Proper weight for cats?
 

I am watching my kitten's weight pretty closely. We are estimating her at 11 months old. She has a fairly small frame, I think and she weighed 6 lbs when we got her nearly 2 months ago. We weigh her almost every day, just out of curiosity and her weight varies between 6.8 to 7.2. She has definitely grown and she can't fit in some of the tiny spots she used to fit in.

My question though is how much should a smallish frame female cat weigh? We feed her plenty and she eats well. At first, she would leave food in her bowl but now she pretty much cleans it out, with maybe 1 or 2 crunchies left.

I have three full grown cats. The two boys weigh 15lbs and 13 lbs. Which is quite hefty!!! The one that is 13 lbs is blind and so the vet seems to think that he probably does not get as much exercise as the others. The 15 lb one is just an old lazy couch potato. Our little girl weighs about 9 lbs and is the friskiest one of the bunch! We feed them a high protein no dye type food. They haven't lost any, but I don't think they have gained anymore either.

Ask your vet!! Then, keep her where she's supposed to be!

I'm emphatic because my cat was diagnosed with diabetes last September and I had to start giving her an insulin shot everyday on Monday of this week. I also found out today when I returned her for a blood glucose test that she MAY have thyroid problems! I find out for sure on that next week.

Good luck to you with your (cat's) weight control!

The standard for pets is to feel the rib cage but not have the ribs visable. Or to feel 2 or 3 vertibre on the back. If you can't feel any of it, that is not good. HOWEVER, if you pet is still growing (about 18 months she should be full grown) like kids they grow a little unevenly.
hope that helps

I was thinking a cat-BMI calculation would be in order ... ha ha

Thanks guys :)

She is definitely skinny now but I know she is still growing. I bought a walking jacket for her that still doesn't fit because she is too tiny. She also likes playing more than eating although I know that can change as she grows older. We just want to keep an eye on her and make sure she doesn't grow too wide. My ILs have 2 cats and their cats grew fat in a month. I didn't even recognize them. The scary thing was that the ILs didn't even notice the weight change in their own cats.

Most people don't notice the change. Like people she may be a skinny one :)
Really, I would let this go, she is not fat, she is young and active and frankly it is pets reaching middle age to old age that start to make changes (8-10 years), which may very well be why your IL have not noticed the change, it can be hard to see wht is under your nose and the perspective of your tiny cat changes your view. feed as good a food as you can afford (if she is a light eater, better quality food will go further becasuse she can utilize the nutrition and skip the empty filler calories) I personally like holistic foods and since you can feed less it last as long as pet store food, and AVOID grocery store food, it really is animal junk food. She should be off kitten food, it is too much protein for them and can lead to other issues later.

BMI for cats ... that's a good idea.
Cats come in all shapes and sizes just like women ;) I like that note about the ribs and vertebrae.
I was pretty surprised to find that our Max weighs 12 lbs but he's a really long tall guy. Our little black persian topped out at about 8 lbs and live to be 15.

FYI i am a vet. Here's what i tell my clients..i don't look at weight (the actual number) i look at what we call a body condition score (BCS). A bcs ranges from 1-5. 1 being really thin five being severely obese. We want most pets to range in the 3 area. to determine if what they are first run you hands along the cat's side, you should be able to feel the ribs with out prodding to hard, but not be able to see ALL the ribs (usually you will be able to see the last 2-3 ribs). Also your cat should have a slight waste line near the hip. She may be a small frame cat and that is fine. If you are seeing every rib, then you may need to feed her a more caloric dense food. This is a great web link that shows a chart with pics on what BCS should look like
http://www.cathelp-online.com/health/bscore.php
hope that helped. I wouldn't worry so much for an underwt kitty as much as an overwt kitty. Her metabolism will probably slow down at some point.

also, make sure you are feeding a very high quality food. None of the purina cat chow, meow mix crap. That food is horrible for cats. Feed a good quality food like Nutros, Iamms, Hill's, or waltham. And do not feed your cat a vegetarian diet. Cats need a supplement called taurine that most vegetarian diets don't have (Since taurine is only found in meat). It is important to feed a good quality food. I equate it to us eating crappy foods. We feel healthy when we are eating healthy. The same holds true for cats and dogs. You pay for what you get!

Gatorgal, thanks for the info.....My vet has pics. on the wall of the different wts in felines from underwt. to morbidly obese....

I have 2 Maine Coones which are large framed cats....males, neutered. In the cold weather (but they are indoor cats) they live to eat, when it's warm they don't seem to crave food. Slim weighs in at 24-25 lbs., he has a very stocky body, hugh feet and head. Wylie is a longer leaner frame, but he is 18 lbs. although he looks *skinny*. It's hard to tell with them having BIG hair. They are very social cats and active...but like all cats, they enjoy snoozing too.

I limit their dry food as they refuse to eat Science, Hills, Waltham...they spit it back at me, but scarf down Fancy Feast dry all day if I left it out. I mix it with a small scoop of Purina ONE.

marbleflys - i always tell my clients to give a food a chance. I will let a cat go about 3 days without eating. after about 3 days then i will go back to something else. Cat's cannot go more than a few days without food or they will go into something called hepatic lipidosis (fatty liver). But they CAN go a few days. I would rather eat KFC origianal recipe chicken vs baked/grilled. Try it if you haven't. Some cat will eat if you offer them nothing else. There are also some low fat/diet foods that are moist that i recommend clients trying to see if the cats like it. I don't really like moist food (for the fact it will give cats horrible dental disease very fast) but if its that or crappy food...i'd rather do that. hope that helped.

GatorGal - Thanks for the information. We had her on Iams but we switched to something called Precise. I thought the ingredients looked a lot better than Iams and she took the switch pretty well. We also still have her on kitten formula until the rest of her bag is complete then we'll switch her to an adult formula. http://www.precisepet.com/kitten.asp

I'd have to look at her a little closely when I get home but she is about a 3, maybe a little on the 2 side. Last time we took her to the vet, the vet said she was doing good but since we got her fixed that we should watch her weight and make sure she doesn't gain too much.

nelie...i wouldn't worry about it tehn . If your vet thinks she looks fine...don't worry if she looks slighly underweight. Most owners have a poor perception of "good" weight and worry that the animal is too thin. I'd rather see a slightly thin cat than obese. If the cat is active, then you aren't "starving" the animal...so just relax and don't worry about her weight. :)

OK, so I am a little bit of a niggler about food :)
gator may have a cmment or 2 also

I don't understand why the first ingrediant in any pet food is not meat, meal is not the same thing, also, dogs, I am not postive about cats do not digest corn well (corn meal) and many animals are alergic to wheat also, It shows in eye discharge, chewing on themselves (itchiness)
Compare to something like this www.frommfamily.com/products-fs-c-d-duck.php

I am a holistic food pusher :)