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 :)

I had read previously that Chicken Meal was better than Chicken as an ingredient in pet food. I can't find the original information but I did find these through a quick search:

FYI, Both are advocating a specific type of pet food.

http://www.naturapet.com/
Chicken meal is the dry rendered (cooked down) product from a combination of clean flesh and skin with or without accompanying bone, derived from the parts of whole carcasses of chicken -- exclusive of feathers, heads, feet, or entrails.

Chicken meal is considered to be the single best source of protein in commercial pet foods. Natura uses high quality, low ash chicken meal extensively. This ingredient is very digestible, very palatable, and very expensive.


http://www.woofsports.com/feedingpet.htm
Labeling laws require pet food manufacturers to list ingredients in descending order of weight prior to cooking or processing. The principle component of chicken meat is water. By weight, a chicken is 70 - 75% water. So the truth is, when you see "chicken" on the top of an ingredient list, it means the water weight in the raw (wet) chicken is what qualified it to be listed first. After the cooking process, where up to 75% of the chicken evaporates, the actual chicken content is reduced to being the fourth or fifth ingredient in your pet’s food.

So, for every five pounds of raw (wet) chicken used in some brands of pet food, as little as one pound may end up in the finished product. This occurs because 75% of a raw (wet) chicken is water, which evaporates during cooking process.

But not with the chicken MEAL in Flint River Ranch health food for pets. Our chicken meal is fresh, human quality chicken meat with the water and fat removed.

It takes 5 lbs. of fresh chicken meat to make 1 lb. of chicken meal!

So when chicken meal is listed as the first ingredient, it really is in the bag where it counts as a superior protein source for your pet.

Your pet needs meat protein to thrive. Meat is good. MEAL IS BETTER! Flint River Ranch puts chicken meal first so that you can offer your pet the maximum level of nutrition in every bowl.

I won't persuade you either way, ok maybe I will, but if you don't believe me, the vet above said it too, grocery store is crap, pet store is better (mostly it is readily available to everyone which is why the vets recomend you go that route) but I will add that holistic is better. the quality of the food they use, less proccessing and mass marketing of product keep it simple. it is readily available, you just have to look for it n your area. Eagle pack, Canidae, chicken soup for the pet loves soul, and my choice Fromm are all good choices in different price points.

I will add that I think it is the equivelent of prepackaged food for people, lean cusine for example as a complete meal vs making your own baked chicken and fresh veggies and brown rice. You eat well,( and I know you do because you have lost over 100 lbs), so you can feel good, I think our pets deserve the same.

I just ask, if you are swiching foods, do a little research on what is available in your area.

By the way, I saw this artical, Flint River is listed over and over on the left had side of the page www.frrholisticpet.com/natural_holistic_pet_food_articles.html

Well I could bake chicken for my kitty ever night but I don't think so :) Yes the vet above recommended things like Iams, Nutro, etc. The one I use "Precise" isn't hollistic but it is a pet store brand. I liked the ingredients a lot more after reading up and comparing it to Iams and Nutro. I've also seen many Hollistic brands use chicken meal as their first ingredient. I am impressed with chicken meal and brown rice being the first two ingredients in my kitty's food, although I'm easily impressed :)

This is also information that they say about their food:

Precise is a natural pet food. We have more than 15 years of experience in formulating natural foods for companion animals. Some of the bigger brands recently added natural products to their lines. But they aren't committed to natural food and, side by side, they still make foods preserved with artificial chemicals. At Precise, every food we make is preserved with natural vitamins.

No artificial chemical preservatives in any Precise food!

In our plant, we have quality control procedures second to none. We inspect each ingredient that we buy and each batch of food that we make many times each day with equipment rivaling that used in the most modern research laboratories.

Our standards are so high that should an ingredient or batch not meet our specifications, it is rejected. Period.

Our formulas are designed to give your pet an ideal standard of nutritional excellence. As a result, some of the ingredients in Precise formulas are more expensive than those used by our competitors. But because Precise formulas cost no more to feed than the competition, you get a better value for your pet.

If you are happy with your food choice, not a problem for me, Read the artcle I posted above, just as an FYI, It is well written and easy to read and if nothing else VERY informative.

Good luck to you and your kitty, I really admire your weight loss and determination to get there :)

Just to second what the vet said- Never put your cat on a diet w/o a vet!!! My hubby did this last year when I went on vacation- he cut my obese cats food by 1/3 and she ended up with hepatic lipidosis (fatty liver) and almost died. We had to admit her to the ICU where she was given a feeding tube and blood transfusions... she lived and thankfully so did my hubby.