Almost 7 month old kitten is already 10lbs

[Shane Larouche]

I just want to know if my cat is overweight or just a big kitten. We feed him three times a day, he eats 3 tablespoons of kibbles mixed with 1/3 can 85g of wet food each meal. Total amount 9 tablespoons of kibbles and one whole can of wet food. We always leave 2 tablespoons of dry kibble on the side which he eats over multiple days sometimes we end up throwing it out since he hasn't touched it in so long.

 

[FeebysOwner]

Sometimes the weight scale can be misleading. Your best bet is to compare him to a body condition chart - this one is a pretty good one to use. Use the positions/angling as displayed below for the most appropriate assessment.

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

From his pictures, he doesn't look overweight to me. I had a kitten who WAS overweight because he ate everything in sight, including his brothers food, and at one year he weighed 16 pounds. Our Vet said he needed to lose 4 pounds, but he is now 15 years old and his "good" weight is just around 14 pounds because he has very long legs and is quite tall. I can't imagine him at 12 pounds. His brother, on the other hand, only weighs 9.5 pounds, and that is his proper weight. So you just never know. Every cat is different.

Your little guy looks perfect to me

 

[stephanietx]

My male kitten was 9 pounds at 6 months. I didn't change much of his feeding and he eventually grew into his weight and has stayed around 11-12 pounds as an adult.

 

[Tik cat's mum]

He looks fine to me. I don't think he looks overweight. Like FeebysOwner said use the chart. He's a cutie.

 

[Alldara]

The first photo is close to the type of photo you would want to show. He looks perfect from the photos.

Using body condition is better than the actual weight. Cats can have vastly different frames and sizes so a 6 month old at 6 lbs and one at 10 lbs can both be at their lean body weight and heathy, depending.

I've got one 4 year old male cat at 10lbs looking perfect and another (3yrs) at 17 lbs looking perfect and a (3yrs) 13 lbs cat who is a touch overweight and needs to be brought down a lb.

That's why body condition over scale is so vital.

 

[Shane Larouche]

My 7 month old cat scrabble is the first cat I've ever had, I've posted a few time on this site and only get positive responses. I just want to thank every one of you before asking my question.

We feed our cat 3 times a day, each meal consists of 3 tablespoons of kibbles (96 Cals) plus half a can of Purina pro plan wet food (49 Cals) for a total of 145 Cals per meal. Total per day 435 Cals plus a few treats a day. We also leave 2-3 tablespoons of dry kibble in another bowl so he can eat when he's hungry.

He's a big boy weighing 11lbs at 7 month old, super active, acting normal and everything.

My question is, is it normal that he never finishes his meals? At the end of each meal there's always some left over, sometimes he'll go back to it an hour or two later to finish it. He keeps gaining weight and acts like a healthy cat. I've read online 60cals per pound of cat, even if we did feed him that much, I don't think he would actually be able to eat that much.

We also switch the wet foods from chicken to salmon every month so he doesn't eat the same thing.

 

[Biomehanika]

Hello there,

How long have you had him and how long have you been feeding him this much food? And when you say he’s constantly gaining weight, how much and how quickly on average? Is he chonky? Kittens and pregnant mommas require a lot of calories, but at 7 months old, he will be well into the transition into his teenage/adult body, which means he requires fewer cals for healthy growth/maintenance. 435 calories plus treats and a few extra scoops of kibble sounds like too much to me personally, and if he’s consistently leaving leftovers that probably means it’s too much for him too. From what I gather, most people around here feed 20-30 calories per pound depending on age and activity level, some less some more depending on the individual cat. Others believe cats up to a year or so old should be able to eat as much as they want, so what you’ve been doing isn’t necessary bad, but in my experience they’ve always become noticeably chonk when allowed to do that (all of my cats except my newest have always been food obsessed and unable to self regulate lol). However, I am NOT suggesting you cut down to that range immediately as it could cause problems if done suddenly, but it sounds to me like it may be beneficial to start to slowly and gradually reduce the amount of food he gets over time. Replacing some of the dry meals with more wet food could also help a lot too as it’s lower in carbs and less likely to contribute to unhealthy fat gain.

