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Whew! Sorry about the 2 month blog lapse! Our pilot taking our Fit Pets for Rescues Fundraiser to national level was challenging beyond belief but totally successful & wonderful from all reports! Our highlights by the number! 19 participating pets 15 pets lost weight 7 participating clinics & rescues 7 sponsors (Purina Pro Plan Veterinary Diets, myBalto, sylvester.ai, Basepaws, EpiPaws, Waldo Pet, & Dezi & Roo) 5 states and one province had challengers 4 cats over 25# (2 started over 40#) 3 virtual & live weigh-ins held 2 “powered by” long term partners (Healthy Pet Connect & myBalto) Over $5000 in clinic, rescue, and pet parent prizes awarded Over $2500 raised for rescues What is behind the numbers?
2. We created a year round FPR landing page that can track progress of pets to their ideal weight, award points for rescue donations and win great prizes donated by our sponsors. (see below!) Thanks to Ricca Gardner for all your expertise! 3. We had 5 cats in Spudgie’s Big Cat challenge (all who started over 24#, two over 40#!!) All lost weight safely & reliably with veterinary clinic supervision and great rescue participation. Spudgie and his HPC support team couldn’t be more proud! HPC & WTVC have pledged to keep donating to their chosen rescues for all 5 until they reach ideal weight!  4. Our weigh-ins were local in Madison, WI but with our virtual component we had a North American reach with Axel aka “Biggie Smalls” participating from Canada and Patches with 45K FB followers from Richmond Virginia, and sponsors from California, Florida and Michigan! Clips/Recordings coming soon! 5. Sponsors, what can we say??? They made it all possible by donating products, time and dollars to offset expenses. (FPR always uses sponsor contributions for direct event expenses or donations only) We have already mentioned how amazing myBalto was. They helped us create donation portals for each rescue to create custom leaderboards. Robert, their CEO is an emergency room veterinarian who is sharing a concept with his colleagues that has saved many pets in his own clinic from euthanasia by providing a “round up” at checkout for those pets/clients in need when unexpected health care costs hit. Purina has sponsored FPR every single year (for 12 years now!) They make amazing foods all backed by evidence based studies and are a first class company to work with! Our rep Shaun even took time on his weekend to join our Finale event/weigh-in. (No worry we will move all weigh-ins off the weekend next year!) Basepaws feline DNA kits were a big hit! Letting people know the background of their kitty and possible health risks was well received. We so appreciate all the genetic research they have done for dogs & cats. Epipaws is a wonderful new startup who can tell the age of a pet within 1 year of age. It was a super popular prize as a door prize and the rescues/clinics loved them too in their FPR staff appreciation gift boxes. It was so popular at WTVC we decided to add them to the HPC marketplace and keep them in stock at WTVC for our clients! The CEO is very interested in getting swabs from all pets to try and link aging with obesity. Sylvester.ai is an exciting add on to see if we could detect a “hangry” cat. Comparing it against the HPC mood score was quite interesting in several cases. The facial score has been validated for acute pain but we need more data for chronic conditions like obesity and osteoarthritis. Waldo Pet is coming out soon with some wearables (everyday activity monitors) and pro versions too that will do body temperature, heart rate and even blood glucose! They are also in the final stages of a portable, bluetooth dog body weight scale which would be a much needed tool. Dezi & Roo make wonderful nature based toys that cats love and help them exercise to burn a few calories. Plus they are fun to use. Dr Lynn has written a wonderful book on enriching the lives of indoor cats that is a ‘must read”! So, in summary you can see why the HPC team was exhausted at the end of the FPR challenge! We are just ready to write the rescue checks, our next HPC event is at the Madison Cat Project's Kitten Palooza next weekend and then time to get set for a summer of “kitten kindergartens” all leading up to Bugs Cat Gym’s 3rd Kitten Olympics in August! We hope anyone local can join us but remember to let anyone who lives in the US or Canada about FPR & HPC. With a nominal monthly fee of $9.95 to $14.95 and their veterinarians supervision (most charge a telemonitoring charge) pets can now lose weight remotely, rescues can get donations and pet parents can win prizes! 
