My fat cat can't groom or use the litter box. How can she lose weight?

You will need to clean the poop or it can cause an infection or an impaction. cats lose weight the best by changing to a canned food diet. If that doesn’t work you can change to a prescription weight loss formula diet such as science diet metabolic. Try to stimulate and play more to increase her activity level

This sounds suspicious that your cats anal glands may be full. The anal glands are located just inside the rectum at the 4 and 10 o'clock position and when they are full they can cause irritation resulting in the pet scooting across the carpet. So this is a common presentation. Typically the anal glands are expressed by pets when they go poop, but in obese or overweight pets this is difficult and can result in them not being expressed properly. So first thing is to get the anal glands checked by a veterinarian to avoid having them rupture because of over-filling. The second thing is to get your kitty on a low fat diet or weight loss routine, such as decreasing portions and limited extra calorie snacks. Here are my picks for weight loss foods if interested: 1) Hills Metabolic- by far the best product in my opinion for FAST (within 2 months approx. 79% of pets lose weight) weight loss and weight maintenance (prescription only) 2) Hill's W/D - effective and also can help regulate glucose to prevent diabetes (prescription only) 2) Hill's Low fat - over the counter, varying results

I suggest you start by reading this article. If you have questions after reading this you are welcome to post again with more specific questions. ( https://www.petcoach.co/article/6-ways-to-slim-down-your-tubby-tabby/ )

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! Yes, you can cut back a bit on how much you feed her. Ideally, this is based on your veterinarian's recommendations on how much to cut back which is based on how much she weighs and the kind of food she eats. Another alternative, is feeding her a weight loss diet that works great called Hill's Science Diet metabolic weight management diet. This is something you can buy online or at your local pet store. Good luck and have a good night!

I recommend changing his diet to a specialized weight management diet such as hills metabolic so he can feel full and receive all the necessary nutrition to be healthy, whilst still losing and then maintaining weight. Mist vets offices provide free weight clinics to monitor and advise on feeding such diets and maintaining health and fitness

It's great that you want to be proactive about Tiger's health! Feeding an all canned food diet can help a lot with weight loss in cats. There are also several prescription food options for weight loss like Hill's Metabolic that you may want to discuss with your veterinarian. Getting Tiger more active will also help him lose weight. I'd recommend setting aside 10-15 minutes a day to play with him with a laser pointer or other toy to get him moving. Because most cats are most active around feeding time varying the times of day he is fed will help stimulate more activity as well. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach and good luck with Tiger!

Exercise is definitely a good way to help him lose weight, but make sure you do it at his pace and don't push him too much. The most important thing you can do to control the weight is control his nutrition. Knowing how to feed George properly is an important first step. I've put a couple of links below that have good information about feeding cats to prevent obesity and information about obesity. http://www.vet.cornell.edu/fhc/health_information/brochure_feedingcat.cfm http://www.vet.cornell.edu/fhc/Health_Information/obesity.cfm The next step is knowing how to implement a diet. This is often the most difficult thing for owners to do, but I can't stress enough the importance of sticking with the diet. Below is a link to information about getting your cat on a diet. http://www.petmd.com/cat/nutrition/evr_ct_obesity_in_cats_and_what_to_do_about_an_overweight_cat It is best to have George examined by a veterinarian, because it is possible that he has medical condition like hypothyroidism or diabetes that could be causing the obesity. The vet can also help to formulate a diet plan specifically to your cat. Weight loss plans often take a long time to work in cats, so don't be surprised if it takes a year or so to get her slimmed down. I hope that helps and George does well on the diet.