Thin cat got fat and stayed that way after having kittens!

I'm not sure if this is the right place to post this, but I'll give it a shot.

Out of all 8 of my cats, only 3 were over a year old when I adopted them (all females). Two of them are the same size and shape as they were years ago. The third one however...

Duck was pregnant when she was found and brought to a shelter. She was about a year and a half. She had her kittens in the shelter, was spayed, and when the kittens were old enough, they were brought with her to the adoption center (our local Petsmart). I was there buying food for the 4 cats (at the time) I had at home. It broke my heart as I watched kitten after kitten being snatched up and adopted, while no one looked twice at the mother. I felt so bad for her, watching all her babies leave one by one, and no interest in her at all. As the last kitten was taken from her, I stepped up and said "I don't want the kittens, I want the MAMA!" and she came home with me that day.

This is what she looked like when I first brought her home in November, 2007:


Actually, she looks a little thin for having just given birth a few months before....

Since then she's grown. A LOT. She hasn't grown up, she's grown out. She kind of looks like a football with a tail (which is why we've taken to calling her FumbleDuck or just Fumblers). She's not a squishy, rolly-polly kind of fat either. She's SOLID! Other cats get a floppy belly or their weight tends to hang below them. Duck's is like a balloon with her head sticking out of the middle.

This is Duck a year later. Not bad...


And this is Duck taken last year (She licked all the fur off her belly, I have no idea why, but it does kind of accentuate her largeness...


Anyone else's formerly pregnant cat get this large??

I've never had a cat who had kittens that I wasn't fostering.  But my DeeJay got to weigh 14#, she should weigh 10#, we put her on a restricted calorie diet and she got down to a healthier weight.  She does the same thing with her belly, we think she has Psychogenic Alopecia.  You can put them on meds for it, but she is hard to medicate so we opted not to treat it.

I don't think it has anything to do with having kittens. Some cats just really like their food . If you can manage to put her on scheduled feedings with a measured amount of high-protein food, that should help her. . .well, maybe not lose a lot of weight but at least not get any fatter :tongue2:. I think you could get her to lose the weight but it would take a lot of time and effort.

Well, Duck certainly likes her food, I'll give you that!

Actually, she only weighs about 14 pounds, and the vet says she's healthy and her weight is fine. She's just so solid, like a linebacker. I thought it might have something to do with her being the only cat I have that has had kittens, and none of the others gained weight like she did. I have two other cats that are heavier (but not overweight) and they carry the weight completely different. She really does look like a walking football with a tail. :-)

I thought maybe the hormones involved with being pregnant and having a litter may have had something to do with it. Either way, I think she's perfect as she is! I figured maybe I could give her an excuse to give the other cats if they tease her "it's just leftover baby weight (that I've had for the last 6 years)!" LOL

:kitty3:
She's certainly not overweight from the babies. You said she was quite thin when you kindly adopted her and gave her a good home. Well done you.

If she eats a lot then that would be the reason for being overweight. My Lotto RIP was 20 lbs I'm afraid and nothing the vet did helped. He lost a lot of weight about six months to a year. What you can do is get a lighter caloric food and make her exercise. How do you do that you're asking. Not that hard. You get something called da bird and make her work. I don't have this toy but s friend of mine and many of the people here do have and apparently kitties love it.
Regarding the licking the fur off her tummy. I think it's a nervous thing. How do you stop it. Hmmmm.
You can get a spray from vet, citronella, or something like that and spray it on her tum-tum, apparently they don't like the smell and stop her every time you see her doing it. Take her mind off it. My whisky sucks the end of his tail. If he's on my lap when he does that I just take it away and he usually either washes himself again. Or goes to sleep. Again.
Ask your vey to do blood tests just for your - and mine actually - peace of mind.
Good luck.

What are you feeding? And how often?

I recently got a foster cat that was overweight (13.7lb). Since he gets high protein no grain wet food twice a day one pound just melted away. He doesn't get treats nor any dry food. We are still working on dropping another one or two pounds, slowly.

He got much more energetic since his weight is down a bit.

I don't think that belly is from having babies. My 3-year old cat had multiple litters before I adopted her (she got spayed yesterday, so no more of that!). She is small to begin with at ~6 lbs...and she had a small belly (loose skin waddle) but even that seems gone now she has had her surgery so I'll have to see if it comes back. She is not very food obsessed so that makes it easy, but since I have got her I also make sure to monitor her intake (she is not free fed and gets raw/wet) just in case! I have had a couple "fat cats" before who were healthy (according to the vet) for many many years...but as they got older did have increased issues due to their weight. One with diabetes, one with hyperthyroidism, etc. While they were family cats, I can't avoid all blame as I was still involved in caring for them. I just did not know enough about nutrition at the time.

If her belly is "solid" it may be because the fat is covering her organs, instead of being just under her skin, or there is something else going on (bloating?).

What does she eat? Does she eat dry? Wet? Is she fed at certain times, or is she free fed? Do you watch her caloric intake? Is she active/get exercise?

As for licking hair, that seems like a behavioural disorder? Perhaps a holistic vet or one that specializes in behavioural issues can help out with that.

It is a couple of years later. My cat Jada has exactly the same condition. Did you ever find out what caused this or remedied it?

It's funny that this post jumped to the top. My Pepper was the exact same way. She was a foster cat who was pregnant, but still thin. After she had her kittens I adopted her as well as I was afraid she wouldn't find another home. After giving birth to her kittens and then being spayed she got really fat. I adopted two of her kittens and they didn't get fat. They all ate the same food all their lives. She didn't eat any more than the others. I lost one of them early but Pepper and her other kitten, Peanut lived with us until recently. Pepper passed away 3 weeks ago (she was about 18, but we aren't sure) and Peanut passed this past Saturday night from mouth cancer at 16.5 years old. Pepper had gotten so big that we had to have her shaved because she could no longer groom herself. Her fur would get stiff, like dreadlocks. We thought she would be a little thinner without her fur but she was just as big. I have a picture of her somewhere after being shaved. I'll have to find it. Trying to pick her up was back-breaking. I always assumed it was because she had delivered a litter and then been spayed.

Same thing with Jada. She had kittens in February. Got her spayed 8 weeks later and now it looks like she swallowed a grapefruit. Vet says she is fine, not overweight for her size. Could do X-rays but she is healthy and happy. Actually eats less than our other cats.

I think metabolisms change after an animal gets spayed. My friends dog got a little bit of a pot belly after her spay. And my parents outdoor cat who had 2 litters also got chunky after she got spayed. Just have to feed her less and play with her more.