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 West Towne Veterinary Center and its boarding/foster center Bug’s Cat Gym in Madison Wisconsin has a long history of helping overweight cats getting fitter in 15 years of its “Fit Pets for Rescues” programs. When Spudgie a 37# cat arrived, he launched weight management challenges to another level! Spoiler alert he is now 12# and living his “best life”!
Spudgie was a foster from the Dane County Humane Society who came to Bug's Cat Gym in Madison, WI in June of 2021. Spudgie was rescued from a household where one of the primary caregivers had cancer and was unable to adequately attend to his needs. He was just 2# less than the world's heaviest cat at the time according to the Guiness Book of World Records. Dr Lambrecht has been Medical Director of Fits Pets for Rescues supervising hundreds of cats & dogs to ideal weight but never a pet 309% of their ideal weight! Physical examination revealed a morbidly obese cat (BCS 9+ /9) MCS -no wasting, who was unable to groom himself and had severe seborrhea sicca. He was alert & very friendly but unable to walk for more than a few feet. A minimum data base was performed including a ProBNP and all was WNL. Dr Lambrecht has served on the Pet Nutrition Alliance (PNA) and American Academy of Veterinary Nutrition (AAVN) boards so immediately consulted with 3 boarded veterinary nutrition colleagues whose warnings were that cats of this size were prone to sudden death along with the typical comorbidities of hepatic lipidosis, OA, DM. Given the time estimated (2.5 years) to get Spudgie to ideal weight using the research based 0.75% average weekly weight loss (AWWL) a goal of 1.5% AWWL was chosen and Purina OM because of its high protein level and as a purpose fed Rx food high in micronutrients for the extended time it would take Spudgie to get to ideal weight. Protein was the major macronutrient and choline was the major micronutrient of concern. Drs Hadar & Lambrecht had just co-authored a study on weight management in multiple cat households and launched an app/dashboard based on that study In June 2021 the same month Spudgie arrived. The app was used to record all food intake and the platform to measure the average rate of weekly weight loss (AWWL) and SurePet microchip feeders were used as Spudgie shared Bug’s Cat Gym main area with Aspen, a geriatirc cat with lymphoma. The HPC body weight scale can handle up to 44# and is low and stable and Spudgie quickly learned how to weigh himself! We used the PNA calculator to establish his starting Calories (0.8 RER) and decreased that amount by 10% whenever AWWL fell below 1%. He lost an at an AWWL of 1.03% in the first 12 months going from 37# to 17# and 0.87% going from 37# to his ideal weight of 12# over 18 months. Solensia was started on 6/20/23 when he began to become more mobile. No noticeable effects were observed after 3 injections so it was discontinued. Skin turgor, coat quality etc improved slowly over course of his weight loss and is now 100% back to a shiny, healthy coat with no extra skin whatsoever. Here is an article the Dane County Humane Society wrote about his amazing 25# weight loss journey. https://www.giveshelter.org/news/new-year-new-cat-weight-resolutions HPC/WTVC donated over $500 to DCHS In Spudgie’s name as part of its mission to give back to rescues. Dr Ken officially adopted him in June 2023 having fallen in love with his fun loving nature and to ensure he will always maintain his current vitality. He now lives with the WTVC team downstairs and shares his loveable nature & demeanor. We tell his story daily to clients to inspire and motivate them. Spudgie is now “coaching” Patches who started on the HPC platform in March 2023 at an astounding 42# (no typos!) Patches was rescued in Richmond Virginia. Biggie, a 44# cat from Ottawa just joined HPC in “Spudgies BIG Cat Club” and will be “coached” in the 12th annual Fit Pets & Vets for Rescues fundraiser/contest which kicks off March 30, 2024 after a 4 year COVID lapse. Suffice it to say extreme outliers like Spudgie need an intense amount of staff time and morbid obesity (and obesity of any level) should be prevented. Calorie counts, strict measuring & weighing, the right food along with technology and lots of pet parent and DVM education are all crucial! The teams at WTVC, HPC & FPR are here to help “move the needle” on pet obesity. Please permit a not-so-short history and then some of the most exciting news Healthy Pet Connect has ever had for our followers. Spoiler alert ...mark your calendars for our big event noon Sat March 30th, 2024 in Madison, WI for our fist annual HPC Pet Rescue Celebration. This is what HPC has been building towards over our almost 3 year history and is essentially the story of how HPC came to be… My current clinic, West Towne Veterinary Center and the clinic I owned previously Westside Family Pet Clinic and 4 Paws Swim & Fitness a pet fitness/rehab center (from 2006 to 2012) all in Madison, WI have always emphasized preventive care for pets. The Purina Lifespan study in 2002 http,s://newscenter.purina.com/LifeSpanStudy concluded dogs could live an average of 15% longer (and many other benefits) if kept at ideal weight for most of their life. Reading that study sealed my fate/future. (There is a backstory or two!) What bonded client would NOT want their pet to reach ideal weight? I firmly believed that then and still do now. In 2003, I began a major professional pivot as a veterinarian to learn as much about nutrition as possible. I attended every nutrition related CE event I could find. Mind you this was 2 decades ago when there wasn’t online CE everywhere. I traveled to Chicago to see Dr Dottie LaFlamme & Dr Mike Lappin speak. I sought nutrition tracks at AAHA and NAVC (now VMX). I learned about BCS, MCS and scoured through countless feeding guidelines trying to make sense out of the myriad of nutrients and levels. I was invited to tour Hills, Purina & Iam's manufacturing facilities. My brother owns Real Wasabi® and I went to fancy food shows with him and quizzed endless dog food manufacturers. In short, I did my homework. I used the information and did my best to help get our referred CCL rehab patients (primarily labs & goldens) back to ideal weight hoping to prevent the contralateral joint from being affected and back to vitality. People often categorize me as "the cat guy" check out my best buddy here!  In our 5 Dr preventive practice we saw so many overweight dogs we decided to have a weight loss contest. The first contest had only 4 contestants (all dogs) one of which was Pearl, a hurricane Katrina survivor who weighed 34 lbs (her ideal weight was 20) The client Dr Dave Brunson who was a boarded veterinary anesthesiologist at UW Madison and a good friend continually reminded me that I had used the F word (the 3 letter one) I am not sure I did, but I could have. The contest grew yearly by leaps and bounds and by 2019 had 64 contestants. That year it was about 50/50 dogs & cats but In the early days it was mostly dogs because quite frankly I was afraid to do weight management in cats (think hepatic lipidosis, finicky eating, highly bonded owners etc) I will round back to that. We decided to donate per pound lost to rescues and offer prizes to help motivate people to join. I sought sponsors which at first were just pet foods (Hills and Purina were both very generous). Here is one of my favorite pictures when one of our contestants with their 100# of food prize which as you can see was probably lasted a while! Pets Reducing for Rescues was born! (later renamed Fit Pets for Rescues)  We then sought other products that were health related, like pet activity monitors (HeyRex, Fitbark, Babelbark), emerging smart scales like Tailio (now Petivity) Tolleta (a facial recognition litter box scale from Japan and smart feeders Portion ProRx, SurePet and some others as well as smart web cameras from Petcube. There was even a dog bed with a built in scale that never actually got built. These were all very popular among my clients, many of whom work in tech or science in Madison many at Epic software and of course are/were highly bonded pet parents.  We promoted the products on social media especially the success that came using the feeders in multiple pet households, the scales being far more accurate than typical human bath scales and the activity monitors that helped insure our exercise Rx was carried out at least in dogs. The web cameras were pivotal in catching food stealing/sharing in multiple cat households. By auctioning off donated items, pet parent donations, sponsor $ donations and some clinic contributions were were able to donate over $25K to 3 local rescues over 11 years. We had local press with some national reach many times over the contest's 11 year history. Oh, and what about the cats? After attending a lecture at the WVMA by Dr Deb Zoran who said just make sure you use an Rx food with protein over 40% and go slow I undertook my first cat weight challenge in 2008. Clover went from 19# to 12# and regained vitality