Fat cats

Durbkat

I was submitting some photo's of Snoopy and the tree that knocked the power out when I noticed this slide show of cats on our news station website, which is the same site I was putting the photos I was talking about on, and people post their pictures of their fat cats. I looked at the pics and I couldn't believe how fat some of these cats were and people seemed proud of it! It was gross. Here are the pics,
http://www.wlky.com/slideshowcentral/index.html

Scroll down to the fat cats slide show towards the bottom.

Puppy_love_122

Poor kittys

Dakota Spirit

I think it's imperative to point out that those cats are probably not all fat for lack of exercise. My late kitty was rather large - but she also had medical issues that caused her to be so. Also, some cats are simply big cats. Similar to how some people will never be a trim twig of a person. It has nothing to do with exercise, its just how their body chemistry works.

To my knowledge, it's not the same as seeing say...a fat dog.

ETA: I looked through the pictures again. Some of those cats I wouldn't even qualify as 'fat'. They just happen to be larger then the average house cat.

sillylilykitty

Some of those cats are not fat. But some, are tooo fat! It is harder to keep a cat in shape because you cant take it for jogs and most dont want to play fetch.

For the health of my cat, I will never allow her or any future cats of mine to get fat....if I can help it. I will always feed them individually two times a day no matter if I have 1 cat or 5 cats (I dont ever plan on owning 5 cats at once, not even 4. Maybe 3 cats tops at one time but 2 or 1 is a good number of cats for me).

I pick up my cats multiple times everyday, I am constantly changing exactly how much food they get. Either they look a little skinny so I give more food, they look a little chubby so I feed them a little less or they look perfect (in which case I either give them a bonus of extra food or the amount they should be getting). At the moment Lily is too skinny and Tanzie is perfect, lol. I'm sorta the same way with myself in that I dont care how much you weigh it is what you look like that is important (being happy with how I look).

I think too many Americans allow their cats to get fat and dont do anything about it. Then the cats get sick because they are fat. It doesnt happen to all of them, and yes some of them got sick first and then became fat. But I think more people should care about their cats body weight (and nutrition too).

fuzzie

I noticed something really surprising this weekend when I ran out of good cat food and I had to feed my cat some Purina we had laying around. When she is on high-ish quality cat food (currently blue buffalo, deboned chicken, chicken meal) she eats the reccomended measure of 1/2 cup over a day. When she was on Purina (chicken by-product meal, corn) for the two days, she was pouncing my ankles by noon to feed her more!

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Katzyn

She really DOES mean "constantly changing exactly how much food they get."! XD

I wish I had more control over how much and what food our seven cats eat. We have some fat cats, and one very obese cat (well, she weighs about 14 lbs, but she's very rotund...). I'm trying to keep my two kitties in shape, though, by playing stimulating, chase-me games with toy wands. =3

I watched part of a show on Animal Planet about People in Europe and their fat pets. It was discusting. Those people were spoiling those pets rotten! One lady even said that she'd give the animal (I think it was a dog) anything it wanted. (then there was that lady on "It's Me or the Dog" who fed her terrier chocolate on a regular basis...*shudders*)

Willowy

Haha, I resemble that remark! I, too, have 7 cats, and most of them are quite fat. Let's see....Silka and Sammy are of a healthy weight. Silka is crazy high-strung, so her metabolism is probably very high, or else she doesn't have time to eat. Sammy is just Sammy. He's active but not hyper, and doesn't overeat. He's really the perfect cat (but I'm not biased or anything.....). Scotty is fat, but I don't think he's terribly overweight. He still has a waist, although he also has a fat pad that hangs down (but he was BORN with that fat pad). Scrappy is FAT. He's not a big cat, but is very round. Same with Bitsy. I thought she was pregnant when I first got her. Dusty is a little bit chubby. Dakota is round, but is also so fluffy that you can't see under her---her fur touches the ground. I just got her a couple weeks ago, so I'm not certain if her weight will stabilize with a better diet (her last owner fed her liverwurst! ), or if she's just fat. It's really hard to monitor the food intake of 7 cats. I think there would be a riot if I tried to institute a scheduled meal plan. I tried feeding them the "light" version of their food (Chicken Soup), but that made them fatter. Too many carbs, I guess.

Katzyn

Ugh. At least you were able to get them to eat healthier food. My parents insist on feeding Purina Indoor formula, even though I've tried to convince them that even getting Science Diet would be better (we get a discount at school). But, they wouldn't go for it. =/

And sometime, they give the cats little tidbits of...food, like potato chips, spam, chicken (which is okay), MILK (omg, my dad is so bad about this! He lets my cat Sassy drink as much as she wants from his glass...). And when we had SLK's two siamese for a while, all mom did was complain about how they should eat Purina instead, because it would "make their poop stink less". That may or may not be true, but SLK's kitties are much healthier than our kitties, and I told Mom that!

But, I'm only the kid in the house, who has gone to vet tech school for two years and is almost graduated, what do I know, anyway? -_-

sillylilykitty

I still dont understand this...Will they listen to you after you actually ARE a vet tech and working in a clinic and tell them horror stories or something?? Geesh

Katzyn

Maybe? XD Probably not. After all Mom's had cats all her life, and so she OBVIOUSLY knows better than me, even though she doesn't know half the things I've learned in school.

Sorry. Bitter. =<

Love's_Sophie

I couldn't even watch it...I see so many overweight animals at the grooming shop I work at...I don't need too...it just saddens me to see them in that state; obesity is, in my humble opinion, just as cruel as starving...both are extremely unhealthy, and lead to early deaths, or at the least health problems...

My girls are fed free choice, but I moniter their weight; if anyone gets overweight the free choice option will change...however, I have always fed freechoice with my cats, and have never had an issue...sooo??? Guess it depends on the food; these guys nibble when they are hungry, but aren't constantly at the dish...well, the preggy girl is, but that is TOTALLY understandable!! Haha

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