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Weight June 9, 2009 8:56 PM

How do you know when your cat is overweight. My female cat is small and thin, but the male cat has large paws and is a very big cat not even 1 yrs old.

Ron June 9, 2009 9:27 PM

My 10 year old is fat - vet says so. My 16 year old needs to gain weight - vet says so. So .... if I only have food available to them at select times, the underweight cat suffers. If I leave food out all of the time so the underweight cat can gain weight, the fat cat gets fatter. So, the option is, for the benefit of the 16 year old (with a hyper thyroid), there's food in front of them at all times.

Kath June 9, 2009 9:34 PM

I have two cats. One is a good weight, the other is 2+ lbs. overweight. How do you feed both, with attention being given to only the overweight one. I feed them out of separate bowls, in separate places, but it doesn't work. The one eventually gets to the other dish, and finishes it.

Lola June 9, 2009 10:32 PM

I have the same problem. One cat is fat and the other skinny. There is just no good way to fix it.

Rain June 10, 2009 7:27 AM

The double standard, I have same issue. I have 2 same approx age 1 male mother was Maine Coon he is long and very thin with beautiful shiny hair and full white main and very active although he is an indoor cat, he runs up and down the stairs hundreds of times through out the day. Then the littl miss, she is short legged, bent tail tortie, so plump she is about 2 lbs heavier than my male. They are both almost 2 yrs old. She is the kibble baby he is a wet food addict. So in order for him to eat the kibble for his teeth and hopefully to put on some more weight I do leave 2 different dry foods out. I try to give him enough without trying to encourage her to eat more. I have switched the dry food now and I noticed my little girl eats less often so I think this food is filling her up more at each feeding. I only give each bowl 2/3 cup a day anyway and they are not always completely empty by morning, sometimes they are but not always and they share 1/2 can Fancy Feast in the morning and 1/2 in evening. I tried to eliminated the evening but Lucky just howls all night. The dry foods I feed are Purina Naturals Cat Chow and The Good Life Recipe Indoor Recipe chicken flavor. This seems to be working very well now for both and I am playing very hard with them with the wand toy really getting them running and jumping.

Pgh Go Pens!! June 10, 2009 9:02 AM

I have two cats also. One skinny and one fat. Same story. We put out food in the morning for both. We give the skinny cat her own food in the evening in a seperate room. Although it gives us piece of mind that she is getting her fair share, it really doesn't make any difference in her weight or King Pudge for that matter. Cats are like people. Some skinny, some hefty. They both are adorable and I really wouldn't change anything about them.

Tigger's Mom June 10, 2009 9:43 AM

I have 5 indoor cats. Sage, a male maine coon mix, is long and skinny at 15 lbs, and you can't convince him to eat. Then Tigger (male) and Pixie (female) love to eat and are just a tad too big. Spooky is also close to normal and she eats like she's starving to death. Then I have Onyx, a Persian mix, who went from a sleek, perfect 8lbs when she lived outside, to 13 lbs when she moved into my home. I have tried all my vets recommendations, and nothing seems to help. My skinny cat was the one to loose weight! She is out of ideas. It's just a problem you are going to have with a multicat household. Although I worry about them being overweight and I remind myself that these cats will have a much longer life than they would have had I not rescued them from the wild.

Poofins loving mommy June 10, 2009 10:37 AM

ahhh yes, it seems we all have the same problem, multiple cats mutiple sizes.
I also have 4 cats, one is a petite little thing (la Ninia) who is all of 9 pounds soaking wet. She's part Tonk and full of energy racing around the house like a lunatic all the time. Baby Boy is her brother who is part Siamese, long high back legs, a bit overweight at 13 pounds, but he's a big boy to begin with. Their sister (my sweetie, Poofin) is part Rag Doll and was long and sleek, until we took in a forth cat, then she gained and gained until she finally stopped at 14 pounds, now she looks like she has short fat legs, she also has a round belly....very round.
Finally, Biggins who is 16 pounds and solid. I know their mother (Smoke)was a Tonk also. Biggins was from her first litter, the others were from her second.
I also have tried to feed in different rooms, nothing has worked. I have noticed that Poofin will "always" eat. She'll curl up next to me in the evening and get up every few seconds to nibble, then come back, sleep a few minutes then get up to eat again. I also noticed after she put on the last pound or two, she breathes a lot heavier.
My son swore it was because I would feed them things from the table, which I stopped a year ago....still have a fat kitty so it wasn't that alone!
I just started to feed in the evening and am taking up the bowls during the night. We'll see how this goes.

marmie's mom June 10, 2009 4:14 PM

Though it hasn't helped my fat cat to lose weight, I place my skinny cats' food on a bench where the fat one can't reach it. I give her smaller portions--practically nothing at certain times of day, just enough so she won't feel left out when the others are eating. Still, she maintains her weight or loses very little.

