Monday, March 10, 2014

Katie & Her Girlish Kitty Figure


Hi everyone, Katie here.

A few of my fluffier friends have asked how I was able to trim down to my original girlish figure after having spent almost four years on the high end of the scale.

Of course it doesn't hurt the whole diet thing to have an obnoxious, orange food thief hovering over your shoulder. And then there's the daily high speed chase scenes up and down two flights of steps. 


But the real secret lies in the great relationship we have with my vet. Please note that I am NOT an expert nutritionist, NOT a health care professional, certainly NOT a veterinarian... and I don't play one on TV either. 

I'm just a 9 pound, 8 ounce cat doing the best I can.


Know Your Vet. Love Your Vet.
We're very fortunate to have an awesome vet. She takes the time to get to know us and is always there to answer our questions and provide some of the latest and greatest info. She's particularly passionate about nutrition. Though it's never about what food is lining the shelves of the clinic, rather what's the absolute best choice for ME. We love that.

She helped find a food that met the criteria she felt was most important for me- 
♥︎ Very high protein (preferably poultry, since so many cats are allergic to fish)
♥︎ Grain free
♥︎ Low Carb
♥︎ And this is a biggee - the right amount of calories based on my current and ideal weight.



We learned that calorie counts for different foods, even different flavors of the same brand, can vary SO much. Just like humans, portion control is a make or break. I keep telling Glogirly that rule applies to jelly beans & potato chips too.


Kicked the Kibble Train
When my vet used those two dreaded words, "overweight" and "obese," (GASP!) one of the first things Glogirly did was eliminate kibble as a primary menu item. 

I still get just a tiny spoon (believe me, it's VERY tiny) in the wee hours of the morning when Gloman gets up. It's our special treat time and ties me over until breakfast.


We call it Kitty-Crack-Time. It's one of my favorite times of the day with Gloman.

Katie's Menu Du Jour 
I get about 180 calories a day. In addition to my Kitty-Crack-Snack, I have 1/2 can of wet food for breakfast and the other 1/2 for dinner. Sometimes I get a special treat like a piece of freeze dried chicken or even salmon. Whenever we have a photo shoot in the Townhouse, I know there's something tasty in store. Our treats are always pure protein though.

Now some kitties swear by a raw diet, some even cook their own food. We may very well transition again to a new daily menu. We know it's a purrsonal choice though and we're not big on doling out advice.

But if we WERE to give a tiny tidbit of advice...we'd say to find a vet you love and trust. One that's truly interested in cultivating a relationship with you and your human. One that loves you as their own, despite the fact they might need to wear those big protective gloves.


Special thanks to our pawsome vet, Dr. Carolyn Karlin, and the entire Westgate Pet Clinic staff. We ♥︎ you.


37 comments:

  1. We all love Dr. Jackie. And let me tell you--she just says it's good that my weight is stable and never talks about the "d" word--because she knows we eat a really good diet-

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  2. * nods * Know your vet! Makes sense, and they know you too - its a win win and the bond of trust means you re always healthy and on weight target!

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  3. Good advice, Katie. We two kittehz were getting a tad rotund about a year ago and our Mommy put us on grain-free and it made a huge difference!

    Have a happy Monday!
    XOXO

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  4. Such wonderful information. I was lax with Tara's diet and vowed to not make the same mistake with Truffles. We too adore out vet :)

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  5. You're such a good example, Katie! We're not happy our human keeps our food all locked up but yesterday Giuseppe stole a biscotti and shared it with us, so we got even.

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  6. You are lucky that you have HUMANS that love you so much.

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  7. Katie, Mommy wonders if you would like two new housemates...she has a couple that need to visit a Fat Farm, MOL! We leave which two up to your imagination...

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  8. Yeah, those orange food thieves can help with a diet, MOL!

    -Jezebel

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  9. That is such good advice, Katie! Of course, finding a good vet is sometimes really tough! My human has not yet found one she was happy enough with to use again. She just takes whoever is in at the clinic - they are interchangeable, as far as she's concerned.

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  10. Great advice, Katie! We also agree with Lone Star Cats ...

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  11. Good on you Katie and Glogirly. We have big puss, little puss problems too and it is hard feeding the two differently as they don't eat full meals and like to graze during the day so food needs to be available throughout. Result is that I appear to have a feline version of Jack Spratt and his wife.

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  12. High paw! Having a vet you trust and who is comfortable working with you on nutrution is a big help managing weight and getting you into tip-top shape.

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  13. Good for you (and your vet) for eliminating dry food. It's one of the best thing you can do for your health, and your girlish figure.

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  14. Miss Katie, you look so good! Mom is trying hard to juggle the 4 of us since I am so tiny and have a tender tummy, and my "orange menace" is a big lug who is way to big for his britches, you inspire her that it's worth the extra work for us!

