How Much Should My Cat Weigh?

[patriciawilson]

I have a 13 year old indoor male cat who is very large (23 pounds the last time I checked). He also, I think, has a very large frame and doesn't really look obese; a cat I fostered for a while weighed only 11 pounds and looked much more obese than my cat. His ribs are easily felt and he's quite agile for an elderly cat who was unfortunately declawed by his previous owner, running up and down the stairs multiple times a day and wrestling with my 1 year old cat. Because of this, I've had a hard time trying to figure out a target weight for him (or if he even needs to go on a diet). Right now, he gets 3 cans of Fancy Feast a day, with one of the cans occasionally replaced by plain cooked chicken. He's still quite hungry on this amount even though it seems like a lot of food, so I'm worried that I could be underfeeding him.

I'm including a few pictures of him below--can anyone help me figure out how much a cat of this size should weight? And how much should I actually be feeding him?

(I would go to the vet but I can't afford to right now unless it's a serious medical issue)

 

[Furballsmom]

Hi! To me, he looks a little bit chunky but not that bad, and he's so active, that's a really good thing. I guess I wonder why he's still hungry.
Would you be willing to add some raw, like a couple of nuggets of Primal pronto to his food? Most people report that their cats digestion works better.

 

[abyeb]

Here’s a helpful article: How Much Food Should I Feed My Cat?

 

[lalagimp]

He looks bigger than he should be, but without being able to take him to the vet for the tech to take his measurements, I can't tell you what size is appropriate for his frame. Tom was right up to 21 lbs and I was sent an offer for a free exam and first bag of food to get onto Hill's new Metabolic weight loss program. We didn't take a vet away from their work. It was just a walk in, measurements with the technician, and I was given a chart with their goal and they let me pick up a bag of the food with how much to feed. I didn't have to keep him on that food once I got the hang of the program. He was on 225 calories a day because they said he ideally should be 13.1 lbs, and we did that in four years time.

I also changed my girls' kibble to Dr Elsey's cleanprotein, and even my smaller cat has lost a half a lb in the past six months and it's improved her asthma symptoms.

Feeding them more meat and less carbs really seems to amp up their metabolism. Tom's on raw now and I have to weigh him at least twice every month to see that he's not dropping too much weight. He has to take in over 250 calories now.

 

[Kieka]

I'm sorry but I would call him overweight from the photos. Here is a body condition chart that may help. But I'd put him at least at a four.

fat-cat-scale.png

• Kieka
• Feb 1, 2017
• 3

I've seen larger cats and he isn't horrible but I wouldn't feed him more. Cooked chicken is good as a snack but be careful about it being a meal replacement because it won't give full nutrition on a regular basis. I'd try switching to a lower carb and higher protein food as he might feel full longer. Calculate how many calories he is eating now and slowly reduce that amount by five calories a week to minimize his notice of the reduction. Keep going until his body condition is closer to three.

For comparison these are two of our cats. Link (blue eyes) is a solid three. Fury (black) is right between a two and three. But you can see waist definition on both and feel ribs and muscle on both when petting.

 

[patriciawilson]

He was on the metabolic dry food for a while but it wasn't helping, so I switched over to 100% wet food. Does he look like his ideal weight could be close to 18 or 20 pounds though? I just can't imagine him much smaller than that; even in the photos I saw of him as a kitten (I've only had him for a year and a half) he was huge, almost twice the size of his littermates.

 

[lalagimp]

An ideal weight has a waistline. There would be even a hint of an hourglass. I thought my bub was fantastic at 20 lbs, and he even has a large frame, but at 13 pounds there is a huge difference. He's still a big guy only now his health risks are so much lower, he has a bunch of energy, stopped having dandruff on his rump because he was actually finding it difficult to keep up with a good grooming. When they told me 13 pounds my reaction was that you could not possibly tell me that he needs to lose 7, like there was no way he had all that on him, but he did. Even having your small animal at 2 lbs overweight is a very large percentage of their total weight.
By comparison, he is the largest in the house. Pales everyone. Next largest is supposed to be 12 lbs, and then my ladies are 9 1/2 - 10 lbs.

 

[Kieka]

All wet is best. Usually less carbs and more protein so it is more likely to help with weight. I'd get him down to 20 and reevaluate at that point but I'd bet he should be closer to 17 or 18 (or even lower). It's hard to say through just photos because of scale. A vet could give you a better estimate.

 

[Furballsmom]

I was also going to say 19-21 pounds, in that range. There's no way really to know until you get your kitty there and re-evaluate at that point, but as mentioned, try and obtain higher quality such as raw or whatever you choose and go s-l-o-w-l-y, so that the hungries don't drive you both bonkers

 

[patriciawilson]

Thank you everyone for the help. Unfortunately I really can't afford anything better than Fancy Feast. It's already a stretch to feed wet-only.

 

[Furballsmom]

Hi again, the bottom line is that he's your cat. To your original question, you're wondering why he's acting hungry yet you're concerned to avoid weight gain.

A rotation of different brands of wet food --with different ingredients even if the 'menu' items are not necessarily considered top of the line, might help his digestion work better and help him to feel more satiated.

Choosing The Right Food For Your Cat - Part 2 To quote from this article;
Which specific type is better for my cat – standard grocery brand, premium, super-premium: natural, holistic or “human grade”? In the U.S. to date, there are no formal regulations that define objective criteria for different market segments of cat food other than “organic.” All terms other than organic are commercial slogans. The terms such as premium, ultra premium, natural, holistic or human grade have no official definition. The exception is organic cat food. Organic products must meet the same USDA regulations as for organic human food.

If you'd like to, depending on where you're located take a look at these, both canned and pouch. At Walmart, take a look at GoodLife, PureBalance and Special Kitty and also Delectables treat pouches. King Soopers has Pet Pride, Sheba sticks, Luvsome and Abound.

Also try this, buy a bag of the Primal Pronto nuggets and add a couple-three nuggets to the rotation, say, once or twice a week or something, which would keep the overall cost down but still provide some benefits.

Other possibilities to help his digestive system would be freeze dried minnows, some raw egg yolk (the white of the egg must be cooked) once a week or so, some tuna, and boiled unseasoned chicken or turkey as you have been doing.

Also you could consider picking up a couple cans of kitten food now and then, the protein and carb ratios are different than for "adult" cat food.

Good luck - your furbabies are gorgeous!!