Sara June 10, 2009 5:53 PM

If you have two cats with only one overweight, you will need to feed them in separate bowls and actually watch them eat. I feed one in the bathroom with me while I get ready in the morning so she can finish her food without the overweight cat finishing her bowl of food. Science Diet Light has worked for my kitties. Two pounds lost and only one more to go!!

Susie June 10, 2009 10:23 PM

Same problem here - 5 indoor only kitties. 2 are overweight; two are normal; one is large but I wouldn't say he's fat. We divide 2 cans of food between the five twice a day but they also free-feed on dry food. I know I should probably stop the free feed but we've done this as long as we've had them (oldest is 12, youngest is 5). after all these years they are used to it.

Roonie June 11, 2009 5:14 AM

My cat Max was up to 28 pounds. He's addicted to dry cat food. (like I'm addicted to potato chips) Most supermarket dry cat foods contain corn or rice. Hello.....cats don't need to eat corn or rice. Did you ever see a fat ferrel cat? That's because they mostly eat protein.
Unfortunately, a low carb, high protein diet costs more and you have to go to a PetSmart or PetSource to get them.
Fortunately for me, these stores are all over Long Island.
Max is losing weight.

? June 11, 2009 3:12 PM

m cat is not fat ... she jus has a tummy :)

KK June 20, 2009 9:31 PM

Ron-
Why don't you try putting your cats in seperate rooms when you feed them-maybe lock them up (seperated) for an hour or two with something to do other than eat. Shut the 10 year old in a room with a bowl of food (enough for ONE meal) and the 16 year old in a different room that has a larger bowl of food and NO toys-that way she will have to eat or just lay around. Hope this helped!

fins June 25, 2009 4:11 PM

I have two cats, Dusty 7 years old and Storm 3 years old. Dusty was a tiny thing when he was "found" but now he weighs 23 lbs. and is very long. He takes up your entire lap due to his length. Storm is about 6 lbs and looks great.like a slender lady. But my vet says she is about 2 lbs overweight. Maybe his skinny self is obessed with thinness. Dusty seems to not be suffering from any problems at this time. He gets fed 1/4 c. twice a day. If he does not get fed 6 am & 6 pm he cries LOUDLY until he gets food. At times he wants a few more nibbles. Storm is a snacker. HMMMM cats are like people!

alh July 27, 2009 8:52 AM

I have had this dilemma for a long time--fat cat needs to lose weight, skinny cat could go with free feeding since he's a healthy weight. I don't have the discipline to watch them, and the fat cat is still able to jump up to heights, so I was stuck until I saw a picture online: http://farm1.static.flickr.com/174/466885377_592038e446.jpg

I purchased a relatively cheap bin that was clear with a clear lid, cut a skinny cat entry at one end, then put a huge bowl of the skinny cat's favorite food at the other end. I put him in the container once to see the food, he ran out quickly, but then later that day he walked in on his own and ever since has used this for most of his food. Now I can put out a controlled serving at set times for the fat cat, since he can't fit into the container's door. A secondary benefit is that the skinny cat used to eat so fast when I fed them that he barfed it all up 2-3 times a week. That's gone away too, since he isn't pressured to get his share all at once.

Christina September 2, 2009 8:03 PM

I learned a lesson too late. I just lost my companion Samantha. She was jaundiced which was when I knew something was wrong. Initial ultrasound showed pancreatitis and they never started any liver treatment. Now I think she probably had a liver issue and the liver failed. She was obese and I was working on getting her to lose weight. She lost about 4 pounds in a year. I thought that was fine. 20% weight loss in a year is fine for humans right? I specifically told the vet at her annual exam she had lost 4 pounds and I was working on her losing another 2-3 pounds. The vet never said anything about possible fatty liver. Apparently only two weeks of eating 1/2-3/4 of their regular amount of food can cause fatty liver. Well how do you get them to lose weight without reducing food? I guess just exercise more and only reduce it by 10% instead of 25%. Such a small difference. What I learned was to be proactive. Now if I ever see any signs of liver issue in any cats I will demand that the vet take all necessary tests. But it's too late for my love Samantha. I still have Simone who is overweight but only by a pound or two. So now I know to work more on getting her exercise and not necessarily reducing the food too much. I agree with some of the other comments. Cats don't need corn or by-products. That is one caution about trusting a vet on which food to give your cat. They offer specific brands probably based on some sort of referral fee system. So you have to investigate the actual ingredients in all cat foods. I use high protein, low carb food and I mix it with a dry "junk" food that has corn but a lot of flavor so the cats will eat it all.

Knickers October 6, 2009 10:01 PM

I'm not sure if my cat is overweight or not, but she definitely needs more exercise! The only problem is that has zero attention span and the only toy she likes is string. I've tried everything, from the da Bird to homemade toys, but nothing works...she doesn't even like catnip! Our joke is that she's really a dog crossed with a bunny.