 

[Shane Larouche]

I've had him since he was 6 weeks old, we've always went with the 60 Cals per pound that Google said, we mix the kibbles with the wet food to add texture. He's not fat just big

 

[Shane Larouche]

Hello there,

How long have you had him and how long have you been feeding him this much food? And when you say he’s constantly gaining weight, how much and how quickly on average? Is he chonky? Kittens and pregnant mommas require a lot of calories, but at 7 months old, he will be well into the transition into his teenage/adult body, which means he requires fewer cals for healthy growth/maintenance. 435 calories plus treats and a few extra scoops of kibble sounds like too much to me personally, and if he’s consistently leaving leftovers that probably means it’s too much for him too. From what I gather, most people around here feed 20-30 calories per pound depending on age and activity level, some less some more depending on the individual cat. Others believe cats up to a year or so old should be able to eat as much as they want, so what you’ve been doing isn’t necessary bad, but in my experience they’ve always become noticeably chonk when allowed to do that (all of my cats except my newest have always been food obsessed and unable to self regulate lol). However, I am NOT suggesting you cut down to that range immediately as it could cause problems if done suddenly, but it sounds to me like it may be beneficial to start to slowly and gradually reduce the amount of food he gets over time. Replacing some of the dry meals with more wet food could also help a lot too as it’s lower in carbs and less likely to contribute to unhealthy fat gain.

Hello there,

How long have you had him and how long have you been feeding him this much food? And when you say he’s constantly gaining weight, how much and how quickly on average? Is he chonky? Kittens and pregnant mommas require a lot of calories, but at 7 months old, he will be well into the transition into his teenage/adult body, which means he requires fewer cals for healthy growth/maintenance. 435 calories plus treats and a few extra scoops of kibble sounds like too much to me personally, and if he’s consistently leaving leftovers that probably means it’s too much for him too. From what I gather, most people around here feed 20-30 calories per pound depending on age and activity level, some less some more depending on the individual cat. Others believe cats up to a year or so old should be able to eat as much as they want, so what you’ve been doing isn’t necessary bad, but in my experience they’ve always become noticeably chonk when allowed to do that (all of my cats except my newest have always been food obsessed and unable to self regulate lol). However, I am NOT suggesting you cut down to that range immediately as it could cause problems if done suddenly, but it sounds to me like it may be beneficial to start to slowly and gradually reduce the amount of food he gets over time. Replacing some of the dry meals with more wet food could also help a lot too as it’s lower in carbs and less likely to contribute to unhealthy fat gain.

For the speed of his weight gain he's always been 3ish pounds more than his age since around 2 months old, so 3 month 6lbs 4 months 7 etc

 

[IzzysfureverMom]

Hey,
Look at Cat food calculators online. They also use a body condition score. These are the best indicators for me. Calculators say 11 pound cat should be getting 280 kcal per day ( I plugged a body condition score not knowing how your kitty looks so check that and change according.). Look at the chart for body condition score as it has illustrations of what cat looks like for each score. It also explains what you will feel at each score : you feel ribs or no ribs etc. Other factor is activity: active or not.Just like us more active more calories used. I had a cat that was 12 pounds, he was at a very good weight. He was very tall , very long and very active. He did not weigh 12 pounds at 7 months yet. So even with the calculator you sometimes need to adjust up or down according to activity levels etc they all different.
As far as finishing food he maybe full.Check the information above. If you have any doubts if he weight is appropriate, check with your vet.

 

[maggie101]

I feed my cats 3x a day. I suggest slowly decreasing the cals and not leaving food out and give him a trixie puzzle with food scattered. Normally cats do go back and forth for food. My 9 pd cat eats wet only and comes back and forth 4x in the morning. A whole 6 oz can 110 cals plus 55 cals. She is senior someone will post a food chart. Since my cats were kittens I never followed that. All 3 at a healthy weight. Of my 3 cats Maggie is the only one that knows when she's had enough

 

[Biomehanika]

I've had him since he was 6 weeks old, we've always went with the 60 Cals per pound that Google said, we mix the kibbles with the wet food to add texture. He's not fat just big

Oh wow. Beautiful cat. He doesn’t look chonk at all. Very lean and healthy. He must be extremely active to eat that much and still look so trim, mine could never! As long as he looks like that I wouldn’t worry about the big food amount honestly, maybe you could slightly reduce so there aren’t as many leftovers, but he looks good so I would personally carry on as normal mostly and just monitor for changes and adjust as needed as he gets older/his metabolism slows down.

