Low Carb Cats Update

I am long overdue for an update on my furry little friends Cookie and Xena. For those of you just joining my blog, once I learned how grains, sugars and other carbohydrates lead to weight gain, I decided to also put my cats on a low carb diet. Chubby fuzzbucket Xena went from 22lbs down to 14 in a short period of time. My older cat was not overweight, but did lose a pound or so and stopped barfing all over my bedroom floor. Here we are months later and the cats are thriving on a grain-free low carb diet.

Xena at 14 pounds and holding

Xena is still 14 pounds. Like me, her weight has stalled but her build and body composition are still changing. She looks less and less like a furry bowling ball and more like a CAT every day. This has been an exceptionally cold winter here in Colorado, so she isn't going out side like she normally does. I know her activity level is way down, yet she still is maintaining her weight loss.

Chasing bugs in the garden has been put on hold until the weather improves.

Cookie is still chugging along. At 18+ years old it is amazing that she can still jump up on to tall tables, counters, and other places she has no business being. The grain-free wet food is something she looks forward to every morning. Along with their favorite flavor of Fancy Feast (Turkey & Giblets), she has been a sport about occasional substitutions of different grain-free store brands. Albertson's, Safeway and Super Walmart all have a couple of grain-free flavors of their generic "house" brand. She wasn't too fond of the Special Kitty Walmart wet food, but the Safeway & Albertson's brands were fine by her.

Cookie the cranky senior citizen

Their dry food is either Innova EVO or Blue Buffalo Wilderness. It all depends on whether or not I remember to place an internet order of the EVO before they run out. Blue Buffalo Wilderness I can just get at PetsMart. While neither one is what I would consider a perfect cat food (both contain potatoes), they are way better than the standard garbage most pets end up eating.

I will continue low carb for the cats just as I keep low carb for myself. All three of us are eagerly awaiting Spring so we can spend time in the back yard. Before it hits, I might have to do some more research on Xena's food intake. How many carbs are in bugs anyhow?