The Trouble With Phil

My chubby feline needed to lose weight—if I could only convince him to try

- Lindsy Van Gelder

My cat Jean-Philippe is what you might charitably describe as ‘big-boned’. Actually, his head and tail are on the petite side. But then there’s his giant, jiggly belly. A year ago, he weighed in at nearly 11 kilograms. Now he’s a svelte 9.5 kilos, although our journey is far from over.

Depending on your age and cultural tastes, you might describe him as the feline Winston Churchill, or maybe the kitty Notorious B.I.G. I usually call him Fat Phil. I love him, but he is basically a meat loaf with fur. That makes him adorable, but not all that healthy.

To make sure that Phil would stick around for as long as possible, I knew I needed to make some changes to his diet— whether or not he was fully on board with them.

Not to make excuses for him, but let me tell you a little about Phil. I adopted him when he was about six months old. Before he came to my house, he had been living with a couple of other kittens in a sewer grate. The rescue group that found him told me he had kept himself alive by hunting lizards and eating generous handouts from a man who worked in a local bakery. From reptiles and stale bread, there was nowhere to go but up.

Like many formerly feral animals, Phil always tended to act as if he were starving to death. He wolfed down his cat food and meowed for more. In the beginning he was an indoor–outdoor cat and was getting plenty of exercise. Outdoor life can be hazardous for cats—they can be hit by cars, felled by disease and set upon by predators—but waistline expansion is not a major risk.