Overweight cat - is this mistreatment?

[Susanne (urbantigers)]

Jaffa is ginger and he's not in the least overweight.  He is a bit of a greedy guts though, and the only reason he isn't overweight is because I control his food intake, so there may be something in that theory!

[Angiew]

May i add he is a Ginger Tabby & i have seen sooooo many large ginger tabbies.....is it a genetic thing?

I have to admit that the 2 fattest cats in my household are both ginger/whtes and I have been wondering the same thing.....all my ohers are normal size.

[Mollyrock]

Awwwwk, the poor thing!

[Kally]

i just spotted an extremely over weight dog in the dog gallery http://www.morrisons.co.uk/Family-Life/Pets/Gallery/Dogs/?ImageID=e53074af-f24b-41b7-897f-74a1dac73b3a&OrderBy=Recent

now that dog is a corgi and it says the dog likes goats chese

[CC & The Pussycat Guys & Dolls]

My Macey likes her dry food, although she is not allowed it. She sneaks into the kitchen and eats it when Im not in there. To be honest I would say dry food is the cause of her being over weight, she was 5.2kg last november and is just growing in size, I dont know how to stop her 

[Angeladeedah]

I have an overweight cat - he weighs in at 8.2kg!   He is generally a large cat in size anyway.  That cat in the photo though is seriously overweight - my cat looks nothing like that.

He only gets 30g dry food in the morning and at night - no treats/no wet food and yet he is still massive.    He went to see a nutrionist but quite frankly I don't think she believed me when I told her what I fed him and I just came away feeling bad when I know I'd done nothing wrong.   They also just promote Hill's food which at the moment I just can't afford so I've had to stop going - although he only lost 500g in the whole time he was seeing her which was over 6 months.   

[Kally]

i totally agree it does depend on the level of overweight but just want to add i have two of my kitties on the competition salem and chiana

http://www.morrisons.co.uk/Family-Life/Pets/Gallery/Cats/?ImageID=31b56db6-8ef9-4ab5-8ad1-987bb097970c&OrderBy=Recent


http://www.morrisons.co.uk/Family-Life/Pets/Gallery/Cats/?ImageID=7ab1424e-0d77-4038-9ece-2a3d0efea979&OrderBy=Recent

[Debsymiller (Rufus' mum)]

I think it depends on the level of "overweight." One of my cats is a little bit umm....I call her comely (as in comely wench!) but we do try and control it so it doesn't get out of hand.
However, the picture you're referring to in my opinion is definitely cruelty.

Totally agree. It really does depend on the level. I am sure most cases of overweight cats are simply because the catsare naturally a bit on the round side, scavenge food, are a bit lazy and don't run around as much as they should or the owners do give them extras out of love rather than anything else. When it comes to the size of the cat in question though, it is cruelty to let it get to that state as that cat will almost definately have health problems at some point or another. I personally do think owners should be aware of weight and prevention is better than cure.

[Mollyrock]

Yeah, i am sure too that i have seen that cat before.
When we rescued Tiggz last may he was 6.1kg, at his vet check we where told he need to loose weight. He's due for his jabs soon so i am interested to see if he has lost any weight. He has lots of activity since the Bengals arrived but is still a considerably large cat. He doesn't have cat treats, just the very odd nibble of chesse. I have cut down on his dry to a few nibbles at night & he is on a high quality wet food. So we'll see what the vet says, i will let you know 
May i add he is a Ginger Tabby & i have seen sooooo many large ginger tabbies.....is it a genetic thing?

[CarolM (Wendolene)]

I think it depends on the level of "overweight." One of my cats is a little bit umm....I call her comely (as in comely wench!) but we do try and control it so it doesn't get out of hand.

One of Korky's vets used to call him 'portly' (the others called him fat).  Mind you, he's in no position to get judgemental - if he ever gives up being a vet he could earn a living as a Richard Griffiths look alike 

I can sympathise about the big cat/little cat scenario Mark - Korky was 6.8 kg and Tiny was 2.8 kg and everybody assumed that Korky ate Tiny's food but in truth it was the other way round.

But to get back to the photo - that really is excessive.

[Mark]

I'm sure that cat is in some of the youtube "funny cat" videos that are a series of stills.

[Sheli_80]

I'm sure I've seen that cat before, think it might have a story of incredibly large cats but would need to have a hunt to try find it.

[Kucinta]

Its not always mistreatment though.

My Lilly is huge but i have done everything i can to get her weight down.
None of my other cats are her size

That's why I said at the outset I know some cats can grow large (and as humans go, I'm not exactly small!  ), so wasn't wagging fingers in general.


It was just that the cat in this  particular photo really seemed excessively large, and was supposedly only one year old, I was concerned that at that size he would definitely have health issues sooner or later, but that the owners might not realise they were not doing what was best for him.

I think I'd go with JackSpratt on this one.

[karenjet]

Omg that photo's unbelievable 

My Meeko's a hefty boy and my sister in law is always banging on about it but I've asked two different vets now and they said he might be slightly overweight by a chart but not anything to be concerned about they say he's just a solidly built cat. That, plus loving food and being ultra-lazy doesn't help. The other 3 will run for Da Bird, he just sprawls out on the floor with a paw up in case it flies over him 

[maryas]

Well done Mojo for finding it on other sites - I spotted this cat when the first 'vote for my cat' appeared on here and commented on how bad it was and I hoped it was not real as it also said it was 1 year old.

We can do some really good things with photos etc. but it's pretty sick when people start messing with things like this and get people worried.

Some cats are overweight and I can no longer pick my friend's cat up cos he makes my arms ache but he is healthy enough.  But that's another story which some people feel very strongly about so... The END 

Mary

[JackSpratt]

I think it depends on the level of "overweight." One of my cats is a little bit umm....I call her comely (as in comely wench!) but we do try and control it so it doesn't get out of hand.

However, the picture you're referring to in my opinion is definitely cruelty.

[Mark]

Same here. Kylie is 6kg and Willow is 2.5kg. I always stand my ground when vets start wagging fingers at me thesedays 

[Michelle (furbabystar)]

Its not always mistreatment though.

My Lilly is huge but i have done everything i can to get her weight down.
None of my other cats are her size

[Kucinta]

I just googled "fat cat" and the same picture of the cat came up on different websites, so I think this is someone who is very bored!!

Thanks for that - I was getting quite worried on behalf of 'Granty', but  knowing what to do for the best.

[Mojo]

I just googled "fat cat" and the same picture of the cat came up on different websites, so I think this is someone who is very bored!!

[Kucinta]

I was looking at the cats in the Morrison's competition  and came across this one (hope the link works - not very IT)

I know some cats do grow large, despite the best efforts of their owners, but I'd seriously worry for the health of this chap.

Am I being too judgemental, or is this a case of unwitting mistreatment?


http://www.morrisons.co.uk/Family-Life/Pets/Gallery/Cats/?ImageID=55cbafb3-68fb-42ff-a141-c914d547b8c9&OrderBy=Popular