Healthy Cat Weight

Fat Cat photograph copyright danperry.com

A Healthy Cat Weight is a growing concern for people who care about cats including veterinarians. Vets are seeing more overweight cats than before. This is probably partly or perhaps mainly because people are getting fatter. People are getting fatter because the world is getting richer and cat afford better food, which tastes better and encourages eating. Eating can be pleasurable. People accept being heavier than before and pass that mentality to their cats.

Obesity

Obesity in cats it seems affects (in the USA at least) about 50% of cats in the age range 2-10 years (src: Elizabeth Hodgkins DVM "Your Cat"). Information on weight be it high or low is useful in diagnosis of illness. Obesity in cats is much more common than underweight cats in the United States. It is said that obesity is the "leading nutritional malady" as reported by USA veterinarians¹.

Although lack of exercise is a major factor in a cat becoming obese, dry cat food encourages eating as is contains high levels of carbohydrates and therefore discourages a Healthy Cat Weight. Dry cat food needs carbohydrates in it to make the manufacturing process work. Cats that eat a dry cat food are more likely to be overweight and be less active. Elizabeth Hodgkins DVM argues that dry cat foods create swings in blood sugar levels which can cause sluggishness and a lack of desire to play. This translates into putting on weight to a greater extent than enforced inactivity due to being locked indoors permanently, which is the case for a large percentage of cats in the USA (much less in the UK and Europe).

It is thought that being overweight can increase the chances of contracting diabetes. Elizabeth puts the relatively high levels of diabetic cats (2.5% of the population on her rough estimate) down to the effects of the high carbohydrate levels in dry cat cat food. Rarely diabetes in cats can be accompanied by other diseases such as Cushing's Disease and Hyperthyroidism.

If you want to read more about cat food click here. And here you can see my initial assessment of the best dry cat food in the United States. And here is a page answering the question: how many calories does a cat need?. Finally, read more on cat obesity.

All manufactured cat food, if one looks at it a bit cynically, it designed to be eaten and liked as that is how the manufacturers make their profits. It is hard sometimes to know exactly what goes into cat food. The list of ingredients are written in terms that sound strange such as "ash" and "moisture". In wet cat food cats love the jelly and are not sure about the rest; what's in the jelly? I personally don't see a great level of transparency in the cat food market. Dry cat food is very convenient and suites modern life (I mean modern human life) but it does not suite modern cat life. I agree with Elizabeth Hodgins in that it discourages a Healthy Cat Weight.


Thin cat - photo copyright *mangu*. Of course not all unhealthy cat weight is overweight. But excess weight is more common than underweight particularly in the Western countries. This cat is probably a feral cat in an Eastern country. I feel for this cat - a tough life.

Checking for a healthy cat weight

So we have a general problem with finding a Healthy Cat Weight. There are a number of websites that tell you how to check a cat's weight. I am not sure we need this information. We can tell when a person is thin, normal or overweight. In fact we can fine tune that and very accurately measure a persons weight against a norm just by looking at the person. Of course this doesn't apply to people who have a weight perception problem but that is a small percentage of people. Or is it in fact? Going back to the argument in the first paragraph of this post people are drifting towards an acceptance of being overweight.

So if your cat looks overweight she is. You can feel the fat around the neck and rib cage for example. There should be a thin layer of fat over the ribs.If the fat around the ribs is more than thin then the cat is deemed to be overweight by the experts. A cat of correct weight should have a lean body¹. When viewed from above the cat should have a "slightly hourglass appearance" and an indentation at the loin area.

As a guide average sized male cats should weigh in the order of 9-12 pounds and females about 7-9 lbs. That said, in my personal experience there is a distinct tendency for veterinarians to pigeon hole all cats into generic weight categories. This seems wrong to me. As is the case for people, some cats are naturally bigger than others. Some are naturally small. Some cats will have a propensity to be a bit heavier etc. These individual differences should be taken into account and accepted. Yet you see charts and the like listing weights for cats as if they all have to be within certain limits.

