Skinny Cat/fat Cat

[MajorTomCat]

Hello everyone, this is my first post but I’ve been a long time lurker (thanks for all the how to feed your cat posts!!) So my husband and I adopted two tiny tigers from the pound last December and have been experimenting with foods since then. One kitty will eat any and everything and has no tummy issues, but he gained weight QUICK. His brother is a scarf and barfer and has had some poop issues. So Lemmy (the fat easy kitty) gets a can of Merrick LID daily and we also give 4 tablespoons of Merrick LID dry daily. Bowie (the skinny tummy issue kitty) gets 10oz of Weruva Paw Lickin Chicken, which gives him about 190 calories and he has to chew so it stops the scarf and barf and his poops are normal. Lemmy likes the dry food a lot so he eats more of it than Bowie, so they both get approximately 200-225 calories a day. Lemmy weighs in at 11 pounds but his tummy is round and hangs. I can feel his ribs and backbone so he’s not super obese but I can’t really judge him by the body scale charts. Bowie is a tall kitty and he weighs 9.5 pounds and his tummy sucks in right by his hind legs and again I suck at judging by the body scale. I’ve included some pics of them, if anyone could take a peek and tell me if I need to up or lower calories or if I’m just a little over worried. Bowie has the white face and paws and Lemmy is the all orange face.

 

[MajorTomCat]

Some better pics that show more of the tummy area.

 

[KarenKat]

Welcome! Glad you came out of the shadows, Lemmy and Bowie are very pretty kitties!

I also struggle with weight for 2 of our 3 kitties. The charts are hard to compare to, and I can't tell from the photos if your boys are overweight, but especially Bowie is not underweight, I think he looks good? I try and evaluate by running my hands down their ribcage when they stand. If I can feel their ribs with a slight layer of fat that's good. If I don't feel any ribs then they may need to slim down. If you can see ribs, then fatten them up.

We had a 17.5 lb porker tabby named Trin that we got down to 14.5 lbs. I think he's healthy now? I'm going to ask at his next vet visit. Since he's lost weight, he still looks really big from the extra skin, but I can easily feel his ribs with a very light layer of fat.

Our Olive is much like Lemmy. She is small statured but gained a ton of weight from kibble. We switched her to all wet food and she slimmed back down. SHe still has a largish primordial pouch that sways around when she runs, so that is a normal part of cat anatomy and doesn't mean she's fat. She probably could lose a little more, I barely feel ribs in there so it's a bit thicker layer of fat than ideal.

 

[MajorTomCat]

Thank you! I think I compare them to each other which exacerbates the size differences since Bowie is tall and rangy and Lemmy is short and stout.

 

[Kieka]

I've learned not to look at the tummy area. Some cats have a primordial pouch; excess skin hanging from their stomach regardless of their physical size. It's thought to be an adaptation to allow their stomach to stretch, to allow a longer stride or some combination of them. Cheetas and most big cats have them too.

This chart may help some but I tend to stick with the top down view. If I can see a tucking after the ribs that then curves to the hips, we are good.

fat-cat-scale.png

• Kieka
• Feb 1, 2017
• 3

I never go by weight. My girl is 7 pounds, 9 ounces and my boy is 14 pounds, 10 ounces. If I tried to get them to the same weight it would be impossible. It probably would be wise to cut back on the dry for your bigger boy to prevent him from crossing the line into the overwieght category. But I agree that is is difficult to tell for sure in the photos.

 

[KarenKat]

I totally understand that! Our third cat Gohan is somehow almost 2-dimensional, especially next to Trin. I'm not sure where he puts his organs.

Olive has a tiny head but stocky frame. So she looks chunky next to Gohan. Also, they all look kind of chubby when they sit like bread.


From top: Trin, Gohan, Olive

 

[Kieka]

Here are my three.

Nightfury (black) is a smidgen under 9 pounds

Rocket (pointed on bottom) is 7 pounds, 9 ounces as of the beginning of the month.

Link (pointed top) is 14 pounds, 10 ounces as of Monday.

But on all of them they have a pinch waist type appearance looking down and I can't see bones. Although Rocket has the least defined waist and she the one the vet absolutely does not want to loose weight. She has a barrel chest and short body so lost weight charts don't work well on evaluating her.

 

[MajorTomCat]

I totally understand that! Our third cat Gohan is somehow almost 2-dimensional, especially next to Trin. I'm not sure where he puts his organs.

Olive has a tiny head but stocky frame. So she looks chunky next to Gohan. Also, they all look kind of chubby when they sit like bread.


