Da da da da, da da da da... PETS!!!

[Ingrid]

Bought the fat boy a harness and leash so we can walk off some of the weight. Got one for Penny as well so she doesn't feel neglected/left out. Fatsack McGoo doesn't fit in his harness, so I must buy him a small dog size.

[Abraham Smashington]

haha, you're gonna take your cats on walks? yessss

[Matt]

we tried taking Wiley for a walk. didn't work. Turned into a drag more than a walk.

[Lisa]

Good luck, Ingrid - although, if that cat doesn't want to walk, he's not gonna walk.

[V]

Motivate your cat.

Bring a water pistol.

[Timothy225]

My folks used to leash their cat, Jesse, when they moved into their condo. Though resistant at first, he got used to it, and would just hang out in the front and back yards. No walkies, though. That shit wouldn't stand, man.

My niece got her first cat a couple of weeks back - a kitten named Fendi, after the fashion house (the whole litter was fashion-named). Cat's already bonded with the whole family, snuggles with my brother-in-law at every opportunity (though he's trying to keep up a "real man should have a dog" front, he was dead meat the second the cat kissed up to him). I'll try and get pictures soon as I meet the cat.

[Ingrid]

Oh, trust me, I am well aware of the fact that this will probably just be a colossal waste of time/money/energy, but we have to try something, Oscar is flat out obese.

We tried the harness on Penny last night and it sucked the life out of her. Sad, but hilarious at the same time.

[Abraham Smashington]

Tie the cat to a treadmill.

[Timothy225]

Does Oscar play with any toys? We've had some success with a fishing pole toy, as well as using a flashlight (Patch LOVES this). Our one cat, Stitch, is pretty lazy though. He's the right weight, but man, does that cat love to loaf.

[Ingrid]

His favorite is a stuffed Christmas tree ornament, Teddy. And while he does play with it as well as chase his sister, he generally gets tired and flops after a couple of minutes.

I've been trying to watch the food consumption, measuring out the amount and only filling the dish twice a day. The problem is that while we're not home to stop him, he eats out of his sister's dish. So I get home from work and her dish is empty while his has still got plenty of food in it. I think it's going to come down to picking up the dishes when we leave for work and standing with them as they eat, at least until he can learn control.

[BillyG]

We had to do that with Ditto. The vet said she was too fat, so now I just leave some water out during the day, and feed them one bowl each when we get home.

[Timothy225]

I'll check with Jen as to what we did with Stitch to get his weight down, but yeah, you may have to watch him when he eats.

At present, we give the cats a small bowl of kibble each before going to bed or first thing in the morning (depending on whether they finished their dinner the night before), then they get dinner (wet stuff) when we get home. If they're really good, Jen will give 'em some kitty cookies, but only once in a blue moon.

Stitch usually poops himself out after a few minutes, either chasing his brother, playing with his fuzzy mice (he used to carry one around when he was younger, like it was his pal), or investigating a box or two. Patch will play with you for hours, especially if you have a flashlight. Back in the day, he used to fetch foil krinkle balls like a dog.

[Lisa]

I'm just picturing this fat bastard shoving his poor dainty sister out of the way without even taking his face out of the food dish to look at her.

No advice here, sorry - Edison has the opposite problem since his thyroid kicked into overdrive. I leave out moist food dry food, all day long, round the clock. Plus the fact that he's 16 means he's not into chasing toys around the room so much anymore. The constant little old man napping to bind that fat to his bones is a good thing!

[Timothy225]

16? Edison's only job at this point is to be spoiled by you. Preferably on your lap, giving him belly rubs.

[Lisa]

16? Edison's only job at this point is to be spoiled by you. Preferably on your lap, giving him belly rubs.

Oh, Edison's had that taken care of since he was five months old, don't worry about that!

This one day, I was playing around with a scratch-off lottery ticket, and none of the numbers came up matching. I turned to George and said, "Welp, looks like Edison and I won't be on Easy Street just yet." He says to me, "Oh, believe me - YOU might not be on Easy Street, but Edison has ALWAYS been on Easy Street! His numbers came up lucky the minute you walked into that animal shelter in 1995!"