I favor a more practical and common sense approach. We all know when we and our cats are overweight. There is one factor that needs to be factored in. Although the vast majority of cats are mixed breed cats without a pedigree there is a growing number of purebred cats.

Although most purebred cats are in the middle ground for weight and size, in other words they weigh the same as a mixed breed cat, some are smaller and some bigger.

I have built a page of the average weights of all the cat breeds. The weights are set out as minimums, averages and maximums. The purpose of the page is to ascertain the largest cat breed but may help in ascertaining a Healthy Cat Weight as well.

Sources other than stated as as numbered:

1. The Cat, Its Behavior, Nutrition & Health by Linda P Case

Healthy Cat Weight to Cat Facts - cat food

Senior Cat Care

Senior cat care - Old cat - photograph copyright junku-newcleus under creative commons license kindly granted by the photographer. The name is his Flickr name.

My cat is a fighting fit but slightly fat 15-16 year female Tuxedo Moggie of great distinction. She is built like a brick and sh*t* (excuse the language) like a trooper, a sure sign that she is healthy. You can learn quite a lot about the health of your cat companion cleaning the litter. Senior Cat Care is something I know a bit about from first hand experience.

But seriously for a minute it can be quite worrying living with an older cat. We know that their average life span is around the late teens. Mind you some breeders of purebred cats think the late teens is unattainable. If fed and cared for properly it is certainly attainable. As a cat nears the end of their lives it gets hard for human and cat alike. Mentally I am (or indeed have) prepared for my cats death and I feel sad when a think of it, very sad as I will miss her terribly.

It is good to know that generally cats like humans are living longer. That means a need for greater awareness of the needs of the older cat to allow for proper Senior Cat Care.


Senior Cat Care - Old Cat - photograph copyright emdot and reproduced under creative commons license.

So what are the special needs of the older cat? The needs stem from the changes that take place in a cat as she gets older. An older cat will be less flexible, and if she is overweight that is an obstacle to flexibility too. As a result, her grooming is less effective and parts of her body may not be groomed. These parts are the difficult areas to get too such as the lower back and hind quarters. The best way around this is to give your senior cat daily grooming sessions. Maybe even twice or three times a day for shortish sessions.

This is great for several reasons. Your cat will like it, usually, and if she doesn't there may be something wrong physically. A vet's check up could be in order. So, she'll like it. You'll like it. It will slow you down for a bit. It will allow you to get closer to your cat. And it will allow you to inspect her while grooming to check for symptoms that give an indication of an illness. As cats get older their immune systems become less effective (I can vouch for that in terms of my health!) so it is wise to watch out for signs of illness.

You don't have to be a veterinarian to recognize if something looks wrong as it is usually common sense. The hard part is deciding what is wrong. We leave that to the vet of course. So senior cat care can have a silver lining.

Older senior cats have less elastic skin and stiff or arthritic joints. The skin's blood circulation is less effective leaving the cat more open to infection. The arthritic or stiff joints might mean a change to some of the practices that you have in place for the placement of the litter and the food. My cat has difficulty climbing onto my bed so I am about to build some steps. She also has greater difficulty using the cat flap so I have to open the door for her. I think that these little things should be observed and acted upon especially if you are not around a lot to deal with them on an ad hoc basis.


Old cat photograph copyright Terry Bain and reproduced under a creative commons license.

Senior cat care should extend to a routine inspection of her teeth. Dental disease is fairly common in senior cats in part due to the food we give them. Dry cat food is not the answer. Not only are diseases of the gums and teeth bad per se they also make eating less enjoyable and sometimes difficult. This may lead to a loss of appetite and weight loss. A sore mouth due to gum disease needs treatment obviously.

Loss of appetite may also be due to a partial loss of smell as we all know that cats decide what to eat by the smell of the food. Good cat food is, I think, hard to come by. I would argue, on the basis of having read Elizabeth Hodgkins book, "Your Cat", that dry cat food is not as good as wet. I cover these aspects at the cat food section of the cat facts page of the main website..

The things that affect us in old age affect cats to such as loss of memory ("senior moments") and personality change (grumpy - I can empathise).

