Diary of a Fat Cat

I know how tough it is to get weight off a cat or dog, I’ve had both.

As a kid, Sandy, our golden retriever grew wider and flatter – going from sleek athlete to ottoman – as he aged and his walks decreased.  I was pretty young then, and don’t recall what or if we did anything about his weight.

Now I have a cat, Puck, who has been challenging me his entire life with his weight.  When he was 3 (and 17 pounds!), my friends started teasing me about his weight, and soon he was diagnosed with Feline Asthma.  I was concerned about how to treat his asthma successfully and not increase his chances of developing diabetes (and that’s a story for another day).

For the last 6 years, I have been trying to “manage” his weight.  I didn’t manage it well at first, I changed from regular cat food to “diet” cat food and he gained weight. Then it managed me,  feeding 3 cats their own food with two cooks in the kitchen and a difference in opinion about what a “snack” was.  His weight fluctuated a lot in that time period, and it was stressful for all involved. And in the last year I finally got a good handle on how to make it work. Part of our system is: Puck tells me when it is dinner time, and I let him tell me all about it, and then he has to work for his supper.

“So what changed to make weight loss possible?” you ask.

In the last year I went to the North American Veterinary Conference and attended numerous seminars, mainly on nutrition and behavior.  While I was at the conference, I started developing a way to help Puck and other overweight pets through coaching, consistency, follow through, with sound nutrition and activities. The end result? North Portland’s Weight Management Program. It’s geared to set you (and your pet) up for success, by tailoring our recommendations to fit your life.

Puck is calling, it’s time for dinner!

Cara