Garfield Cat- Another Obese Cat

[jasper12]

There is more to feline obesity than wet/dry food. Jasper has dry food available 24/7. Yet he is slim as a rail. I feed him Royal Canin. He also gets a pouch of Wellness each day, which he barely acknowledges.

Some cats eat more, some eat less. I think feline obesity should be studied carefully by researchers. There may be a genetic issue that could help people who have problems with food and obesity.

[Hawk J]

Some of these very over weight cats may have a Thyroid problem, etc.

[lplkemc]

we adopted a 13 year old, 17lb cat from the vet. They sent home his food with us - Science Diet i/d or whatever. We were feeding wet and dry to the other cat. The science diet is gone, so he just eats what the other cat is eating. I think he is losing some weight because he and the other cat chase each other around, etc. I haven't weighed him yet though.

They are both happy to eat a mainly wet and some dry food. They also switch off and finish each other's bowls.

[Nyc77]

My biggest cat when I got him from the vet 6 years ago was 29 pounds...I have managed to get him down to 21, but how can I tell what is a healthy weight for him? He is 10, and does his share of running and jumping.
WHat should his weight be?

[greg42]

Originally Posted by Nyc77

My biggest cat when I got him from the vet 6 years ago was 29 pounds...I have managed to get him down to 21, but how can I tell what is a healthy weight for him? He is 10, and does his share of running and jumping.
WHat should his weight be?

Hard to know for sure I think. Maybe a vet could give you a rough idea based on estimation of breed/size etc. Certainly there are some cat breeds that trend larger and thus would have a higher ideal weight. Most likely his ideal weight is at least a little lower than that, and maybe a lot (my cat weighs now about 10-11 pounds but weighed as much as 15 at one point, the vet says the 10-11 is a good weight for her), but a few cats might have ideal weights in the mid-high teens.

Still, congratulations on what you've done together! Sounds like he's doing well at 10 years old, he's had 6 good years with you and lost some weight, and maybe that's a few years longer than he would have had without such measures.