Squeaky before and after pictures.

Little does one of our cats know that I’m writing an article about him becoming an Adonis kitty.

What kind of a name is Squeaky?

We’ve had “Squeaky” for about 10 years now.  First, you are probably wondering what the heck kind of a name is “Squeaky”?  Well, we live in a remote area right next to a wild canyon.  Let’s just say when it comes to the outdoor pets only the smart and strong survive.  We have a couple of indoor cats who can never go outside because they wouldn’t survive.

Squeaky is one of the outdoor “ranch cats”.   Usually we wait just a bit to name some of the ranch pets, and by then some part of their personality becomes a highlight and makes it easy to pick a name that describes them.

Another before and after comparison. Squeaky weighed about 17 pounds most of his adult life. He is 10 years old now and weighs 13 pounds.

Squeaky has always had this sort of cute, low volume, squeaky sounding meow. Whenever we go outside and he hears us, he comes trotting towards us from a long way off,”squeaking” the whole way.  It’s really kind of cute.  So he got the name Squeaky.

Squeaky suddenly started moving around more and lost weight

Several weeks ago we noticed that he takes off to somewhere up the road and stays away, sometimes over night or for a day or so, and then comes back.  All of our pets are fixed so we know there is no girlfriend involved. We’ve also noticed that he seems kind of wiry and is more active now, and he’s lost a lot of weight.  We were worried that he might be sick or have hyperthyroidism which is common in cats.

We took Squeaky to the vet and they checked him out and did blood work and it turns out he is absolutely healthy, not a thing wrong with him.  For all of his adult life he’s weighed about 17 pounds.  He was fat.  Now he weighs 13 pounds.

We never even knew Squeaky was fat.  We always thought he was just big and muscular compared to his siblings; we thought he was strong and “beefy”.  The vet said he was perfect now; the epitome of health.  Lean and mean.  Randy and I laughed and said “He’s become an Adonis kitty!”

We were happy to learn that Squeaky wasn’t sick, in fact he had simply become a healthy, lean and mean Adonis kitty!

What changed for Squeaky?

We started thinking about what changed? Well he used to hang around with one of his brothers, another Mackerel tabby we had named Tiger.  But Tiger recent passed away due to stomach cancer.  Squeaky and Tiger were buddies and they hung around the ranch together.

Now that Tiger is gone, Squeaky is more active and trots up the road to the neighbors property to hang out sometimes.  He comes and goes a lot.  He simply eats less and moves more, so he lost weight and became an Adonis.

Squeaky on the top tier when he used to hang about the property more. Now he trots up and down the road, back and forth, and is simply more active.

Regulating food intake is key

We’ve noticed over the years that some of our pets just sort of self regulate their eating.  Most are active because they have plenty of room to move around.  But some will eat until they get fat and we have to regulate their food.

Funny it’s just like people.  Too much food makes us fat. Sometimes we have to regulate what we eat to either lose weight or maintain.  It is really the same simple principle.  There is nothing wrong with our metabolism, there is nothing wrong with us, we just need to learn to navigate the over abundance of food that we are constantly bombarded with. It really is that simple.

It was kind of the same way for me having been over weight most of my life.  I never realized how small I was or even what my true shape was until I lost all the weight.  People thought I was strong and big boned.  You don’t really know what you have under all that fat until you get there.

I found out there is really no such thing as “big boned”; I think that’s the sort of look you get when you have muscle AND fat (at least it was for me). Once you lose the excess weight you realize it’s easier to move and you have more energy.

Just like we noticed with Squeaky.

The other thing is that I never knew that I ate too much.  I’m not sure how that fact was lost along the way during my years of yo-yo dieting and in the mountain of diet and fitness information I had accumulated along the way.

It wasn’t until I immersed myself in the Venus Factor lifestyle that the idea finally solidified in my mind; I’m small, I don’t move as much as my ancestors did to survive (even with intense gym workouts), therefore I don’t need so much food.

The key for me wasn’t in a calorie counter, calculator, chart, or book (although those are a good place to start), but actually in learning to watch my body change over time according to the amount I ate, as well as paying attention to the ebb and flow of how I feel.

Randy took these pictures while we were sitting on our deck during a lunch break; California Mule deer in our back yard, doe and fawn. In the picture on the lower left the doe is letting her fawn nurse.

Life in the wilderness

On another note regarding the wilderness area we live.  As I was downloading the “after” pictures of Squeaky I noticed some fun pictures Randy took about the same time.  It’s quite common to see mule deer in California, but it’s rare to see a doe nursing her fawn.

This doe and fawn were literally in our back yard just below our deck, and you can see the fawn nursing in one picture.  The fawn was barely walking on wobbly legs.  They were quite amazing and beautiful.

I hope you enjoyed the little animal story.  Until next time,

-Ro