 

[maggie101]

I feed my cats 3x a day. I suggest slowly decreasing the cals and not leaving food out and give him a trixie puzzle with food scattered. Normally cats do go back and forth for food. My 9 pd cat eats wet only and comes back and forth 4x in the morning. A whole 6 oz can 110 cals plus another 3oz can 55 cals. She is senior someone will post a food chart. Since my cats were kittens I never followed that. All 3 at a healthy weight. Of my 3 cats Maggie is the only one that knows when she's had enough

 

[Shane Larouche]

Hey,
Look at Cat food calculators online. They also use a body condition score. These are the best indicators for me. Calculators say 11 pound cat should be getting 280 kcal per day ( I plugged a body condition score not knowing how your kitty looks so check that and change according.). Look at the chart for body condition score as it has illustrations of what cat looks like for each score. It also explains what you will feel at each score : you feel ribs or no ribs etc. Other factor is activity: active or not.Just like us more active more calories used. I had a cat that was 12 pounds, he was at a very good weight. He was very tall , very long and very active. He did not weigh 12 pounds at 7 months yet. So even with the calculator you sometimes need to adjust up or down according to activity levels etc they all different.
As far as finishing food he maybe full.Check the information above. If you have any doubts if he weight is appropriate, check with your vet.

Which calculator are you using?

 

[maggie101]

My 7 month old cat scrabble is the first cat I've ever had, I've posted a few time on this site and only get positive responses. I just want to thank every one of you before asking my question.

We feed our cat 3 times a day, each meal consists of 3 tablespoons of kibbles (96 Cals) plus half a can of Purina pro plan wet food (49 Cals) for a total of 145 Cals per meal. Total per day 435 Cals plus a few treats a day. We also leave 2-3 tablespoons of dry kibble in another bowl so he can eat when he's hungry.

He's a big boy weighing 11lbs at 7 month old, super active, acting normal and everything.

My question is, is it normal that he never finishes his meals? At the end of each meal there's always some left over, sometimes he'll go back to it an hour or two later to finish it. He keeps gaining weight and acts like a healthy cat. I've read online 60cals per pound of cat, even if we did feed him that much, I don't think he would actually be able to eat that much.

We also switch the wet foods from chicken to salmon every month so he doesn't eat the same thing.

This should help explain things. Your cat is beutiful!

How Much Food Should I Feed My Cat? [Answered] - TheCatSite

Have you ever wondered just how much food you should be feeding your cat? Let's say you know which cat food you want to feed, whether dry, canned, homemade cooked, or raw. How much of it should be made available to your cat on a daily basis? Overfeeding is a constant worry for many cat […]

thecatsite.com

 

[IzzysfureverMom]

Which calculator are you using?

There are many and they do different a lot sometimes, but are a good jump off point if your new at this.
Cat Calorie Calculator - Balanced Feline Nutrition Made Easy
Cat Calorie Calculator: How to Calculate Your Cat’s Daily Calorie Intake - PetPlace
Cat Body Condition Score Chart | How to Score Your Cat 1-9
The top one is the simplest
The middle one is more difficult
The bottom one is a body condition score chart
I would start with the top and bottom ones first. Remember he is a kitten and if he is very active will need more calories
The body condition score chart maybe even easier and more important as you have your little guy there and you can look at him feel his ribs etc.
Use the body score chart to plug into the top easier calculator.
He is adorable!

 

[maggie101]

My 6 pd senior cat eats more than my 8 and 9 pd senior cats so the the score should not be followed exactly. It's just a gadge

 

[Shane Larouche]

I've posted on here before about this, but can't seem to find the place I posted it on sorry

Everyone was saying my cat looked in shape with the pictures and was just a big cat.

Some people where talking about a calculator for calories. I just want to know how much to feed him and if I'm over feeding him. I know you can't over feed a kitten but he doesn't eat all we give him.

He's a neutered 7 month old 10.8lbs tabby don't know what he's mixed with.

We feed him mixture of wet and dry, total 436 Cals plus treats so 450 Calories a day. He doesn't eat all his meals though so more in the 300-350 Cals a day. Is that okay?

 

[IzzysfureverMom]

Hi
As I remember he is a big boy and is very active. All tools aside they are not perfect.He looks fine from pics. So 300- 350 calories is mostly likely fine at his age/size. If you have concerns you can adjust up or down with amounts. If you think he needs more. As you say he is not finishing you can add a meal to see if he will eat more.He just may not be hungry. If you have a scale to weigh him you could keep a record of wts and calories. Honestly, I don't think you need to worry if he is healthy with no medical issues. What has vet said about his weight?
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