Who has a fat cat and how did they get that way?

My cat Snowball came to me as a stray; I don't think she was stray for very long because she wasn't super skinny like most of them are. This was the first time I'd ever dealt with a cat (didn't even like them before) and didn't know too much about how to feed them. The first week or so I gave her dry kibble, but because I felt sorry for her I thought I'd give her a little extra somethin' somethin' with her food. Oh yeah, at the time I was in the mindset that dry old kibble was boring and thought she would want some variety, so I would give her pieces of chicken, fish, and shredded cheese along with the kibble. Like most strays, she ate up every last bite because she didn't know when her next meal would come. I did this for about a month, but as I read up on how to take care of cats, I realized that she would be fine on a kibble/canned food diet and didn't need all those extras. Well, by that time the damage had been done! She was noticable chubbier (but still cute!). I have since switched her to a Innova lite; I give her 1/4 cup in the morning and in the evening I give her 1/3 of a can of Max Cat Chicken and Lamb. To me this seems like a low amount of food, but she's still fat! I also take her on walks maybe 3 times a week. By the way, I can't have animals in the house so she stays in my backyard. I would think an outside kitty would have plenty to do, but she sleeps a lot and is content to stay in the yard (doesn't roam) which is good, but she just doesn't move around a whole lot. She's about 10 pounds, but I'd say she should only be 7 pounds or so. Sometimes I feel bad, but at least she's not starving. Oh yeah, I'm also curious how much other people feed.

My Squirt used to be a squirt, but now he is about 14 lbs. I credit his weight gain to becoming a full-time indoor cat from an indoor/outdoor one. I feed Hill Science Diet Light, and I measure his portion. He lost about a pound over the course of the last year.

I have a 19 pound male fixed siamese.he got fat after he got fixed.

My cat Jake got sooooo fat eating Science Diet Kitten food, he and his sister recently turned one year old and we switched them to Adult food and he seems to be losing weight again.

Mystique was lost for 2 weeks in the middle of winter. When we finally found her she was skin and bones. She now weighs 12 pounds. We free feed the cats so she may not loose any weight any time soon.

all of my monsters are big(never fat!LOL!) twig is 16 pounds and has broken three(yes three) cat nappers(the ones you get so they can sit in the windows) in the past few months.
Rocket, Isis and Luna are 10 pounds each. Rocket is an abby and he is always running around so I dont' have a clue where the pudge came from
Isis and Luna were ferals that had babies( Isis' didn't make it Lunas are somewhere out there sorry to say they were born and then we took her in and got her spayed, she never brought them to us)
they are 10 pounds each also. Which is strange since they are really picky eaters.

My Boy Cubby, who was a stray, is just plain greedy and lazy. I feed him low fat cat food - but he eats my other cat's food as well if I don't stop him.
He was more active in the summer ( I am in Australia where it is currently winter )chasing birds, lizards -anything. But now he stays inside lazing on the sofa looking out the window. he still plays a bit at night, chasing ping pong balls. but I want him to slim down as I do not want a freak fat cat that people laugh at.It is too cruel and unhealthy.
he seems to bloat a lot, more solid than fat, like a barrell.
Of course getting him desexed slowed him down a bit too...but he can still run after balls...or run up to me from the other end of the garden like a bouncing puppy!
But, he is a big boy!!!

Sammycat is rather chunky(he hates to be called fat) at 16lbs. He put on all of his weight after I had him fixed. Oscar has just started to gain a little weight since his surgery a couple of months ago. I don't think he will gain a lot of weight since he can't be still long enough for the weight to get on him

Since all my babies were rescues they were all straving little kittens or cats. So they just eat ALOT!