I think it important for all cats but particularly senior cats that stress levels are reduced as much as possible. Cats like routine so allowing a well run-in routine to continue wherever possible is a big plus for a older cat.

One obviously important part of Senior Cat Care is exercise (and that applies to us both). Older cats sleep more and sometimes eat more. Obese cats are on the increase. This is our responsibility although sometimes it can be difficult to deal with. I make an effort (but it is relatively easy for me as I am retired) to play with my girl on the lawn perhaps a couple of times a day for say 10 mins at least. She loves it. She asks me to do it and I can check up on her condition such as breathing and general muscle tone and joints when playing with her. She passes on all fronts at present thankfully.

This post does not cover all the "angles". See your vet for the truly medical stuff.

Sources:

• Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine
• Myself

Senior Cat Care to Home Page

Cats with Squirrel tails

Cats with Squirrel tails are not hugely uncommon. Squirrels let their tales droop at the top - real cute I think but not so good perhaps if you are in the show cat business. Squirrels also have plumed tails.

The Squitten is a mutated cat with defective and shortened forelimbs that looks a bit like a squirrel particularly when the cat has a plumed tail. These are squirrel tailed cats I presume.

There is one cat, an extremely rare cat, that has a squirrel tail plus. This is the American Ringtail cat. The tail can fold over in the shape of a ring. In the Ringtail cat the tail is very much like a Husky dog's tail and is due to a benign genetic mutation. By benign I mean the mutation does not cause other nasty disorders.

If cats with squirrel tails are not Squittens they are probably cats with the usual genetic make up (i.e. the tail is not due to a genetic disorder) but the cartilage in the tail is probably a bit less stiff so the tail flops forwards at the end when held high. Although it may be due to a recessive genetic mutation.

Although the term might just mean cats with plumed tails (bushy tails).

Two cats with cartilage that is different and which affects different parts of the anatomy are the American Curl, with Curly ear flaps and the dwarf cats, with short legs. Both conditions are due to genetic mutations.

Cat Spraying Elavil

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Sex and Cat Breeding

The female sex and cat breeding go together as they should. Cat breeding is about raising babies into adults. It is very similar to human child rearing. It requires all of the skills a good human mother can bring to the process. I guess women are drawn to cat breeding for that reason.

Writing this short post is difficult as it could be perceived as sexist. It is not meant to be. When ever a person refers to the sexes in anyway it can be seen as sexist. But that shouldn't stop people talking about the different skills each sex brings to the table.

In the cat fancy women naturally predominate. But this is not to say that a lot of men aren't involved either. I read somewhere that at one time men were thought of as sissy if they were involved in cat breeding. They would not be thought of in the same way if they were involved in say horse breeding. It could be that cat breeding is essentially a female domain where men enter at their peril :).

The point I am making is this; there is a relevancy in discussing cat breeders' sex and cat breeding. Women have their skills and men have their skills. Men generally see the bigger picture and are less cautious. They can also be more aggressive. They need to be to get the bacon in! This makes men more suitable some would say (and some wouldn't - and this is the possibly sexist bit) to top level management. Moving and shaking requires a bold approach. Sometimes things need to change and cat breeding is going through a process now where it needs, in my humble opinion, some firm direction and management to change it for the better and set it up for the future.

In the USA cat breeders are under attack by the relatively rich organisations such as HSUS and PETA. There is a perception problem that cat breeding does not sit comfortably in a world where there are too many cats that are abandoned and then euthanized. It doesn't really matter if the cat breeder are not to blame for this problem. The two situations don't co-exist comfortably.

To get to the point. I don't know who runs the CFA and TICA and the other large cat associations in the USA, but it is probably women. It may be time to look at hiring a proper company executive to move things forward boldly to unify and build.

Another point, there appears to be too much disagreement amongst cat breeders, pulling in different directions. Women are more individualistic, that is why they prefer cats to dogs and why men prefer dogs to cats (the pack animal instinct in men). This individualism may be hurting the cat fancy. Sex and cat breeding is an issue but at a level different to the one suggested by the title of this post.

Now, no unpleasant comments please.

Sex and Cat Breeding to Home Page