When Is A Cat Old Enough To Be Called Overweight?

[EmmiTemmi]

When I adopted a 5mo cat and took him to the vet they said to watch his weight as he was on the heavy side (8.5lbs) and had a bit of a tummy pouch already. But that he didn't need a diet or anything because he was still growing.

Now he's 7mo and around 9.5lbs, and still has a little bit of a hanging pouch thing. So I guess I'm just wondering when do cats go from being a 'growing kitten' to an 'overweight cat'. But also, I know nothing of his history, so maybe he just comes from a line of giant cats...

 

[Kieka]

The primordial pouch, pouch, pooch, or whatever you want to call the hanging belly is actually not an indication of being overweight. It is just one of those things that some cats have. Of the three cats in my household two do not have it but one has it. The one who has it has a very large one that seemed to suddenly appear when he was almost 2 years old (sidebar, he had some injuries and extreme swelling in that area over a 4 month period then too so I think some is that it stretched the area and it didn't shrink back in, anyways back to the point...). His pouch is so large it swings when he runs and puddles when he lays. Doesn't help that it has a stripe down the middle of it, photos below.

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• Kieka
• Dec 2, 2016

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• Kieka
• Mar 25, 2017

Despite him looking like he has a belly it is just a flap of skin. There is nothing in there if you move it around and he is extremely muscled on the rest of his body. Long story short, the pouch doesn't mean anything.

You need to be looking at body condition to know if your cat is overweight, I like this chart for the explanations of how to tell the difference:

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• Kieka
• Feb 1, 2017
• 3

I have a 13 pound, 9.5 pound and 8 pound cat all in my home. Of them the 8 pound is the closest to being overweight while the 13 pound could add a pound to be a little closer to the right weight for his size. A cat is overweight when you can't feel their ribs or see an defined waist when looking down on them. It is admittedly harder to see on long hair cats and you will have to press down fur or judge after a bath on them. Until you get to that point don't worry about the scale.

 

[Mamanyt1953]

LOL, Kieka is absolutely right about the pouch and telling when your cat is overweight. I, for instance, have a furry soccer ball in my home. She's definitely overweight, and getting it down is a struggle. Between the extra weight and her primordial pouch, I tell people that she has a primordial duffle bag.

 

[lavishsqualor]

My male two-year-old grey tabby, Atticus, has that pouch, while Thirteen, my two-year-old female tuxedo, doesn't. I tell Atticus all the time that if he's a good kitty we'll get him a tummy tuck. Sometimes, just as a slur against his kitty masculinity, I'll tell him he needs a mommy makeover.

 

[EmmiTemmi]

I think I may have overstated my worry about his 'pouch', because that's not my main worry. I understand that some cats have wobbly pouches and are completely healthy. It's just more the fact that his belly in general is much bigger than my other cat's (who is the exact same age, minus a day). It's noticeably larger, and it's especially apparent when he lies down because his belly sticks up more than my other cat's, and he tires more easily. And I do realize that since he's a random adopted DSH (picked up as a farm area stay, I believe) it's hard to know how big he'll get/ how big he's supposed to be, but I don't want him to be overweight.

So, to my original question. What age can he get to before I start calling him 'overweight' instead of 'still growing'. Because at 7mo, I do think he's still probably growing. But I would like to know at what age should I be starting to worry about him being overweight?

 

[Kieka]

When the cats body is at average on the body condition chart. It's not a specific age but dependent on if the cat is still growing in height and length. My boy didn't stop growing until nearly 2.5 years old. My girl was done by 8 months but added muscle and thereby weight until 2. My girl can look downright tubby sometimes too. But she just has a weirdly compact and dense structure so on her the best judge is feeling her ribs to check body condition. It took me a while to get used to it too because I thought she was grossly overweight or bloated with her hard round tummy. But she has the pinched waist look and I can feel ribs so we are good.

This is her, look at that belly. And her legs really are that short it isn't an optical illusion of the photo. She's not a munchkin but she has stubby legs just barely long enough to count.

 

[EmmiTemmi]

My boy didn't stop growing until nearly 2.5 years old. My girl was done by 8 months but added muscle and thereby weight until 2.

So my 7mo boy could still be in his growing period for a while? That's a relief. He's been getting so heavy I was worried!

 

[Kieka]

My boy was 9.5 pounds by a year, he is now 13 pounds lean and muscled at 3.5 years. If you have a large breed in the mix continued growth is possible. It should start to slow down around now but my boy is the smaller end of big breeds.

 

[Mamanyt1953]

SIGH...When he looks like this:


there's an issue. Hekitty is a furry soccer ball.