and lived a long and healthy life and his owner was very appreciative. After that, the rescues knew we would foster severely overweight cats, and we constantly had one or more cats housed in Bugs Cat Gym, a foster & boarding area above my clinic. We would always house 2 or more cats in a shared area to simulate a multiple pet household and use pet restricted feeders (Surepet & Portion ProRx) and my staff as surrogate pet parents. We had several 20 plus pound cats from 2012 to 2019. It allowed us to further test feeders, scales and wearables which led to 3 posters and a study published a peer reviewed journal https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34672236/ all related to weight management and the use of technology. Of course you have now undoubtedly heard about Spudgie who came to us weighing 37# and now weighs 12# losing 25# over 20 months. Patches in Richmond started at 42# and is now 27.7# using our HPC platform an amazing 15#. Harley, a loveable 28# fellow just joined us last month from MCP. My staff and I have been well trained by many cats!  Then came 2020. Shortly after our FPR kickoff event in March you all know what happened. Our Gold sponsor at the time was Babelbark, an activity monitor was perfect timing as they had a pet parent app to facilitate remote data entry. We held the midpoint and grand finale using FB live and we had just finished our pilot study in 2019 so were able to use 6 foster cats (2 from each rescue) and that equipment to further collect data related to technology use. The client participation & turnouts of course were much smaller than expected as everyone was preoccupied at the time. The really interesting thing was that we had always wanted to take our contest virtually/nationally and Covid threw us into that. Coincidentally, yesterday I just saw one of our “graduates” Seeley, from that last contest we held and it made my day!   Soooo finally to let the proverbial cat out of the bag …. We will be holding our Fit Pets for Rescues Fundraiser (1st since Covid 3 yr break) in March of this year to take our fundraiser to national/international level! The twist is now it will be powered by the HPC app/dashboard so ANY clinic and ANY rescue can participate! The only requirement is that pets be on an HPC subscription to allow us and supervising veterinarians to watch for too rapid weight loss and correct feeding if over a BCS 8/9. This also will allow easy donations to rescues keeping track of points to win prizes etc We will need to limit clinic participation to those that can enroll a minimum of 3 clients The clients pay all subscription costs and the veterinary dashboard is free for veterinarians the first 10 users. This is a great way to train staff and build community Staff gets very efficient at handling weight management cases saving time while addressing the pet obesity epidemic and any local events (weigh-ins) held at clinic are a great opportunity to bond with our hardworking rescue community We are open to sponsors that support healthier pets via validated products and tele-monitoring with veterinary supervision. Here are some preliminary details (press release coming in next 2 to 3 weeks) CATS Biggest loser (more than 20% over ideal) Iron Cats (between 10 & 20% over) Prides (groups of 3 or more losing together) There will be a special Enormous Boy group (Harley, Patches & Gus) DOGS (divided into over 40# & under 40#) Biggest Losers (more than 20% over ideal) Iron Dogs (between 10 & 20% over) Packs (groups of 3 losing together) There will be more than 5K in Pet parent & participating clinic. Prizes with points award for participation and helping us enroll pets This paw point system will be digitized in our app/dashboard for FPR 2024!  Pet parent points Donating to a rescue of your choice ($5 increments) Forming a pack or pride (3 cats or 3 dogs friends/family recruiting) Buying one of our sponsors donated products Buying products on our marketplace 1st, 2nd or 3rd place in FPR contest Ambitious undertaking? Perhaps, as our developer has just rebuilt our prototype and there may still be some rough edges but we haven't overwhelmed Joe yet! But how can we possibly wait when our pets are STILL getting more overweight every year.(61% of cats overweight per 2022 per AOPA study) with not a single thing (Rx foods, trackers, etc) that has moved the needle? Until now! We are 100% convinced that with our remote care solution pets can reach ideal weight and stay there even having FUN along the way and of course helping our rescues!
