Posts tagged "CatObesity"

The majority of today's pet cats are at least somewhat overweight, and a large percentage is obese. Long gone are the days when an average, medium-framed adult feline weighed a sleek ten pounds. Now, the same cat typically will weigh thirteen to fourteen pounds. A disturbing number will tip the scales at a morbidly obese twenty pounds or more.

Are you concerned that your cat is overweight? Here is what you need to know:

1. If your cat is an adult female, she should weigh between seven and eleven pounds. Exceptions are purebred cats of the Maine coon, Norwegian forest cat and ragdoll breeds. Healthy females of these breeds can weigh as much as fourteen pounds.

2. If your cat is an adult male, and not one of the larger breeds mentioned above, he should weigh nine to twelve pounds. Healthy males of the larger breeds can weigh thirteen to eighteen pounds normally.

3. Even if your cat does not exceed the guidelines above, he or she may still be overweight. One way to tell is to stand your cat up on its back legs. Do you see a "waist" just below the rib cage and just above the hind legs? Cats should not be perfect rectangles or squares. They are designed to have shoulders and ribs that are broader than their hips, like an athletic human swimmer.

Wherein I try to get my pets to a healthy cat weight.

After finally accepting the fact that Tino and DeeDee must lose weight, I made an appointment with the obeasts' vet for advice on a game plan.

It had been a little over a year since the two had officially been weighed and I knew both had added on some chub. It wasn't until they got on the scale that it became obvious just how much had been added to their heft. DeeDee weighed in at over 19 pounds -- a pound or two up from last year. Tino, meanwhile, was over 18 pounds -- less than DeeDee, but considering he was 14 pounds just last year, that meant he'd put on about 30% of his body weight. Ruh-roh!

In medical terms: "That's insane," according to my vet.

Game Plan
I was asked, how much was I feeding them? Brace yourself. They split a can of wet food at night, and then have a "couple of scoops" of dry stuff throughout the day. My vet asked me how big a scoop was, then winced when I held up a one-cup measure. I was then informed that DeeDee and Tino should only be getting the canned food plus a 1/4 cup of dry food each. Oops!

I mentioned that Tino had been drinking more water than usual, so the vet tested his blood sugar, as weight gain and water drinking can be a sign of diabetes. Sure enough, his sugar was off the charts, meaning not only does Tino need to be on a diet, but he needs insulin injections and urine monitoring. Fun.

With this diagnosis, she recommended that the cats be switched to only wet food (a suggestion many of you made in the comments last week).

Health Stats
Diabetes is far from the only risk for fat cats. Veterinary researchers at Cornell University found that obese cats are also more likely to suffer from lameness due to arthritis or muscle injuries and non-allergic skin conditions. Read: Two things I'll have to be on the lookout for.

Even scarier? The report also found that fat cats are "twice as likely to die in middle age, which for cats is 6 to 12 years." Tino and DeeDee just turned 10, so they really have to pull it together! Diet starts today.