Fat Cat on his Back - A Week of Mixed Fortunes

I love my cat. My gorgeous boy, who turned up in the garden just over 2 years ago, fighting the chickens for the scraps the mother-in-law throws out, and living under an old garden shed.

Now he's a house cat, and after two major health scares and some hefty vet bills to prove it, lives happily indoors, being pampered, spoiled, and generally treating the wife and me as his personal serfs.

Milo's had a week of mixed fortunes. It was his flea treatment day on Tuesday, so after it was applied, he had to wear his collar to stop him from wiping it off and licking it. It's quite a toxic potion by all accounts, but it has to be done each month. Doesn't make him any less grumpy, though!

Things got better for him, though, when Daddy accidentally left a brand-new sack of extortionately expensive Royal Canin in the kitchen for a few moments. For a cat that spends most of the day on his back asleep, he'd soon leapt into action when I left the room and helped himself....

.... before returning to his basket, collapsing into his favourite sleeping position and going back to sleep.

He's supposed to be on a diet. After his illness, due to us spoiling him, his weight had climbed up to 6.2kg which it seems is too much for a cat and at his annual checkup in April, we were told to get him down to 5kg before next year.

As a first-time cat owner, I've never tried getting a cat to go on a diet and trust me, it's not easy. Surprisingly, the wife spoils him more than I do. He puts on his sad face and out come the Dreamies!

Trying out the wife's new Santa sofa cover!

Back to his normal sleeping position, on his back with his legs open. Very undignified.

Anyway, after a lot of gradual food reduction and cutting out his favourite goats' milk treat, and despite his stolen extra portion this week, he's down to 5.4kg, which is pretty good, I think and is about on target for his reduction to 5kg before next April's annual check-up.

Assisting Daddy with his weekly portion prep.! Half a pouch in the morning, another half just after lunch, 10g of crunchies at 6 pm and finally 9g at 9 pm. Each feeding mixed with 50ml of water.

The key to all this weight loss is portion control! I've spent hours with the calculator working out kcal and portion size, complicated by the fact that he has a mix of dry food and wet pouches. Hardly surprisingly, the Royal Canin suggested quantities are way off, so he has one pouch and 19g of dry daily, which allows a little wiggle room for a few Dreamies!

Obviously, Royal Canin just want to sell even more expensive food!

Even when he's not sleeping, he's still on his back with his legs apart!

Perhaps I should have named him after my ex-wife....

I hope everyone is having a lovely weekend with their pets.

Thanks for dropping by, and best wishes to you and your loved ones.

@nathen007