Minnalouche’s Story

On 21 March 2022, I rescued Minnalouche and 10 other terrified kittens from a horrific hoarding situation. Around 12 weeks old, severely undersized and emaciated, anaemic, parasite ridden and struggling with upper respiratory and eye infections, Minnalouche weighed in at a mere 490g.

With patience, love, Hill’s Kitten Mousse and intensive medical treatment, the kittens recovered and started trusting humans. When adoption time came, I was sure that Minnalouche, given her exceptionally good looks, would be snapped up quickly but no..... she watched all her playmates being chosen until she was the only one remaining. Finally, at 20 weeks old, she was adopted only to be returned 2 weeks later as “she had scratched one of the children”. And so I became her forever mommy. 

Although quite an active cat, she kept gaining weight over the next months. I wasn't overly concerned at first as rescue kitties often overeat initially due to the trauma of starvation prior to being saved. But Minnalouche didn't slow down - by February 2023 she weighed in at a hefty 5.5 kg and her energy levels had dwindled dramatically. Another 3 weeks later she tipped the scales at a whopping 6.1 kg!!!! She was quite simply obese. I said to her: “Sorry my beautiful girl, but this is it. It can't possibly be healthy for a cat who is barely a year old to carry so much excess weight.”

Much to her dismay, the long and hard battle began on 9 March 2023. She was put on the Hill’s Prescription Diet Metabolic with a strict intake of 52gper day. This I divided into 4 meals of 13g each and fed her from a slow feeder to prevent her from wolfing down the portion. And being part of a multi-cat household where food is freely available, I could only restrict her food intake by isolating her from the other resident felines.

Minnalouche lost 800g during the first 2 months of dieting and her weight went down to 5.3 kg. During the third month she plateaued and only dropped 200g but her energy levels had certainly soared and she had many bouts of zoomies whilst playing in the garden! Her weight again dropped steadily until she had reached 4.8 kg on 9 July and finally reaching her goal weight of 4.5 kg on 9 August. She achieved this remarkable loss of 1.6 kg despite the fact that she was a young cat still growing to her full adult size.

Today Minnalouche is a light, happy and confident cat. Her wonderful calico coat has become fuller and she is now a silky bundle of co-mingled black, white and orange. Her indomitable spirit and her remarkable willingness to trust humans after all her travails, is a testament to her amazing character.