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#405418 04/10/08 08:45 PM
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That "20" should be a "20 +" smile

Cat Weight
multiple choice
Votes accepted starting: 04/10/08 08:45 PM

Lisa Shea, Low Carb and Video Games Editor
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We just got back from the vet today with our two kitties. Hamlet is a cat rescue kitten I got 13 years ago (he's about to turn 14) who has routinely been over 20 pounds - we have him down I think to 17.3 pounds. Juliet was a stray from our back yard and she is I think 7.7 pounds. I can go check for sure once Hamlet gets up from where he is curled up against me.


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One cat is 9lbs, one is 19lbs.

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Our kitty was a "rescue pet" and she weighs about 7 pounds. Whispurr is a gentle, affectionate cat and has learned, over time, to trust and love us. My grandson picked her out from the pet rescue at Pets R Us because she had a broken tail.

Last night, my grandson found a stray cat who is just skin and bones! He brought her home, gave her some food and milk then called the pet rescue and they picked her up. She is so cute, all black with yellow eyes. Grandson took pictures of her. She is bigger than our cat but only weighs about 4 pounds, she is so skinny! Hopefully she will find a good, loving home and put on some healthy weight.


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My kitty was a rescue too. I found him when he was probably around three or four weeks old. He was really hungry and could barely walk when I found him. Now, almost three years later, he is spoiled, very loved, and weighs 15 pounds. He's my baby and I'm so glad I found him!


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Phyllis, milk is actually very bad for adult cats (and cow's milk is still bad for kittens), and can be deadly to a starving cat. Cats are lactose intolerant so it can cause diarrhea which means that all the nutrients as well as water gets flushed out of their body. It <i>seems</i> like a good idea to give a cat milk because of that old image of the cat with a saucer of milk, but in reality it's just not a good idea.

Also, I hate to say that taking in a cat like that was a bad idea, but if you already have a cat in the house if that stray had Filv or any other common contagious cat disease, you could have given that to the cat you already have. Hopefully that stray will be tested and show up negative. frown I'm not being alarmist by the way, I just read a blog where this exact thing occurred. (except that the blog writer took precautions so his own cats weren't infected, thankfully)

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Grey, according to everything I've read MOST adult cats are lactose intolerant, not all.

According to Beastie, she's not most cats. She gets a tiny bit of milk on a saucer (not quite enough to cover the bottom) once every few months as a treat. I don't want to give her too much or offer it too often for fear she'll eventually develop trouble digesting it and I won't know it until she's had too much. So far, no trouble.

But her fondness for it seems to be waning. She loves the smell, but drinks it less enthusiastically than she used to. The last time I gave her milk, she didn't drink much at all. In fact, she shook her paw at it (the international feline sign language for "This @#$% is awful! Take it away!") after giving it a try. I'll probably give it one more shot before I stop giving in to her eager sniffing of my glass of milk and no longer offer her a bit of her own.

Last edited by myrabeth; 04/12/08 12:22 AM.

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Well when in such small doses as that there's no danger. My aunt used to do the same thing as you with her cat, and it just resulted in farts from the netherworld. >_< (of course the cat HAD to be laying on the table when that happened too) Most people that give cats milk though give them far more than that, and that's when trouble occurs.

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Well, Beastie has a strong stomach, and I appreciate that (from the carpet up!), but I don't want to push my limits. Also, she's overweight, so I watch her food and treat intake pretty closely. Which pulls this conversation back on topic...

Beastie's weight has been as high as 13 pounds, but she's at about 12 now. We're always working on finding ways to increase her exercise and lower her food consumption (without her making us crazy -she's pretty much intolerable when she's hungry!). We're making slow progress in trimming her down. However, I don't think we'll ever want her to weigh less than about 10 pounds. She's a big cat, long body, very muscular, and big boned. Her optimum weight is probably going to be about 10 pounds. The numbers aren't the biggest concern, of course. We just want her to be healthy and have a healthy shape.


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Yeah, so far I'm not concerned about my cat's weight (not even sure how much he weighs since he's just hit one year old and is still growing like crazy). I don't think he'll ever be an overweight cat, food sort of interests him but not incredibly, he doesn't like people food, and he LOVES to play and play hard.

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I have three cats and one is VERY fat! He sleeps on his back with his feet all sticking out and he looks like a fat raccoon! As far as I can tell, he doesn't eat more than the other two and they're normal shape. I even bought the weight watcher cat food.

He is 12 years old tho and has no health problems that I know of.

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Like a lot of humans, cats will often put on a little weight as they age and still be as healthy... some even NEED to put on an extra pound or two to maintain the same level of health they had when they were younger. Again, like humans, a healthy weight in the senior years can be higher or lower. It varies from cat to cat. As long as your vet is not concerned, and your cat still acts healthy, I wouldn't worry. But mention that specifically on your next vet visit to be sure.


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If you get a laser pointer, you can get the cats some fun exercise chasing it around smile


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In my experience, the older the cat gets, the more blase it gets about the laser pointer. I've seen that "I'm not a kitten, and I'm not your dog. Chase it yourself" look on quite a few feline faces, including my Beastie's.

