BenBen Lite

[plumtreeblossom]

Benjamin is slimming down. His eating habits have been changing since we lost our Rowley. When the two cats ate together, they gorged almost competitively. Rowley was an ectomorphic eating machine who ate constantly but stayed lean no matter how much he wolfed. BenBen, on the other hand, looked like a blowfish. I considered his obesity a fairly serious problem but I didn't know quite what to do about it.

But now that Benjamin is an only cat, and has gotten adjusted to not having to compete for food, he's been eating only what his body actually needs. And it shows. He is noticeably slimmer, and he's lighter when I pick him up. From above, he doesn't look like he swallowed a soccer ball anymore. Maybe a small Nerf football, but it's an improvement. I'm going to let this trend continue. It's possible that he could get right down into a healthy zone. From the looks of him, he's almost there now.

So, that solves a problem without me having to take any action myself. He's letting nature moderate his eating.

Comments

[dabroots.livejournal.com]

Interesting! I wonder if Joe would pork out if I had another cat in the household. As it is, he's still quite athletic and slender, as he approaches his ninth year.

[plumtreeblossom.livejournal.com]

I don't think Joe would necessarily get fat if you got another cat. My situation was that I had two cats with radically different metabolisms who always ate together. Rowley was a slinky Siamese who could eat an elephant and still stay slim. I always got a chuckle at how he would eat and meow-grunt at the same time.

Benjamin is a bit of a girly-man, and his natural pre-disoposition is to eat daintily and lightly. Now that he doesn't have to gobble fast to get his fair share, he's eating a lot less.

But if Joe is athletic and slim, he most likely would stay that way if you got another cat, I think.

[dabroots.livejournal.com]

My late cat White Boy always shared a home with at least one other cat. He wolfed down food like it was going to disappear, and often threw up within a few minutes (graphic description unnecessary), but even so, managed to weigh nearly twenty pounds--and that was on mostly dry food, no less. He still managed to live to be about fifteen, with relatively few health problems.

[plumtreeblossom.livejournal.com]

Haha! I'm familiar with the feline "eat 'til you puke and then eat more" routine. Rowley was famous for it. Almost every day there was a fresh hurl for me or my housemate to step in (in our socks, usually).

Reason #534 that I no longer drink with colleagues: I got chastised after the fact for sharing the true story of Rowley vomiting into the (cold) burner of the gas stove. I told this at a company dinner. *facepalm*