The Facts about Cat Obesity

Cat obesity is a very common problem the world over, but your cat’s weight can predispose your precious to diseases such as diabetes and arthritis. Obese cats and overweight cats are becoming more common that healthy weight cats and more and more veterinarians are seeing overweight cats and treating them for a variety of health disorders. So if you’re wondering what to do with your overweight cat, read on and we’ll help you through dealing with cat obesity and solving the issues.

An astonishing 40 per cent of the cats in the US are considered to be obese with only five to 10 per cent of cats in the US being classified as slightly over weight. These numbers are also steadily on the rise. Feline Diabetes has become a much more common diagnosis in cats and is being seen every day in veterinarian offices across the country. Cats are at a high risk for obesity disorders, including a very serious disorder called Hepatic Lipidosis.

It is important to remember that your cat can only eat when you allow it to – when you put food down for them. Cats don’t go off to the refrigerator late at night and score a late night sandwich. Many pet owners proclaim that their cat’s obesity isn’t their fault because they hardly ever eat – many owners believe that the food isn’t really the issue at all, when in reality, that’s the cause and root of the problem, and it can be helped, and stopped.

If you have an obese cat, you need to take your cat to the vet for a physical examination. It’s important to make sure that your cat has no health defects or illnesses before starting a weight loss program for cat obesity. If your cat is healthy, other than the cat obesity problem, you can begin a weight loss program safely.

The main causes of cat obesity are actually from human error. These errors include:

Free choice feeding – We allow our cats to consume too much food by allowing its availability all the time and letting our cats eat whenever they want to. Instead we should feed our cats two to four small portion of cat food each day and control those amounts so that our cat doesn’t gain weight. We must also look at how much food we think is normal – for a seven pound cat, a proportional meal is 0.6 to 1 ounce of food per meal – quit thinking ‘cups’ of food and start thinking ounces.
Carbohydrates – Cat’s don’t need, nor can they break down carbohydrates. While dry cat food is convenient, we should feed our cats a meat based diet. There are dry cat foods that follow this type of diet.
Protein – cats crave their carnivorous ways (eating mice and birds) because they are made primarily of protein and fat. We need to ensure that our cat’s food is high in protein and low in carbohydrates.
Cat treats – cat treats are a cat owners ‘reward’ for a cat. Unfortunately if your cat is overweight, you are only compounding the problem. If your cat is obese or overweight you need to stop giving cat treats and start rewarding with petting and scratching behind the ears instead.

There are many steps that lead to cat obesity, including lack of exercise and access to fresh water. Yes, we have to let our cats exercise – just like a dog, you should play with your cat once a day and get their heart rates rising to help burn calories and fat. If you have a lazy cat, you need to find something that they enjoy that is physical; otherwise you will soon have a problem with cat obesity.