Thanks for reading and please reach out to us if you are interested in joining as a pet parent, participating clinic, or sponsor. We will do our best to welcome you into our HPC community and this exciting fundraiser! Dr Ken BTW I still love to travel and have lots of new weight management/technology related success stories since 2020 to share. I have served on the PNA, AAVN, AAFP, AAHA & TVC boards have worked with all the major pet food companies and most technology products (oh, and Bug my adventure cat and co founders love to travel as well) so if you need a speaker or support to get a Fit Pets for Rescues event kicked off please feel free to ping us! Or... just one more conference! Healthy Pet Connect was born in the middle of the Covid pandemic and was based on 2 research projects Dr Hadar & I had done together staring in 2019 right after we met at VIS. Just 2 years later on July 3rd, 2021 we had a great MVP (a nutritional focused platform) and a real company! Spudgie, an amazing 37# a rescue cat just happened to appear just in time to test & tweak our platform for the next 2 years! 2022 was a blur of startup circles and learning about what our colleagues really needed in the areas of weight management, chronic care & home health device data in terms of telemonitoring. Then came 2023! Many of you know my life as a startup CEO, a member of the TVC, AAFP and AAVN boards and an AAHA clinic medical director takes me to lots of conferences. Many times I am able to work across tables in very fun and innovative ways to help our colleagues, my startup & my own clinic, often at the same time! Here is how 2023 rolled out for HPC… January started out the year way fun. I drove the new HPC van to Orlando to VMX. It was crazy fun especially having the fully finished HPC van on the floor and all our tech friends (Digitail, Talkatoo, Petsapp, Pet Desk, Woof Dr, TVC etc) to celebrate and hang out with was simply amazing! Dr Barr and I enjoyed a couple days on the beach near Naples after. (PM me if you want to join us (popup style) this year!  February WVC was full of great meetings and drinks with some brilliant minds (Matt Russell, Shawn Wilke, Sebastian Gabor, & Nick McCart) to name just a few. It truly helped Dr Hadar & I find “our voice” amidst that challenge between startup & a “real company” that starts to generate revenue & attract angel funding and redefine our ownership structure. On my clinic homefront, my clinic team was onboarding Digital after 36 years with Impromed! The Digitail team did an amazing job and we love their PIMS and their team!  In March We attended the student AVMA conference in Illinois and were blown away by how well they liked our concept (and free scales :) We sent home over 20 body weight scales and 25 food scales to very happy future veterinarians. Being randomly placed next to the AAVN booth made the show even more special with Ryan & Martha Cline in attendance. April This is always the month after all the big veterinary meetings where we sift through what we are seeing our profession needs and it hit us that hard we needed to focus on all chronic care and preventive care not just obesity.  May Out of nowhere just as our Spudgie reached his ideal weight of 12# up pops Patches a whopping 42# cat in Maryland who needed our platform. We donated a scale and at last check has lost over 10#. He has an amazing 43K followers we hope to enlist on our new platform.
June AAVN/ACVIM is always one of my favorite conferences for sure. I rotated off as co-chair of their student committee and enjoyed sharing clinical cases and news of our platform with them. Most of the committee are serious foodies (especially Marth Cline) and I will seriously miss those dinners! See you in MPLS next summer! July last minute trip to AVMA in Denver was well worth it. Good TVC meetings, a robust young group of attendees and great social events! Nick and I always have fun!  August turned out to be the only one of 2 months with no conference all year. August was dark indeed for me personally as my adventure kitten Roo (Bug’s mentee) disappeared on Aug 3rd (happy ending see Dec)
September My first Vet Forum meeting in Texas supporting TVC with Nick McCart. Lots of fun spent with Ryan Leech, Nis and so many other fun people. Fascinating sitting on the “other side of the table” representing 4000 independent vet clinics. The month ended horribly losing HPC’s beloved angel investor Dr Elizabeth Colleran. We will always move forward in her name and her wishes for improving cats' lives. (and dogs, as she loved them too as does HPC)  October Veterinary Innovation Summit never disappoints. Kansas City is always gritty and fun. Always get to spend time with some of my favorite DVMS & industry reps. Straight to Memphis (even grittier!) for the AAFP where we sold 20 scales. We now have over 100 in the hands of practicing veterinarians, veterinary students, researchers and pet parents. Great meeting Emmet & Rory and enjoying some awesome BBQ and beers in between career stories.   November Vetsource tour with the TVC board was very interesting. I gave some endodontic training to 5 colleagues and delivered some scales to get started with HPC. Bob Merrill is an old windsurfing & sailing buddy, has an amazing practice and Portland is always a great visit.  December My year was made whole again with Roo’s reappearance at a neighbors less than 1 mile away. 120 days dodging coyotes, owls, and who knows what else!. She is only 7 # but wiley beyond any cat I have ever met. I learned a lot. She is finally regaining trust of humans and her former housemate cats have now fully re-accepted her but it took a full month! Buy me a beer at our next conference and I can tell you more ;) As a direct result of that experience HPC is devoting a chunk of its marketplace to pet recovery technology
