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Cat Obesity
Weight gain can be very insidious untilone day you say, "What happened?" As a petmatures or gets old, its metabolism and activ-ity change, and its caloric intake should bereduced accordingly. People have the sameproblem keeping off that extra weight after the"middle years" arrive. What are the "middleyears" for a cat?
If there is an increase in caloric intake, aslowdown in metabolism (due to body-agechanges). or a decrease in exercise (due to ac-tion on your part or to a lazy or aging pet), aweight gain will occur. Hypothyroidism (a lackof thyroid hormones) is rare in cats, and anouariohysterectomy (removal of the ovaries,tubes, and uterus in a female) does not seemto cause a weight gain.
But sometimes owners misinterpret aweight gain or "large belly" as a fat problemwhen in reality a heart, liver, or kidney prob-lem (with fluid accumulation in the abdomen)164
or a hormone imbalance is the cause. Over-weight cats can have more pancreatic (diabe-tes and inflammation of the pancreas), heart,lung, and joint problems because these partsare continually being overstressed by the ex-cess fat and weight. Surgery and healing canalso be extremely difficult in an overweight cat.
Your veterinarian is also overstressed byobese pets. It makes the physical examinationmore difficult because it's harder to hear theheartbeat and lung sounds and to feel the in-ternal organs. Trying to find a vein for bloodtests or intravenous fluids in a fat pet can be amajor undertaking.
Cat Weight Loss
Before starting a weight-reduction pro-gram, it is a good idea to have your veterinar-ian perform a physical examination and, ifnecessary, blood tests to rule out relatedhealth or hormone problems. The program it-self involves finding the desired weight and the num-ber of calories needed to maintain that weight.Feed your cat just 60 percent of that daily totaluntil the cat reaches the desired weight.
For instance, if your cat weighs twelvepounds, and ten pounds is the desired weight,then 400 calories x 60% = 240 calories shouldbe fed daily until your cat weighs ten pounds.Be patient: it may take three or four months.Once the goal is reached, you can slowly in-crease the calories to the calorie maintenancelevel (400 calories for ten pounds).
The cat's normal food or special prescrip-tion diets can be used for the weight-reductionprogram, but all family members must coop-erate. No table food or treats are allowed, be-cause these add considerable calories. Keep aweekly record of your cat's weight. If there isnot a steady weight loss, contact your veterinarian. If your pet roams free and is fedby neighbors, gets into trash, or hunts for ro-dents, forget about weight reduction.
Take a "before" and an "after" picture ofyour cat. Your veterinarian will be proud of youand your pet's accomplishment. A sincereowner who practices good preventive medi-cine for his or her pet is deeply respected byveterinarians. I want to share with you a post-card I received this summer from my patientSmokey Meisner, on vacation in the Poconos: |
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Obesity in cats, in most cases, comesfrom too many calories and not enough exercise. Fat people seem to have fat pets. I'm con-vinced that this is caused by an eating pattern("a little more won't hurt") shared by ownerand pet. If fat people don't exercise enough,why should their pets be different?