Average / ideal weight for adult cat?

[mum2daisy]

Hoping this is the right forum to ask this, bit of background: I took in a pregnant stray in February, she had her kittens on 10th March (they're 10 weeks old on Monday) she was really skinny and I could tell she was quite young anyway I weighed her for the first time about a month ago in order to get correct worming dose and she was 2.1kg, I took her to get spayed today and she was 2.58kg, the vet said it was good she was putting weight on but that she was still underweight but he didn't say what an ideal weight was (and caught up in the stress of having to leave her I forgot to ask) he estimates her age at roughly 12-13 months and says she's a shorthair with some Persian thrown in her genes lol so what kind of weight should I be aiming for? I do feed her as much as she wants over several meals a day but she eats with the kittens (I always put extra out if it all goes to be sure everyone has had enough) so I'm not sure exactly how much it is she eats

 

[mum2daisy]

Oh and it's wet kitten food she gets (whiskas) most of the time with dried kitten food (also whiskas) left out overnight

 

[pinkdagger]

Good on you for taking her in!

Unfortunately I can't give any numbers for weight since it varies so largely with the size and build of individual cats... have you seen these charts? They're usually in vet's offices and can offer a good visual gauge for a healthy animal. If she and the kittens are still growing, needing the extra food anyway and her having to put on some weight, you could afford to let them eat more freely. You can call or ask at the next checkup when you get an update on her weight what a preferred weight for her might be.

fat-animals-e1344469669349.jpeg

• pinkdagger
• May 16, 2014

 

[mum2daisy]

Yeah I think it's only the last couple of weeks as the kittens have been feeding from her less that she's managed to put any weight on at all. Based on that chart she's probably between very thin and underweight bless her. I do have to take her back on Wednesday for a post op check up so I will try and remember to ask then, they are fed wet food currently 4 times a day with the dried put out overnight and occasionally during the day if they seem extra hungry so I don't think I could be any more free with the feeding lol

 

[mum2daisy]

I always knew she was skinny but I never realised just how much of her was fur, seeing her with the shaved patch it's really obvious that she's underweight, here's a pic

image.jpg

• mum2daisy
• May 16, 2014

If you imagine she was shaved on the right as well that would be pretty skinny looking

 

[pinkdagger]

Aww, poor thing! It does look like she could use some fattening. Some cats are bundles of fur, so it's hard to tell without being able to actually touch them and feel any protruding bones.

 

[mum2daisy]

Apart from feeding her as much as she will eat of kitten food (which I believe is higher in fats and proteins?) is there anything else I can do or give her? She doesn't like cheese and from what I can gather so called 'cat milks' tend not to be very much use for anything at all, she would drink a little KMR when I was making it to supplement the babies but only really small amounts

 

[pinkdagger]

Higher fat and protein are the way to go. Dairy is an iffy thing (like cheese) because cats tend to not handle it too well, which if it causes any tummy distress is counter-intuitive to gaining weight. Since she's still young herself, staying free fed on kitten food for a few more months should help her fill out more. I don't have any experience with kitten milk replacement, so if anyone else has input on that, they can come comment on it. I'm trying to help our little not-quite-old man put on some weight and am really just sticking to higher fat and higher protein. I haven't fed Whiskas wet, but there may be some other wet foods that are higher in both. If you haven't seen it, here's a pretty extensive list, though it may be a bit out of date if formulas have changed in the past couple years: http://www.catinfo.org/docs/FoodChartPublic9-22-12.pdf

 

[mum2daisy]

Typical it doesn't have whiskas on there, I'm in the UK so that may be the reason, I don't want to ask the vet what to use to feed her up as 9 times out of 10 most vets will recommend ones you can only buy from them

 

[tiggs2012]

They say brands like whiskers and Felix and kitekat are not good for cats Cause their first and main ingredient is corn. But I've always fed my cats on whiskers and they've never had any Problems. It's only been since Tiggs was pregnant I started them on Iams complete biscuits but they still have whiskers meat

 

[tiggs2012]

Can you feel her ribs / hips, bare in.mind she may still have milk in her nipples and it's often the weight pulling down that gives them that sunk in look. She looks pretty healthy to me considering she just had kittens what 10 weeks ago?

 

[lilin]

Are her kittens starting to ween? That may be why she hasn't gained anything until recently. Breastfeeding is very demanding on the body, and most of the nutrients she was eating were probably going straight to her kittens.

Assuming there's no other health issues going on, I think you will see more gain as her kittens become less dependent.

 

[angelinacat]

I would say that ten-twelve pounds is the optimum for the average cat.  I have had a small-boned-dainty tortoiseshell that topped out at 7.5 pounds at her heaviest.  At the same time, I had a very large big-boned cat, that kept around 13 pounds or so.  He would have ballooned up if I had let him eat like he wanted to.  But I watch them to manage their weights.

Any time you read or see or read of a cat topping 20 pounds or more, that is a negligent owner.  Only my opinion.

 

[mum2daisy]

Yes I can feel her ribs and hips, especially where she's been shaved, looking at the line around the shaved patch her fur is probably, a good 2-3 cm long which I hadn't realised. Yes kittens are 10 weeks Monday coming and not feeding much now in fact I'm fairly sure they haven't fed at all since the op (I've had her in my sight all day as she hates the cone and separated from the kittens overnight in case they did any damage to the wound) and she's only got the very last 2 teats with a little milk in despite it being at least 48 hours since they last nursed, maybe longer so I don't think it's the breast tissue pulling things down, when she's sitting or crouching the back leg on the shaved side you can see the hop & thigh bones sticking out so much.
I did consider the likes of iams but then everything I've read has said a dry food only diet can lead to kidney trouble later on as cats tend not to be big drinkers so I'm not keen on coming off the meat and of all the easily available meats there isn't much difference in content from what I can tell, I think I'll just keep on as I am with the kitten food as much as she wants and hope she'll steadily gain now. To be fair if the vet has estimated her age right she'd naturally still have a little time left to reach full adult size anyway as I believe it's around 18 months they're considered to be fully grown?