One last conference! Kisaco Veterinary Innovation In LA didn't disappoint! Originally called Pets & Money I last attended over 5 years ago in Austin Texas. Kisaco has not turned this into an amazing consumer focused conference. Never heard of Bistrocat, Sphinx, Moggie, Maven? Check out/follow our marketplace! Amazing pitches! Glad we started years ago!! Brutal talent! My last HPC trip of the year was to visit Dr Michelle Meyer and the wonderful team at Serenity Animal Hospital with an amazing caring culture.  As we close out 2023 and look to 2024 Most importantly in the last month HPC redrew its structure bringing in 2 new equity partners. Please meet Dr Joey Goldthorpe, our chronic care lead with over 18 years experience challenging feline cases (including dozens of her personal cats) and Joe Muller, an incredible full stack developer who has completely rebuilt our platform. His previous experience working at epic software working with data visualization in a medical setting and using wearables fits HPC to a "T" with our future goals. We couldn't be happier and nothing will be impossible with these two talented individuals joining my partner Dr Hadar and our already amazing veterinary centered advisory board link to board. We are by the way very interested in angel funding. (Our total raise for the next 2 years is 200K) If you know anyone please send them our way. We prefer to keep our funding DVM primarily and with those who share our passions. Our sincere thanks for any leads!
We will roll out our new platform with all its features starting next week but want to thank each of you who we zoomed in with, shared your perspectives or in many other ways showed your support for HPC in 2023 and before.
We are ever inspired by those we meet at conferences and in our clinic visits. We promise to stay true to vet med while saving you time, improving outcomes and maybe just adding just a little bit of fun or joy to your lives if we are really fortunate! We wish you much success & happiness in 2024! Drs Ken, Barr, Joey & developer Joe! ....and the entire HPC team BON APPETIT with our feline family members!
How Can We Provide a 5-star Dining Experience for our Feline Family Members? How? What? How much? When? Where? Every cat is different so there is no one “right answer” or solution, but following are some guidelines we can use as a starting point. Our goal is to feed our cats in a way that ensures they have the most natural, stress-free and healthy dining experience. How we feed our cats is in direct contrast to their natural feeding behaviors: We often provide unlimited amounts of very palatable food which they don’t need to “work for” in one lump sum and in close proximity to other family members, be it cat/dog/humans. This can lead to weight and behavioral issues as well as causing stress and other health issues for our cats. What you feed should be determined by a cat’s life stage, their dietary preferences, and recommendations by their health care team depending on their weight goals and other medical conditions. Cats have a reputation of being particular or finicky eaters. Feeding a kitten or young cat a variety of food flavors, ingredients and textures (as long as this doesn’t upset their GI tract) can help them be more flexible to different diets as they age. There is much debate about whether dry or canned food is better… again, there is no one right answer. There are benefits and reasons to feed each, and what you decide will depend on many factors depending on your cat’s preference and health status, your vet’s recommendations and other parameters. Many people elect to feed a combination of both dry and canned food as a lot of cats seem to like the variety. How much to feed should be how much your cat needs to maintain an ideal healthy weight. The amount can vary greatly depending on a cat’s metabolism, lifestage, activity level, and medical conditions. A starting point for calorie amount to feed can be recommended by your veterinarian and adjusted accordingly as needed based on your cat’s body condition and weight. This is best monitored by weighing your cat regularly (once weekly to monthly is recommended) at home on an accurate cat-friendly body weight scale. (NOTE: The amount to be fed recommended on the package by many commercially available foods is very often times significantly more than what