Beastie is not quite 2 and a half and is already bored with the laser pointer after the first 2 minutes, no matter what new tricks we try, or how long it's been since we've used it. I'm considering her one of those remote control mice to give her something three dimensional (and new) to chase.

That animal has no attention span for anything but food and bird watching. We are constantly trying new games and/or toys with her to get her more active. She gets bored with everything quickly, the spoiled brat! :p

Green, I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one here with one of those "back sleeper" cats. Even when Beastie was young and skinny she slept on her back. Now that she's (much) bigger, she does kind of have a raccoon shape to her when she's on her back. If her stomach was marked like her back is, she'd have the full raccoon look!


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My cat weighs almost 13lbs and the last time I went to the vet they told me that she needs to lose around 3lbs. We've been rationing her food for the last 4 months and it seems like she might be slimming down a tiny bit. But I was thinking that maybe the reason she gained weight in the first place was because of the food we have been feeding her. Has anyone else found this to be the problem? I've been looking at different brands of dry foods to find something healthier than what she gets now. Does anyone feed taste of the wild? It's got a great ingredient list and it's supposed to be good for maintaining a healthy weight.

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I forget if you participated in the dry food / wet food thread WonderWoman - but have you tried wet food instead? It fills the cat up with liquid (which is more natural for them) and they therefore get less calories, so they gain less weight.

It's for example the difference between a human eating a plate of pasta, or eating a large salad which could be equally filling but have less calories.

Our cats definitely gain weight if we feed them dry food.


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Wonderwoman, do you remember that in a previous thread I talked about mixing my cat's dry food to try to balance the best nutrients with her weight loss needs? Well the update is that it's working. She still gets wet food once or twice a week, but most of her meals are a combination of Evo (by Innova), which is really awesome in nutritional aspects for a dry food, and Purina One, which she likes and which is helping her lose weight. We had to adjust the Evo:Purina One ratio to 1:2, instead of the previous 1:1 to make it work, though.

Evo alone was giving me a healthy cat, but she was getting progressively chubbier, even though she's been on carefully rationed feedings for most of her life. We have always made efforts to add more play and exercise to her life, but I suspect Evo was just too fatty for her level of activity. However, I didn't want to give up the high nutritional value of that food, so the mixed food idea was born. And my cat is getting (as we phrase it at home) "almost cat shaped!")

She gets bored with food more than ANY cat I've ever known, so we'll have to keep "changing it up" occasionally. (Fortunately for her incredibly picky personality, she's one of those rare cats who adjusts to food changes with great ease!) We're already on our second variety of Purina One! *frustrated sigh* I think my next food move is going to be to have her try the Evo canned food. It's more nutritious that many of the "grocery store brands" and hopefully, she won't notice. (You know, I once had two happy, healthy cats who were content to eat the same food day after day for years on end. My current pet is their polar opposite! She wants something different every week!)

I just wanted to update you on our little food experiment and remind you of yet another option to consider (mixing brands) in your efforts to get your cat in better shape.


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Hi Myrabeth - I do remember you talking about that. And I thought it was a great idea but I'll admit I haven't tried it yet. I'm still stuck on which foods to choose and I'm guessing another trip to the vet would be a good idea. There are a lot of premium brands that are grain-free and have great ingredient lists but most of them are pricey. Taste of the wild is the most affordable that I've seen. But what to mix it with? How long were you feeding the mixture before realized that your cat was doing much better?

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It took a few weeks for there to be a visible difference. You have be pretty patient with this stuff.
Local price for a 6 lb. bag of Evo: about $15
I haven't seen Taste of the Wild around here. Where have you found it?


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There is a store locator on their website that will help you find stores that have it. There are a few in my area that carry it. Here's the website - Taste of the Wild

A 6 lb bag is a good starting place and I will probably just mix it with what I feed now. Thanks!

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Originally Posted By: Green1
I have three cats and one is VERY fat! He sleeps on his back with his feet all sticking out and he looks like a fat raccoon! As far as I can tell, he doesn't eat more than the other two and they're normal shape. I even bought the weight watcher cat food.

He is 12 years old tho and has no health problems that I know of.


Lol. One of my cats is huge as well and sleeps in the same position. He is also 12. Even as a kitten he was fat! I took him to the vet...I thought the cat looked like a whiskey barrel on legs...he weighed in at a whopping 16.5 pounds, but according to the vet, he's not fat. He's just a really big, heavy cat!

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One of my cats is 12 lbs, and the other is 16. They get water and Science Diet, period. The funny part is, I may have to start restricting their feedings rather than free-feeding because our puppy is trying to eat their food. She scrambles over the baby gate easier than the cats and is smaller than them, so other than feeding them on a table or counter (habits I do NOT want to encourage) I can't think of any way to keep their food away from the pup.

The kitties are a little chubby, I admit, but the bigger one is very big-boned and it's mostly muscle.

Sarah:


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