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That is, he had a fit when he saw my Chewie today! I took my polydactyl cat, Chew, to my vet today to have his feet looked at and to take care of all the tangles in his fur. Chewie has 26 toes and 2 pads on each paw.

He's been limping a lot, and even though I work diligently to keep him groomed, his fur is unbelievable. Thick as thick can be. So I wanted him to either shave him or comb out the tangles.

Well...when I picked Chewie up after work, my vet read me the riot act. Chewie weighs 28 lbs.
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He told me, "Nancy...Chewie is morbidly obese."


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Chewie is now on a diet. Now I ask...how do you put food restrictions on 1 of FOUR cats!? LOL

Well, at least Chewie was the sweetheart he always is. Doctor said it's the first cat that he hasn't needed to anesthetize to comb out fur. Apparently Chewie laid there quietly purring and let them comb to their hearts' content! Also while they clipped his claws. His limping problem was because of one of his ugly claws. He has one on each paw. They are black, wide and flat. One was digging into his flesh, but I've been afraid to cut them too much!

Anyway, poor Chewie is morbidly obese and going on a diet.
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sounds like a lovely cat.... wow.

How old is Chewie?

My experience with ingrown nails was this happened to us once when our cat from long ago was ill... she stopped grooming.

Recently I had an interesting change of course with our oldest (19) Sheba.
She was 18 lb, and not grooming and depressed, 3 yrs ago. The vet thought she was diabetic so we did a blood work, and she wasn't.

She seemed to "crave" something, so she ate alot of her kibble (we use Eukanuba). When given "light" form of Science Diet previously she just ate more and gained that weight. So I switched her to Iams Eukanuba a few years ago, but she was still big. By coincidence I gave her a treat on vacation of real frozen cooked shrimp. This is a long story, won't go into it. But I originally only did that when I pilled her as a reward. She began to demand it every day.
When I gave in and started to do this, she LOST WEIGHT. Spectacularly. Now her skin hangs and her lion belly almost hits the ground, and when she walks fast (can't run anymore with her arthritis), it swings and it I am sorry to say very comical. The shrimp satisfies her in some way, so she eats less now.
Her grooming improved 100%.

A friend here (I think it was KimS) posted this interesting article on shrimp from whole foods...

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and I think that this food chart reveals that something Sheba needed was being provided by the shrimp. Now before you think this is $$$..spoiling.
I get the 50-60 size when the grocery offers buy one get one free, and they last me a long time. I only give her 3 or 4 when she begs for it. It is no more expensive than cat food.

So perhaps Chewie craves something? Each of our cats gets a special treat, and each of them only eats that...they don't share it. Our other cats won't touch the shrimp.

It is something to think about. If you go to my flickr account you can see Sheba begging on a picture there!
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The vet was astounded...too. I called it at the time,the Atkins Meow Meow diet. LOL
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LOLOL Mrs. D! I love the name of the diet, and I will check that out. My vet said to also add a little bit of oil to his food for his skin such as olive oil.

Your cat is just adorable! So is your hubby!
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It was hard just focusing on Sheba because all those pictures are so cute!

This is Chewie when he was 'sveldt'.
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chewie is a cutie. i have 3 cats as well as one dog. i'll post pics as soon as i can figure out why i'm having trouble getting the pics on here. your vet needs a bit of a reality check...... not many cats will tolerate procedures and will attack the vets and techs, hence the need to sedate. he needs to know how lucky he is to have a really tolerant patient like chewie, who can purr throughout all the stuff that was done to him. lol. seriously. chewie is a bit like my cat, thunder, who is a big kitty - 12 pounds, but lean at the size. he's a big love bug, too.
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28 lbs???
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That's a big kitty!

Mrs. D - I love your photos. What a wonderful place you have, full of so much wildlife!

Ok, you all have me beat with the "morbidly obese" cats. LOL My son's cat weighs in at approx 18 lbs (as of almost a yr ago when he was last to the vet). Vet mentioned too that he needed to be put on a diet to get rid of the gut (is this MY doctor talking about MY gut?? LOL ). Anyways, my son and his girlfriend go out and get diet cat food, place it in the bowl and the cat just sits there...staring at the bowl of food, then looking up at my son as if to say "You really expect me to EAT this stuff????" ha ha ha
They started by gradually adding it in with the regular food and now he's totally on the diet food. It DOES seem to cause some diarrhea however if they eat too much of it at one time, this might vary in different cats though.

And developed cat acne on her face.

The diet forms have MORE carbs, and this sets up the weight gain.

The whole secret we found for all 3 of our cats (I found by accident) is that
1) you need good quality omega-3 fatty acids in the food --cats need this

2) watch out for corn. It is first listed ingredient in many foods including Science Diet --although Science Diet did reformulate to imitate IAMS

3) high protein and fat are required by cats more so than dogs

Our previously 18lb cat is now 15lb, and holding there. And she is 19 now. I switched her to IAMs 10 yrs ago when she developed acne on Science Diet Light. She lost weight on the shrimp. Our middle cat (13yrs normal wt) wants turkey/chicken scraps for her treat, and Oreo the youngest eats rabbits that she catches!-- I know--gross. She is the only one of the 3 who "eats out".
Her treat is very strange --whipped cream. She is the thinnest of all 3.

Our vet cautioned us.... do not allow a FAST weight loss for cats. Fast weight loss can kick them into a fatal liver toxicity. She was very worried at first when Sheba lost her first weight, and monitored her liver functions.
A cat who suddenly stops eating for any reason, may die from this liver thing, and not from the illness that created the anorexia. (like a severe hair ball attack).