a cat’s requirements truly are). When to feed especially frequency is another important consideration. In the wild, cats must hunt to obtain food and will eat multiple small meals throughout the day. Multiple sources report that cats in the wild will eat 8-12 times daily. How can we emulate this at home? If you work from home or have a flexible schedule, you can offer many small meals throughout the day. This is not realistic for many of us, so automated feeders can be used to feed multiple meals daily. There are many models available, including microchip activated, bluetooth connected, and even some emerging canned food models (Bistrocat & Sphinx) Many of us enjoy the act of feeding our cats, so since using an automated feeder eliminates that, options are to feed kibble in the automated feeder but then manually feed a canned meal daily and/or can also provide treat options to allow for the bonding experience of feeding. To stimulate the hunting behaviors that are such an integral part of a cat’s behavior, you can hide small food portions around the house and/or use food puzzles that cats must ‘work’ to obtain food from. These are great solutions and there are a myriad of products and also homemade versions that work well. These options can potentially be problematic if you have multiple cats, or dogs, or toddlers in the house that may eat food not intended for them, so may need to find other ways to stimulate hunting behaviors. Where should we feed our cats? It is a common misconception that cats are not social animals. However, they are generally NOT social eaters and prefer to eat on their own (of course there are exceptions to this). Cats in the wild almost always eat at a table for one. Ideally, if you have a multiple cat household, each should have a separate feeding station. This doesn’t mean they need to eat in separate rooms, but each should have their own bowl/plate, and should be at least visually separated, such as on opposite sides of the kitchen island or up on their own cat tree perches. It may be necessary to feed cats in different rooms depending on their eating habits. To complicate things, the majority of cat loving households have two or more cats. Just like people, they all have different eating habits, health issues and personalities. This can necessitate flexibility and creative measures to provide a five star meal. Let me give an example of two cats I have that couldn’t be more different: Petunia is a petite dainty girl with a somewhat particular food preference. She will literally eat 2-3 kibbles at a time many times throughout the day. Given unlimited access to food she has maintained an ideal lean weight throughout her entire 15 years. All was well and good until I adopted a hungry underweight stray cat who I named Mumford. He would eat any food at any time in large quantities. Initially, he needed extra calories so that was okay. But once he was healthy and had gained weight, this wasn’t appropriate. Many times cats who were strays and/or in a shelter setting will eat as if they are starving even when they no longer are, This can lead to begging, overeating (if calories not regulated), and a common behavior known as ‘scarf and barf’ (eating too much too quickly and so it comes right back up). Obviously the same feeding regime does not work for both of these cats. For Petunia, a good option would be a microchip activated feeder that only allows her access. I can put her entire rations for the day in her feeder and she can eat her multiple small meals as desired. This would not work for Mumford, as if I put his entire daily amount in the feeder he would eat it all at once. So for him, an automated feeder that released measured portions every 4-6 hours would be more appropriate. I also put their feeders in separate areas close to their household territories so they (especially Petunia) can eat in peace without feeling crowded. When it’s time for their canned food meal, I feed Mumford in a separate room because otherwise he gobbles his down and then tries to barge in on Petunia. He learned very quickly that this was the routine and so as soon as I start preparing for ‘tuna time’ (this is what we called canned food dinner at my house) he would literally run into his room and jump up on his dining platform (cat tree) in anticipation. With a little trial and error and creative serving we can all find the right restaurant style for our own cat(s). So, while of course we want to feed a nutritionally balanced and quality diet – how, what, when and where we feed this diet are just as important as what we feed. Our goal is to create a natural, healthy and enjoyable dining experience for our feline family members. Please pass the mouse souffle’ with a side of tuna tartar! Dr Joey (with advice from Mumford, Petunia and the other 60 (yes 6-0) special needs cats she has shared her home with!) Although our company launched in July 2021 this is our first blog post. Sorry for the delay! Here is a brief history, then on to our mission …to connect pets with their vets to improve pet health & save veterinary team time!
