REDUCING OBESITY IN CATS, WHAT IS RIGHT AND WHAT IS WRONG?

Reducing Obesity In Cats, What Is Right And What Is Wrong?

• It’s not only humans that suffer from obesity.
• Pet cats in the U.S.A. have been found to be obese too. Statistically speaking, half of the pet cats in the U.S.A. are obese or overweight.
• To make the health of your pet better, switch to canned food from dried food products.
• Adopt raw homemade diet. If you are too busy to do that, adopt for commercially prepared, yet raw products for your cat.
• As with humans, calculate a number of calories being consumed by your pet and serve controlled portions of meals to keep the weight of your precious pet in track.
• Time, tools and incentive are absolutely important to make or break the health of your pet.

Details

It has been known that over 60 percent of pet cast in the U.S.A. are obese. The reasons behind it might include:

• Overfeeding your cat. Because these furry animals are so cute and purr too often, you might be overwhelmed with love and overfed your precious pet.
• Cats are generally lazy and they do not get sufficient exercise to ward off the excess weight.
• Junk food and an inappropriate diet cause more problems on the matter.

What should you feed your cats?

Every animal and even human beings need species appropriate foods. Human beings are omnivores and they eat meat as well as vegetables, specific to their species. So is the case with every species of animal. They have a certain body structure and certain needs.

Cat appropriate food for cats means a diet which contains some animal protein, which is rich in moisture and low in carbohydrates. The best example for the perfect cat food would be commercial raw organic chicken. It should comprise of 98 percent of chicken necks with ground bone, gizzards, livers, hearts and thigh meat. A portion of fish oil and nutrient mix contains all important trace materials suitable for the cat. The nutrients include Sea salt and natural vitamins as well as organic psyllium husk fiber which clean out the bowels of the cats easily.

This grain free diet is recommended highly for cats. The protein required is obtained from real meat and not through meat byproducts. This meat based diet should be fed gently cooked or its best to feed this diet to the cats raw.

How much food should cats eat on a daily basis?

A fresh food diet can never be overfed to the cat. It is because fresh food diet is susceptible to spoilage. You will have solved the problem of unnecessarily overfeeding your cat and also the problem of feeding canned and junk products. The only problem that remains now is to portion the amount of food to be supplied to your cat.

Cats need to be fed two meals in a day. Portion these two meals properly in order to eliminate the chance of overfeeding. The portioning can be done using the below-mentioned calculations.

Let us suppose your cat weighs 18 pounds. You settle down to be fact that 14 pounds is the ideal weight of the cat. To lose those 4 pounds, below mentioned is a number of calories he should consume each day. Divide the ideal weight by 2.2, multiply by 30, add 70 and multiply the result by 0.8.

• 14/ 2.2= 6.36 kilograms.
• 6.36 kilograms x 30 = 191 + 70 = 261
• 261 x 0.8 = 209 calories.

So, the recommended calories that the cat should consume per day are 209. So, in between two meals, 104 to 105 calories are sufficient for the cat to reach the goal weight of 14 pounds. If you offer other food materials in between, also calculate the calories you are feeding. You can reduce the amount of food you give to the cat in the meals.

Treats are, however, not recommended for cats. They do not offer the balance of nutrients that is given by fresh food diet. Loaded with sugar and preservatives, processed pet treats are even worse for the health of your cats. However, the positive factor is that cats will transform from junk food treats to low fat meats easily.

What else can you feed your cat?

Cats will also eat fresh produce and roughage to keep the health of your cats better.

• Apple slices: they contain antioxidants and Vitamin C.
• Steamed Broccoli: for the dose of fiber, calcium, protein and Vitamin C.
• Steamed Asparagus: for dose of vitamins and minerals.
• Bananas: a rich source of fiber and potassium.
• Baked sweet potatoes: for dose of beta carotene, antioxidants, Vitamins A and C
• Steamed Spinach: for its antiflammatory properties.
• Fermented vegetables: for the dose of detoxifiers, probiotics, and vitamin K2.
• Baked carrots: low-calorie content and high fiber and vitamin content.

However, keep the following in mind:

• Apart from food, help them exercise by making sure they have things like a tree or tower to climb.
• Invent, or buy a laser toy.
• Buy toys that make your cats active throughout the day.
• Buy toys that are light and move in unexpected ways ion order to keep them active.
• Walking out your cat in nice weather situations helps loads.
• Serve your veggies and snacks plain, without any spices or additives.
• Offer treats in small portions and only occasionally.

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