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- Apr 6, 2006
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Baby Girl is my little 8-pound, year-old tabby kitty. She used to belong to the neighbors, and when she got to me she was skinny--her ribs and hips both stuck out. I think she must have weighed about 7 or so pounds; for a cat that's perfect at 8 pounds, that's really skinny.
Anyway, I started feeding her properly, and she naturally filled out into the little beauty you see here, chowing down and showing off her pretty mackerel tabby stripes:
Thing is, she still acts ravenous despite her obviously normal weight. She knows she no longer has to constantly cry for food (she was constantly mewing and begging when I got her here at first); but whenever I put down food, she's got her face in it, scarfing it down like it'll disappear if she lets go of it. It won't--Tiny, who weighs a long, lean 10 pounds, never bothers her food, and sometimes doesn't eat all of his own (at which point she eats it).
She gets Purina Naturals dry food, mainly; I keep trying to see whether she'll eat canned, and sometimes she does--but it's pretty obvious she's not used to it and it will take a while to get her eating canned food every day. (Tiny still turns up his nose completely.)
Anyway, I'm wondering whether I've got the makings of a fat kitty here, if I don't watch out. I want her to be healthy; I play with her every day; but she still doesn't get it that she doesn't have to snarf down everything in sight!
Does anybody have experiences with skinny, undernourished cats? Once they got a proper diet, did they turn into food hogs and get fat; or did they stay normal-sized? Should I make sure Baby's getting what she needs and no more?
Anyway, I started feeding her properly, and she naturally filled out into the little beauty you see here, chowing down and showing off her pretty mackerel tabby stripes:
Thing is, she still acts ravenous despite her obviously normal weight. She knows she no longer has to constantly cry for food (she was constantly mewing and begging when I got her here at first); but whenever I put down food, she's got her face in it, scarfing it down like it'll disappear if she lets go of it. It won't--Tiny, who weighs a long, lean 10 pounds, never bothers her food, and sometimes doesn't eat all of his own (at which point she eats it).
She gets Purina Naturals dry food, mainly; I keep trying to see whether she'll eat canned, and sometimes she does--but it's pretty obvious she's not used to it and it will take a while to get her eating canned food every day. (Tiny still turns up his nose completely.)
Anyway, I'm wondering whether I've got the makings of a fat kitty here, if I don't watch out. I want her to be healthy; I play with her every day; but she still doesn't get it that she doesn't have to snarf down everything in sight!
Does anybody have experiences with skinny, undernourished cats? Once they got a proper diet, did they turn into food hogs and get fat; or did they stay normal-sized? Should I make sure Baby's getting what she needs and no more?