Dr Hadar & I met at a veterinary innovation conference in 2019 and quickly partnered to publish a peer-reviewed paper that showed technology used in the home could improve weight loss 4X in multiple cat households. We then built an app as the transfer of information during the study was challenging & slow. This led to a dashboard that a veterinarian could look at and quickly spot trends allowing decisions regarding care and often avoid a car ride to the vet (not most cats or some dogs favorite thing!) Spudgie (a 37# cat), yes a 37# cat! just happened to appear at my practice the week our app launched. He was rescued by the Dane County Humane Society (DCHS) who had a long relationship with my clinic and our weight loss program for pets, Fit Pets for Rescues (FPR), which was held annually (prior to Covid) at Bug’s Cat Gym which is above my practice, West Towne Veterinary Center (WTVC) in Madison, WI. Fast forward 2 years and Spudgie, after twice weekly weights, daily food weights on scales connected to our app while fostering in Bug's Cat Gym and lots of "tough love" from my WTVC staff now weighs just 12#! He is now normal in every way and will soon live in my home with my 3 other cats. His rate of loss was better than established rates within the profession and HPC donated over $500 to DCHS. His full story is here https://www.giveshelter.org/news/new-year-new-cat-weight-resolutions. Shortly after Spudgie achieved his ideal weight I was alerted to Patches, a 42# cat in Richmond Virginia. He is currently on our platform and has lost 10# in just 6 months at a safe 1% average weekly weight loss and better than average weight loss rates . Patches has a huge worldwide following with over 41K followers on FB. Pet lover Kay Ford has done a truly amazing job with him! Go Patches & Kay! https://www.facebook.com/p/Patches-Journey-100092055847095/ Does HPC just monitor HUGE cats? No, many other cats & some dogs have used the HPC scale system & platform to maintain or even gain weight. Chronic care conditions like diabetes, osteoarthritis, hyperthyroidism, cancer and other diseases that affect appetite and involve frequent medications are now monitored on our platform remotely. We have also monitored perfectly healthy pets to detect inadvertent weight loss and healthy growth in puppies & kittens. Although body weight, the amount of food being fed and activity are among most important data points for pets at home owner observations, there are many other important pieces of information that can be helpful to the veterinary team. Our app uploads videos to assess movement issues, pictures or food, treats, medication and more that can help the veterinary team help make healthcare decisions. The most important thing about HPC is that we exist only to help improve the care you get from your veterinarian and to save their veterinary team’s time via telemonitoring. Additionally, we can work with any home pet health device (feeders, other smart scales, activity monitors etc) that gathers data. We are essentially a conduit of validated information to your existing veterinarian. That said, if/when you move all records & information in your subscription can be shared with your new veterinarian or or specialist if needed. Does our founders/team really know what we are doing? I have traveled in the US, Europe, Costa Rica, Mexico with my adventure cat Bug (link to FB page) and have tested countless smart feeders, activity monitors and smart scales for pets in Bugs Gym and in our FPR contests. Dr. Joey has been in feline-only practice for 18 years having over 60 special needs cats of her own (yes, she is writing "the book"!) so is an expert at chronic care from both a vet and pet parent’s perspective. Dr. Hadar will be receiving his PhD in veterinary epidemiology with an emphasis on leveraging veterinary technology from OVC Guelph in spring 2024. The rest of our team has amazing credentials and is equally focused on providing the best pet care remotely using technology. More about them and pet success stories to come! Welcome to the future of precision care for pets! Dr Ken |
AuthorDr Ken is CEO and co-founder of Healthy Pet Connect! His 4 cats pretty much run his business & personal life 
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We recommend only foods that are AAFCO tested (preferably by feeding trials) and pet behavior friendly feeding methods for all pets. Purpose fed Rx weight management diets prescribed by your veterinarian and close supervision is strongly advised for pets BCS 7/9 and over . All exams, lab work, food Rx are performed by your veterinarian (if needed) and all data is shared with your veterinarian for your pet's safety. At-home body condition scoring should only be used as a guideline. True body condition and muscle condition score can only be performed by the veterinary team.