    Concats girl, you look fabulous!
    Willow

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  15. We has a very good vet, too, although we hate going to see her (of course!). She says it is very hard to put one cat in the home on a diet when there are three cats with separate and special needs. We are trying to feed Lita more wet food, so she doesn't eat as many carbohydrates, but she doesn't seem to be losing any weight.

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  16. Way to go, Katie! Maintaining a healthy weight is important. We've found that wet food really makes a difference in health and weight.

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  17. Smart advice Katie..a good Vet is very important..

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  18. Momma says that you're definitely lying -- there is NO such thing as portion control for jelly beans!! But we're glad you're doing well on your part. :)

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  19. kitty crack! haha! Too funny!!
    You definitely have a very pretty girlish figure Katie!
    You are simply gorgeous!

    ღ husky hugz ღ frum our pack at Love is being owned by a husky!

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  20. Yes, we agree... a good vet is so impawtant!!!!

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  21. good advice Katie. and having your own exercise coach helps. :)

    mom said she is going to try to add more canned to our diets in the hopes of evening out the boys weights and maybe shaving some off the princess (good luck mom)

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  22. We love this advice so much Katie because we love veterinarians. We have a great relationship with our kids vet, I love the shelter vet that helps with our foster kittens and my best friend is a forensic vet. You also remind us that we have been looking more carefully at our kids nutrition and thinking about making some changes…and how important a diet plan is!

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  23. Concatulations Katie, it's more difficult to stay fit for an indoor cat, and you succeeded in it very well with the help of Waffles (oops, shouldn't we say it ?) ! Claire trusts and loves our V-E-T, but we only consider that it's a necessary evil. How can you love the people who puts you a thermometer where the sun never shines and plants his needles in your butt like a toreador ? Purrs

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  24. We are so happy that you have a wonderful vet (and wonderful parents too!) We adore our vet and are blessed that he always has our best interests at heart too!

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  25. Sounds very healthy Katie. I thought it was going to be from the stress meds you had to take since you know who moved in
    Lily & Edward

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  26. Excellent advice, Katie! You're looking really good!

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  27. Excellent advice! I'm saying though that the best advice to keep your figure trim is do a daily Wafflethon! ;)

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  28. It's good to have a vet you can trust and who takes the time to talk to you.
    Sue B

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  29. TW wishes we had a vet she trusted. I get a lot of food cos I don’t drink water and I do a lot of running. I’m a binge eater. Some days I can’t stop eating and others I don’t touch my breakfast or lunch. I’ll only eat the FF tuna for dinner. Glad you’ve trimmed down, Katie. Don’t get too thin.

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  30. Katie you are very gorgeous indeed. I love your black and white coloration! Mikko eats Merricks BG, its a very great food. Sometimes Mikko gets wet food, either for a treat or just because he loves his wet food!
    Have a happy Monday!

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  31. Wise words, Katie. We haven't managed to kick the dry food habit, since the youngsters really look forward to their crunchies, but we will try to taper off.......

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  32. Don't overlook the exercise portion of Katie's message. Much as she'd hate to admit it, Waffles appears to be her personal trainer.

    Before Julio moved in over here, Maude was getting a bit pudgy - getting that middle-aged swaying bulge when she walked. Julio took it upon himself to become not only her personal trainer - but Human's personal trainer, too. We have four flights of stairs over here; two are free-range to Cat People. The other two can be accessed by speedy motion through a door. Julio chases Maude up - and down - the first two. If either of them succeeds through the door, Human gets two flights worth of exercise, too. Alas, for the rest of you, Julio does not make house calls.

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  33. Great advice Katie. Mom says she really likes our vet doctors - even though there have been several changes over the past ten years or so they has always been good to us. We don't like them much, but no heavy duty gloves are usually needed, MOL

    Sasha, Sami, & Saku

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  34. Allie: WAIT. Stop. Nobody move. YOU GET 180 CALORIES A DAY?

    *shrieks* I'm being STARVED! I'm limited to 150!!! *moans* I'm wasting away...waaaasting awaaaaaaayyyyyy...

    Faraday: Waff, is the Boss a Drama Queen too? Seriouslies. *disgusted look*

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  35. (oh and now that the histrionics are all over and done...WE kicked that kibble train hard, too. Well, two out of three of us have. Maxwell's in trouble - Mother just ordered ASSISTANCE in that department.

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  36. Wow! Excellent that yous slimmed and trimmed! We don't has any overweight pets here (just overweight Mommy)
    So we gets ti free feed
    Kisses
    Nellie

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  37. You are very wise, one of the most important things in maintaining a healthy weight is to ensure you are feeding the correct amount for the cats metabolism and life style. This may help also http://www.waggfoods.com/content/UK/cat-feeding-guide-body-score-chart

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