Dr. Spector Answers Readers’ Letters: Fat Cats No More

Q: The Manual of Veterinary Dietetics states that a safe weight-loss for a cat is less than 2% of starting body weight per week. I’d hate for pet owners to think that “speed dieting” is healthy for cats, given the risk of hepatic lipidosis. It would be nice if you’d at least address this issue, and remind cat owners that a weight-loss race isn’t safe for a cat unless it’s closely supervised by a veterinarian, and it’s not something they should try at home without consulting a vet. I like Halo’s food, but I think this contest is irresponsible without a few warnings about the risks.

A: Thank you for your question. Please take a look at our February 19 blog post titled “Have a Fat Cat? How to get rid of extra pounds.” In this post, we did recommend only 1-2% of body weight loss each week. We can assure you that this weight loss challenge with Bideawee is being monitored carefully to avoid any chances of hepatic lipidosis.

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 5th, 2009 at 11:00 am and is filed under Ask a Vet, Dr Donna Spector, Giving Back, Healthy Dog Food, Holistic Cat Food, Mailbox, Natural Pet Care, Natural Pet Treats, Pet Health, Pet obesity. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.