My journey started fourteen years ago in 2003, the year I was born. When I was a wee little kitten of only a few weeks old, me and my siblings lived in a wall of a factory where humans made things. There were huge metal beasts going to and fro all over the factory floor. I remember the stories my parents would tell when they thought I wasn't listening about the large metal beasts making kitties disappear. My parents wanted a better life for me so they told me to come out of the wall when the metal beasts were sleeping and meow as loud as I could. It worked because a human found me and took me home when I was about three weeks old. Sadly, I never did see my parents or siblings again. To this day, I often wonder if they ever made it out of that place alive.
My new place was nice and I meet my three new sisters. They were much older than I was. The youngest one would give me a bath every morning. After my bath, I would chase the other two all over my new home. I was so happy that I completely forgot about my old life at the factory. When I was old enough I was allowed to go downstairs to help the humans with projects. I especially enjoyed the big magnifying glass. The humans took lots of pictures of me which made me feel like someone special and famous. I even got a big brother who would come into the house from time to time who looked just like me only a lot larger. He would tease me from time to time pretending to be getting ready to pounce on me only to quickly curl up like he was asleep whenever the humans would enter the room. I was so happy with my life.
Around the age of six I noticed that one by one my new siblings started disappearing like my older siblings did so many years earlier. First, it was my brother who stopped coming over, then my sister who bathed me every morning disappeared. I was told by the humans that they went to kitty heaven. By the time I was down to only one sister I began to panic. I did not understand where kitty heaven was, all I knew was that I wanted to go too. It was not fair that they got to go and left me all alone here. In 2009, with only one sister left, I noticed that I was beginning to get fat. My energy levels were dropping and I was getting lazy. The humans wanted to keep me busy so they gave me my own blog on the web called Weight Loss Cat where I could paw about my struggles to the entire world. I was not so sure at first if that was a good idea or not but I did it anyways and it was kinda of fun. At least I still had one sister and a couple friends who would visit by my window from the outside.
I was about eight when my last sister left me; that was the finally straw. I was so sad that all I wanted to do was sleep, eat, lay around, eat and repeat. My enthusiasm for life and being athletic was gone. I even had a hard time blogging. In 2011 my humans adopted a baby brother for me. They thought that he might help me get over my slump and depression. I would spend most of my time in hiding. The humans were worried that there might be something wrong with me so they took me to the vet. The vet diagnosed me with psycho kitty syndrome. Now I was fat and psycho!
Between the years of 2013 and 2014 two additional brothers were added to the household. Now there was me and three brothers. I got over my psycho kitty syndrome and learned to accept my brothers especially since two of them were as lazy as myself. However, even with my spirits slightly lifted I was still obese and I was starting to have a really difficult time getting from room to room. I would go downstairs but it would take a long time to get back up the stairs. At age ten or eleven, my health started to go downhill fast. I couldn't even get across the room without resting every couple of inches. I figured it was my turn to head off to this kitty heaven place where all my sisters went. Back to the vet I went. My doctor diagnosed me with diabetes. He told me that being overweight leads to many health problems such as diabetes. I've been getting insulin shots twice a day since early 2014.
The moral of my story is simple; changes in one’s lifestyle and surroundings can, and often does, lead to depression and other health problems. My diabetes is finally under control with my insulin shots however, I'm still fat. I know that I have to lose these pounds somehow but it is not an easy mission. I've tried all the fad diets and exercise but nothing seems to work for me. It took me awhile to get this size so I guess it is going to take some time to lose it. One thing is for certain, I have too much to live for to just give up now. I have laid off the cake and frosting, so I guess that's one step in the right direction.
My name is Indigo aka Indy and I'm the WeightLossCat. You can read my musings about weight and everything in between on my blog www.weightlosscat.com.
Also be sure to follow me on www.twitter.com/weightlosscat and like me on www.facebook.com/weightlosscat.
"Cats make one of the most satisfying sounds in the world: they purr ...
A purring cat is a form of high praise, like a gold star on a test paper. It is reinforcement of something we would all like to believe about ourselves - that we are nice."
Roger A Caras