See Your Doctor Before Going On A Diet - Magnificat's Turn

Magnificat had her doctor appointment (a veterinarian, of course) on Friday.  She had a couple of medical issues to deal with besides her diet.  She is over-grooming, probably due to her flea allergy, and  she is super stressed out over the cat who belongs to the people who live in the other half of our house but isn't allowed inside anymore and tries to get in via our house.

The flea allergy is actually why Magnificat needs to go on a diet.  Overweight cats are at very high risk of getting diabetes on their second and later Prednisone shot and she's already had two when her flea allergy flared up so badly that oral Prednisone isn't a good option.  Our goal isn't to make her a skinny cat, just to reduce her weight enough that she can safely have the medication she needs when she gets into fleas. (The house is under control, we don't have carpet, we use Fleabusters(amazing!) and she gets monthly flea treatment, but our whole neighborhood is infested with fleas. Plus they don't usually die in the winter.)

Because of her stress from the other cat and flea allergy flairs, the vet suggested a new prescription food for her - Royal Canin Calm.  She's only been on it for a couple of days (and mixed with her previous food), but I think I see a difference.  The vet also thinks that she may do less comfort eating on this diet since it is formulated to provide more of the parts of food that are comforting.  And, she figured out exactly how much Magnificat should eat daily to lose weight on this food.  She gets a 1/4 cup morning and evening and then another 1/8 to 1/4 cup served in food toys and puzzles.

With cats, it is crucial that they get enough to eat every day because if they burn too much fat, they can get something called 'fatty liver' or feline hepatic lipidosis (on the other hand, feline obesity is a risk factor for this as well.)  For this reason, it is probably more important that cats have their weight loss program supervised by a veterinarian than that humans do.  (However, every vet I've ever used is more than happy to have their regular patients drop in for a free weighting and have their staff keep an eye on the chart for dangerous weight loss or gain, so it's not like Weight Watchers where you pay for your weekly weight in.)