From top: Trin, Gohan, Olive

So much personality in one picture!! I love it!

 

[KarenKat]

Thanks, it was the first time they were all upstairs together. We weren't quite sure what would happen. But everyone was very nice to each other!

 

[MajorTomCat]

Here are my three.

Nightfury (black) is a smidgen under 9 pounds

Rocket (pointed on bottom) is 7 pounds, 9 ounces as of the beginning of the month.

Link (pointed top) is 14 pounds, 10 ounces as of Monday.

But on all of them they have a pinch waist type appearance looking down and I can't see bones. Although Rocket has the least defined waist and she the one the vet absolutely does not want to loose weight. She has a barrel chest and short body so lost weight charts don't work well on evaluating her.
View attachment 241523

Adorable kitties! I think the body scale chart just made it worse for me because Bowie is totally straight down the sides and sucks in more than tucks at his back legs and Lemmy resembles a lizard laying down he is so bowed out. But I can still feel his ribs fairly easily, he’s just a round tummied kitty I guess. And he’s got a tiny little head which makes his sides look bigger and I typically noticed it right after he ate so I probably over reacted. He’s also lost about a pound since we moved and he had to start navigating steps and has much more space to run.

 

[Kieka]

Yeah, it can be hard to tell for sure. Your vet should be able to tell you (although I don't listen is the vet tries to tell me a flat weight target of all male cats).

 

[KarenKat]

(although I don't listen is the vet tries to tell me a flat weight target of all male cats).

Ugh, mine just did that for Trin. I asked if his weight was ok at 14.5 lbs, and she said "we like to see 10-12 lbs" without even looking at him or touching him.

 

[MajorTomCat]

Ugh, mine just did that for Trin. I asked if his weight was ok at 14.5 lbs, and she said "we like to see 10-12 lbs" without even looking at him or touching him.

I think the 10 to 12 must be a generic cat weight because when we took the tiny tigers to the vet when they were seven months old and weighed 5 1/2 pounds each the vet told us that their maximum size once grown should be 10 to 12 pounds regardless of body type .

 

[Daisy6]

It looks to me in the picture of Lemmy yawning he has a primordial pouch. Does it swing when he runs?

Bowie standing on her feet reminds me of my last cat when she was too skinny.

 

[MajorTomCat]

It looks to me in the picture of Lemmy yawning he has a primordial pouch. Does it swing when he runs?

Bowie standing on her feet reminds me of my last cat when she was too skinny.

Lemmy swings and sways and when he lays on his back I can jiggle his tummy like a bowl full of jelly. I’m upping Bowie’s calories slowly, but it’s hard cause he’s a scarf and barfer and all I’ve found that he doesn’t eat too fast is shreds and those are all so low calories that I have to feed him 10 oz a day and still supplement. Plus he spends half his day galloping through the whole downstairs so he isn’t cooperating with me to put weight on him.

 

[Daisy6]

Look for slow-eating bowls on Amazon. They are designed to force a cat or dog to eat slowly. Also, because exercise helps fat cats slim down, you can try treat toys if Bowie is a playful cat. They can also be used for kibbles.

 

[MajorTomCat]

Look for slow-eating bowls on Amazon. They are designed to force a cat or dog to eat slowly. Also, because exercise helps fat cats slim down, you can try treat toys if Bowie is a playful cat. They can also be used for kibbles.

He doesn’t slow down. We’ve tried slow eating bowls, golf balls in the bowl, feeding a teaspoon at a time, mixing textures, etc. We’ve been testing out different methods and foods since January and we’re at a month of no barfing, a half pound gained and normal poops with the Weruva so I’m pretty happy with that. He’s also the loves treats but will only eat them when they’re handed directly to him, no working for them. He’s determined to keep his Kate Moss figure.

 

[Daisy6]

I don't know who Kate Moss is.

The most logical solution if he does not throw up on Weruva is cut out dry food. Is he throwing up everything?

 

[MajorTomCat]

She’s a model from the 90’s that was very skinny. He regurgitated every wet food we tried him on until we started feeding the shreds. He’s always been fine with kibble but we feed minimal amounts of it In the morning and then they have their wet meals throughout the afternoon and evening. He’s eaten shreds fine since we brought him and his brother home, but his brother won’t eat shreds so we tried new foods and discovered Bowie can only eat shreds in wet food. So I’m pretty sure we’ve solved (for now) the feeding issues between the two of them, I just can’t tell by the body scale chart if they’re too fat or too skinny.

 

[KarenKat]

Very famous human/feline hybrid

(English supermodel. Walks the catwalk lol)