Hi all! I have a Short Hair Domestic that I adopted from a friend, who found her pregnant mother, so I have had her her entire life.  I thought I was feeding her "good" food by getting NUTRO MAX for her, but since then I started reading labels and seeing all the fillers in the food, so I am currently trying to switch her to raw food diet.  She weighs 15 lbs, my other cat weighs 8 lbs which is where I believe she should be.  I have read a lot about hepatolysis (sorry if I spelled that wrong!) in cats on a weight loss program and am worried about that happening to my cat because any time I try to "sneak" raw chicken into her food, she doesn't eat.  Even when I put it in her favorite canned food.  She LOVES cooked chicken though, is it ok to feed a dieting cat cooked chicken and what else should I add to the meal to make sure she is getting all of the essential nutrients that she needs to be full and lose weight.  I could also use any recipes or other ideas to help me help my kitty lose weight. Any help would be appreciated because I feel like she is gaining weight while I type this!!!  (P.S.  She turns 8 next week, if that is helpful)

Hi animaluver!

1. I am very proud of you for recognizing you need to do something about your kittie's weight.

2. I'm very thankful you recognize you can't suddenly switch her food, regardless of how passionately you want to improve her health...."fatty liver disease" (hepatic lipidosis) is a very real consequence to the "tough love" approach. So....my recommendation is to (cringe)....trick her.

I do not believe you should feed cooked chicken...you will create a cooked chicken addict. Although it seems logical to wean her onto cooked chicken, then balance it, it very rarely turns out this way. The tried-and-true weaning method I use at my hospital is to:

First, limit her dry food. The "all you can eat buffet" is the definition of heaven....not reality here on earth. Pick up her bowl. Offer her 1/4 cup dry food twice daily and unlimited, human grade, canned food in between. If you wean her onto canned food first it will be MUCH easier to wean her to raw food ("health food," in her mind!). She's a carboholic, and really doesn't see any benefit in stopping the carb addiction, so you must create a gentle hunger, which will encourage her to try new foods (canned foods).

After several weeks (or months, depending on her will power!), when you can see she's decided to open her palate to canned foods, reduce her dry intake to a tablespoon twice daily, unlimited canned. After several more weeks, stop the dry completely (YEA, she's a recovered carboholic!!!). Offer her two feedings a day of canned food, however much she'll eat in about an hour. Once she's regulated to twice daily canned food, you can consider "tricking" her into raw food.

The art of weaning cats onto raw food is truly an art. I recommend you consider working with your vet to make sure her weight loss is happening at a healthful rate. I recommend you purchase a commercially available raw cat food initially (the balancing is done for you), and mix in 1/8 teaspoon to her portion of canned food. She'll stall, then consume it. After she no longer balks at the weird, new addition, increase it by 1/8 teaspoon every several days and slowly decrease the canned until she's weaned onto raw (FYI it took my rescue JoeCat 1 year to complete this process and go from a 17 lb cat to a 12 lb cat). Happy secret dieting!

Thank you so much for the very quick response, Dr. Becker.  I really appreciate how well you explained this process.  I have already had her on twice a day feedings of dry food for about 2 months, so I will begin trying the gentle transition to canned food now.  I really appreaciate the information, Thanks for caring for our animals in a Natural and Holistic way!  (P.S. the kitty in my ID photo is the one I have been referring to. She's quite the ham :) )