Angel is gaining so much weight,,

Hi, I have questions about Angel gaining so much weight after being "fixed". She used to be so thin I thought something was wrong with her. I had her checked out at the vet and was told she is just a normal active cat, which she was, she was always on the go raising total heck around here. So we had her fixed and she came through that great but she has slowly gained weight. I told the vet about it and I was told it happens allot that they will gain some weight. But she is getting so heavy for such a small cat, I don't know the numbers but I bet she weighs twice as much as she did before she had her operation. She don't seem to be sick or acting any more weird than she always did.


She used to be a regular acrobat and could get on top of doors and balance on them and she would climb way up on top of the TV in our bedroom which is on top of a small closet that don't go all the way to the ceiling. It is about 8ft off the floor up there, she would stand on top of the TV and then dive off it and land on the bed about 3ft away from the closet the TV is on. I wish I had the digital camera back then to get a video of her flying through the air. I bet if she tried that now she would hurt herself landing because she is so heavy.

Is this kind of weight gain normal after being fixed? She looks like a big round ball with 4 legs and a head and tail sticking out of it. She has also got the big saggy belly like Tuffy did after he got fixed. I could see it if she was on the heavy and lazy side before the surgery but she was so thin before.

Napolean didn't gain any extra weight... but I don't free feed him and I play with him regularly.

It's very likely that she's just maturing and becoming less active. Napolean isn't half as active as he was when he was younger, I had him neutered at 4.5 months of age... and he started slowing down when he was about 6-7 months old... he's still pretty wild but nothing compared to when he was younger.

No weight gain with my boys following neutering.

How old is she? Neutered cats do need a bit less food so if you're feeding her the same as before she was spayed she will gain weight. She will also probably be a bit less active than she was when younger so won't burn up so many calories.

I'm not 100% sure when it comes to cats (both my guys were desexed as babies) but I know with the two dogs I grew up with (who were both desexed as adult dogs) they slowed down a lot in activity and put on a fair bit of weight. We just adjusted their diets a bit and tried to keep them as active as possible. Good luck.

I've never had a fixed cat gain weight, but I play with them quite frequently and use this feeding schedule:

free fed as young kitens, then gradually reduced to

four times/day,

three times/day,

twice a day with a half-meal in between (this is where I project them to be at neutering time),

and finally twice a day a few months later, with the mid-meal being replaced by a random snack (a few bits of kibble and treats).

The play sessions usually amount to an hour or more a day, stretched across a few hours.

Lily began to gain weight after she got spayed. She developed an udder/spay sway. She was very underweight before her spay & the vet was concerned. Now, she is at a normal weight.

My only suggestion is to start limiting Angel's food intake. Talk with your vet if you feel she needs to be on a diet, diets should be monitored by a vet, IMO.

I think I am going to have to find a different food for them. We went to the Nutro indoor stuff but Rusty don't like it very much and Missy can't chew up the pieces because they are so hard.

So the last time Tuffy [before today again] was at the vet she wanted me to try some Iams hair ball control food with him, which he now eats instead of the Nutro, Also Missy seems to be able to eat the Iams ok but Rusty don't like this stuff either.

Angel was loosing some weight on the Nutro but now she pigs out on the Iams like she used to do on the cheap dry catfood we used to give them so I think she is getting bigger again.

I don't know how we ended up with 5 cats but feeding them something they all like and is good for them is getting to be a problem and I don't really have a way to feed each cat there own food so they all get what they need. They have all been so used to just going in the back room when the want and eat out of the feeder thing I have for them. So I am sure they would all bug the heck out of me if I went to feeding them at certain times a day. Or they would be in the garbage or on the counters looking for something to eat.

Panther will sometimes eat the dogs food and when Kelsey sees him doing that she has a fit. We talked about maybe giving up one or two of the cats but we can't agree on which one or two to let go so I am sure that won't happen.

I also see so much about what people say about all the different cat foods I don't know which way to turn anymore. We went to the Nutro because I had read how good it was but now I read on this sight how alot of people/cats don't like it now.

If you have lots of cats with differing feeding requirements, the easiest way may be to switch to scheduled feeding. They will get used to it. I only have 2 but I stand over them while they eat so that they don't eat each others (I have one neutered, male on adult food and 1 kitten on kitten food). I feed them 3 times a day - morning before work, teatime after work and a smaller meal before bed. That may be the only way you can give them all what they like/need.

I don't know what it is about IAMs but it seems like a lot of cats that like it really like it and if they are free fed they will overeat even if they don't overeat other brands of food.

Well my Jaffa will overeat anything, bless him, but when he was a kitten I free fed him and his brother dry food. Then after a few months it got to the point where Jaffa would scoff the day's supply for both of them before I'd even left the house so I had to switch to scheduled mealtimes. Guess what they were eating at the time? Yup - Iams! I wonder what they put in it to make it so addictive to cats!

I got a small bag of Iams hair ball but this time I got the healthy weight or whatever they call it. Most of them seem to like it and Missy can eat it with out to much problem. Panther is the only one out of the bunch that eats the Nutro if he can pick between the two kinds.

I swear Angel is getting bigger every day. If she was always on the heavy side I wouldn't be so surprised, but she was so thin before. I don't even remember how old she is for sure, I have memory problems when it comes to dates or how long ago things happen, anyway I think she is around 1 1/2 to 2 years old now.

Could she have some kind of medical problem that is making her so big? Is there any kind of toys or something that works for cats to get exercise in the house? Maybe I can make a big wheel like hamsters run in.

She don't even hardly play with her favorite toys anymore, Angel and Missy used to chase each other all over the house when they both were in a goofy mood but I have not seen them do that in a while either. She makes a little grunt noise when she jumps down off the bed or chair or where ever like it hurts her to do it. She got stuck in one of her old hiding places the other day and couldn't get herself out because she is so big now. We had to move a bunch of stuff and a big ceder trunk to get her out.

I might be wrong but it seems like Angel is depressed, at least thats what it would be called in people and I have had clinical depression since I was a kid so I know what its like.

I am getting worried about her more and more the last few days, I get so worried about Tuffy's problems that I don't pay as much attention to the other cats as I should be.

I wish I had a before picture of her so I could show you all how much bigger she has got. I bet she has doubled her weight from what she was before she got fixed. She got fixed later than she should have so she was pretty much full grown when she had it done. She hasn't got taller or longer just allot bigger around. Its like she has no neck anymore when she is laying down, just her little head sticking out of her fat sholders.

Hannah gained a significant amount of weight after she was spayed. Also, she's matured and has become much more sedentary. I play with her for at least 45 mins to an hour every night before bedtime, and I've still got her on the diet recommended by the vet. We'll be getting her a cat tree soon so she'll have something else to play on, too.

Stephanie

Some cats like people tend to over eat until they are full. Some cats can be free fed other cannot due to a lack of control. A simple solution would be to control the feeding and decrease the caloric intake. The three variables you can work with are decrease the volume, decrease the fat, increase the water with a raw or wet food.

Work with their diet, take your time and the results will follow.

Good luck.