So, Max has always been kinda chunky. Vet was a bit concerned at one time. Then Max got sick, got too skinny. Never *quite* gained it all back.
Molly has always been on the scrawny side. She nearly died once, lost half her body weight, and I had to put her on canned food to get her eating so she could get some weight back.
So I've had 2 normal-sized (or so I believed) for their body structures cats for last few years. But they're getting older (how can it be?)-Molly will be 8 next month, Max will be 6. And all of a sudden, they quit ignoring their canned food that they'd been eating for years (so I switched) and decided Friskies canned was the best thing ever. Both of them have been caught pushing the bowls around the floor while trying to lick every last morsel from it.
So, that brings me to today's furmomma problem-how fat is too fat, really? Molly for the first time in her life, has a little bit of a round shape when she sits in typical cat pose. She's always been pretty straight down, now she has the kind of shape Max normally has. Max, meanwhile, has gotten bigger too. H's always had a few pounds on her (her average was 9, his about 13), but he's looking rounder than he was.
How fat is too fat, and how do I slow it down? I've been so paranoid for so long about them getting sick and losing weight, I am having a hard time with the idea of cutting them down, but I don't want other health problems from overwight, either.
HELP!
Well I just took Ozzie back to the vet for something and the vet weighed him again. He was originally 16lbs when we got him from the shelter, in the month and few days that we've had him, he has gained 2lbs (I'm such a sucker).
The original vet said nothing about Ozzie being overweight. The second vet (gotta love going to a practice) said that he was overweight and should ideal be at 12 or 13 lbs. To be honest, I don't give that much hope. Ozzie is a big cat.
But we did cut back on how much we are feeding him....because he has gotten chunky as well.
Somewhere on the Hill's Pet Food site I once found a place that showed you how an average weight cat should look. It is actually under the Pet Fit Challenge.
But I do remember that you should be able to feel their ribs relatively easily, and that there really should be a belly when you look at them from the side (and they are standing).
My vet also told me that I could call up and ask to come in and put Ozzie on the scales, since I don't have any at home, and it is my understanding that they'll do it for free. So you might wanna call and ask if they would weight them for you that way you'd know.
Well, last we went to the vet, we were told that Jade is too fat. She's only 10 pounds, but she certainly has a gut. And her sister is the same lenght as she is and is only 6 pounds. While I think Sissy should be fatter (very skinny kitty), I don't think Jade is fat.
The most noticable time to see Jade's fat is when she sits on her butt. DH says she looks like a Hersey's Kiss!
She's only 3 and is still very active. She doesn't overeat, I know that for sure. I only put out enough food for one day for both kitties. They graze equally. Jade hasn't lost any weight, but Sissy seems to have gained some. And they only occasionally get wet food as a treat. And both gobble it up like I've been starving them or something! But if I give them wet food, they get less dry food in their grazing bowl.
I found the Pet Fit Challenge! Apparently, Jade has a pound to loose.
I used to have a few fat cats. While many were "big boned" and old male cats, I did become concerned about over feeding them. We generally fed one can of wet food per day (half in the morning and half at night)--per cat. We supplemented with dry food as well. Since they were indoor cats, it was hard for them to get sufficient exercise too... So, we tried to cut back on some of the extra food, and switch to dry food at night. Hope that helps?
It's funny, because when you look at the directions on my wet food, it says 2 pouches of food per 5 pounds of cat. Even if Jade should be 9 pounds, thats 3-4 pouches of food a day. She coudn't eat that now! She eats 1/2 at a time then another 1/2 cup of dry.
Even when we were feeding Sissy only wet so she'd take her antibiotics, she ate only 1 pouch a day, really.
Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society. Mark Twain LJ
Mine go through one can per day total, not each. They'd be big as houses if I gave them that! They each get a spoonful in the morning and a spoonful at night. And I've always free fed the dry food. The only pther time I had a problem was when Molly got into Max's kitten food, and got pretty big-I put him on adult food early and had no more problems. I've spent most of their lives-hers especially-trying to keep weight ON them, not off!
But I can still easily feel her ribs while she's standing up, and his too. So hopefully that means they aren't too big. Yet.
My cat weighs 22lbs. But he's just a really big cat. He really doesn't look all that fat. He eats mostly dry food, I try to give him canned food everyday, but sometimes I forget. Our vet has never said anything other than he's a REALLY big cat! lol!
My cat's not fat. He's just big-boned. So what if his bones are soft and squishy????
Both of my cats are fat. One has always been big and the other has just started to get fatter. I don't know what to do. They're on low-cal cat food, and the one that's recently begun to gain weight runs around all the time. The other one doesn't run around very much and isn't that interested in playing.
How can you really make a cat lose weight? I think it's really hard when the cats are strictly indoors, which is what mine are.
My cats are big, but I don't think they are overweight. I feed them three scoops (using 3/4 measuring cup) of dry food and they get 1 soft food packet split between them per day. The dry food is out all day the soft food they get in the morning. But Beau our male is a large cat and Belle has a little fluff to her Their parents were large cats also; Dad was a purebread Siamese and mom was a purebread Persian. So I am hoping that their size is due to large genes and not being overweight.
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Their parents were large cats also; Dad was a purebread Siamese and mom was a purebread Persian. So I am hoping that their size is due to large genes and not being overweight. 
