My cat and my dog are overweight, what do I need to do to get them back to a healthy weight?

My cat, Emily, was born in April 2012, and my dog, Westley who is a Shih tzu, was born March 2007. I am first going to start out with him. He was a healthy dog and had a perfect weight and was very happy. We exercise him once a week and he was fine. One day one of our relatives came with a little puppy and it ran off in our house. She had a little 'accident' and then Westley started to mark his territory. we tried everything to get him to stop. Then I learned he marked his territory when his hormones make him naturally do his thing, so we neutered him may 2012. That actually did not solve the problem then he started to gain weight! He was normally 16 lbs being a large Shih tzu, he jumped to 20 lbs! He hates to go on walks and so it really ticked us off. I wanted a pet cat, so we bought a kitty that looks like a cute little white tiger. She got to nine pounds and then we spayed her (may 2013). I thought she stayed at the most ten pounds. We left on a trip for five days and left them home. We had an eleven year old watch our pets. Emily does have a bad habit of eating Westley's food. We usually separate them at mealtime. When we came back, Westley looked and felt much heavier when we last held him. I weighed him. HE WAS 23 AND 1/2 LBS!!! Emily even looked wider. She was 12 AND A 1/2 POUNDS! She was 9 lbs last time I weighed her! And that was not too long ago! I feed Emily the 4 Health all life stage formula food and Westley 'taste of the wild poultry mix' and avoid wheat corn and soy and Genetically Modified Organisms. I don't know what to do. I need to take Westley out on more walks, and play with Emily more and get them exercised, I'm trying to feed them Caster and Pollux but its super expensive for its size. Do you recommend another feed or a place to get a more affordable Castor and Pollux weight loss dog food and indoor cat feed? Anything else I need to do to get them back in shape?Thank you and I appreciate your effort to help! =D

How to Lose Weight: 20 Pounds in 60 Days Without Exercise

Recommended Answer:

Feed the cat canned food or raw. http://www.catinfo.org/?link=felineobesityFeed them in meals to keep the cat from eating the dogs food. I would stick with taste of the wild for the dog. Feed them a little less. Take the dog on more walks, play fetch etc. Get cat teaser toys and if its an option get a cat tree or put up cat shelves and maybe put up a climbing post (pole covered in sisal) if she has all her claws.

Other Answers:

• You don't need weight loss food for your pets. Feed them once a day and at the same time everyday. Don't leave the food out for them to come back whenever they want to snack. Let them eat till they walk away from the food then take it up. Make sure the food they eat is high in minerals and vitamins. When the body doesn't get the nutrients it needs it feels as if it's starving and will make you want more food as a way to get the nutrients and it will go on and on while getting fatter and the body will keep all the fat because it thinks it's starving