Catkins works!
So our beloved cat Max has been with us for almost a year now. He's a hefty boy, always has been, but his weight spiked to about 17.5 pounds last fall. To put that in perspective, Max is about half the weight as James, my four year old son.
17.5 pounds is big for a cat, and while Max is a big boy to begin with, being a Maine Coon (adult males of the breed can often reach 20 pounds without an ounce of fat), that was too heavy. So we put him on a diet using a doctor-prescribed food formula: 1/4 cup twice a day of Dr. Hill's Prescription Diet -- it's a low-carb, high-protein dry food.
Today Max went to the vet for a rabies booster. He measured in at 15.1 pounds. That's an impressive amount of weight loss for four months, especially considering how sedentary he is. I consider that good progress.