Fritz, please let me know! I'm more than willing to help you with that!
