Can expressing our endless love for our kitties and cat weight loss go hand in hand? Can we show our kitties how much we care without showering them with sugary treats and an endless supply of food which creates excess calories and ultimately a bulging waistline.

With more and more cats living safely inside with their humans, cats have become more sedentary, and consequently, fatter.

Should it be any surprise to find that pet obesity has become a national epidemic, with 47 million cats are overweight. According to a study by the Association of Pet Obesity Prevention, 54 percent of all cats in the United States are overweight. That translates into one out of every two household cats carrying excess pounds. That’s right, over half of our cats are fat.

That’s a startling statistic considering obesity in cats is a leading cause of diabetes, inflammatory conditions such as arthritis, liver disease, and cancer. And like humans, the extra pounds make it harder for cats to move around and be active.

But unlike humans, cats cannot go on crash diets to lose weight. Not only will this cause a number of nutritional deficiencies, it can lead to liver failure, which can be fatal, and as responsible pet parents, that’s the last thing we want to see.

So how can we help?

• First, we can change our paradigm that it’s ok for cats to be overweight.
• Secondly, we can implement portion control, cut out treats, and invest in toys to help kitty become more active. We can substitute play time and lap snuggles as a way to show how much kitty means to us. What better way to show our cat how much we care than by giving them undivided attention?
• And thirdly, and perhaps most important we can consider putting our cats on a specialty therapeutic metabolic weight-loss diet. Hill’s® Prescription Diet® Metabolic Advanced Weight Solution, available only through veterinarians. This allows us, pet parents, to embrace getting the extra pounds off, while giving kitty all the essential nutrients and meeting all their dietary needs.

Metabolic foods may sound a bit new age or even a tad scary, but they are highly recommended. Cornell University’s College of Veterinary Medicine’s Cat Watch’s May 2014 issue headlined with a lead story ‘Facing a Hard Fact: Our Cats Are Fat.’ That article cites the benefits of therapeutic foods and says under a veterinarian’s supervision, cats can stay on them for years if needed. We also need to keep in mind what Hills offers is a prescription based so it has to have the OK from your veterinarian.

Much has been written about how metabolism impacts weight. Unfortunately, it appears this is true with cats as it is with humans. That’s why in a multi-cat household, we can have one or two overweight cats, while the others are fit and trim. So what do we do?

Hill’s® Prescription Diet® Metabolic Advanced Weight Solution offers an easy way to help kitty shed pounds. By working with your veterinarian, you know you meeting your cat’s nutritional needs with all the essential vitamins they need, while helping them lose weight.

Helping our cats stay in a healthy weight range should be the supreme way of saying how much we love them and want to keep them around for many years to come.

Bonus Give-Away Tell-a-Friend Program

What better way to spread the love that giving your cat a chance to try Hill’s® Prescription Diet® Metabolic Advanced Weight Solution? Hill’s knows that it is often difficult to help your pet lose those extra pounds. The food is formulated to help you help your pet get healthy. Hill’s stands behind it so much that they want to help you with your Veterinary Bill and give you a coupon in order to get started. To cover the vet’s visit, Hill’s is offering a $25 rebate on the vet visit AND a $25 rebate on the prescription food. To enter, fill form to fill out to take advantage of Hill’s offer: Hill’s Rebate and Coupon.

This post is sponsored by Hill’s. I am being compensated for helping spread the word about Hill’s Prescription Diet Metabolic Food, but Paws for Reflection only shares information we feel is relevant to our readers. Hill’s Pet Nutrition, Inc. is not responsible for the content of this article.

How startled are you to find that half of the cats in the United States are overweight? Do you feed you cats a little something extra to show them how special they really are? Do you designate play time and lap time for your cats. Please weigh in on the discussion.