I agree. I know it's a pet and they love food, but pay a little more attention to their health. Overweight pets are as bad as overweight humans.

Hey sometimes its not the owners fault. My cat is overweight but i feed him as much as directed and he is an inside cat. Some cats are just fat.

No...if you can see that your cat is still overweight after feeding him the recommended amount then surely the next step is to consider diet food or less food (after okaying with a vet if that's not ridiculously expensive). A recommended amount is just a generalisation and it's clearly not working for him. Maybe he has a low metabolism or is just extra lazy?

he DOES eat diet food thats the problem

Try a grain and starch (potatoes and corn) free brand. Those are used as fillers in pet food to ridiculous amounts and really contribute to obesity in animals. Giving diet food just means there is more junk in it as filler and less calories only because there is no nutritional value. No nutrition: body freaks out, starvation mode, and stores fat to survive. Or consider raw if you can handle it. My cat used to get UTIs, be overweight, and have all sorta of problems. Now he's lean and super healthy on raw even at nearly 9 years old.

Maybe OP has multiple cats and can't feed them separately. My three eat out of two collective bowls of food and water, so making sure they eat the right amount isn't easy. One of mine is very chubby. She is one of the more active ones, but she won't stop eating. The other two are fine. We have to fill the food bowl constantly because we can't tell if everyone has had enough to eat or not. My fourteen year old cat is used to this and probably wouldn't adjust well if I tried to change it.

One of my cats is overweight. She became so after she was fixed. She eats the healthy amount and goes outside and runs around everyday. It's just when she was fixed, her metabolism slowed way down, causing her to pack the weight.

Hello, OP here. I've notice quite a few comments similar to this. So, I'll set the record straight on why my cat is "bigger", instead of assuming I'm a bad "cat parent". My cat has a metabolism disorder... Which means he doesn't have the same working digestive system as a regular cat. Which was caused by genetics from his mother, who was also an obese cat that also had a metabolism disorder as well. He was always a bigger cat. But now as he's getting older I've noticed his size increasing. I have talked to the vet about this. Since, Micky (my cat) is in good health, she just suggested to slowly make my indoor cat an outdoor cat, to try to make Micky more active in his daily routine, we also made changes into his diet. Every Time I let Micky outside I watch him, since he is not originally an outdoor cat. Therefore, it was a coincidence that Micky was feeling very adventurous as was trying to climb the fence, pooped himself, and fell in it. I agree, **** the cats life... But, guess who had to clean the mess?

I love chubby cats. Not like severly fat, but about 20 lbs.

Snuggly puss!

Woah there Charles Dickens, no need to write a novel.

That is obese. If you can't easily see/feel a cat's ribs, it's already obese. 15 lbs is overweight. 20 os obese.

That generalization doesn't work. Cats come in different sizes where 20 pounds is perfectly healthy (such as a Maine Coon kitty)

I don't think your vet gave you good advice. A cat that has always been an indoor cat isn't particularly safe outdoors. I know you say you are watching him, but still. It's hard having a special needs pet.

Cry more, 63.

My cats are on a high-end wet diet (dry food is terrible for cats - ask me why before you downvote). They get fed according to their current weights and target weights (one needs to gain about half a pound). They're all between 5 and 12 years old, and due to their fitness, are all very active. :)

Wtf is wrong with you?

I have a cat that is 18 years old. She's fat as hell. I'm officially outlived by the fattest cat I know.

People (and pets) only outlive other creatures if said creatures die first. Unless you're posting this from another realm, you haven't been outlived. The cat was just born first.

Yes that's what it is, is there a problem here?

lol I thought it was funny

Ohh immaturity.... ??

I think we found the lorax of the cats.

considering that cats will rip your house apart and rip your face off if they're hungry and you wont feed them, that they'll stop eating when full. it's not really the owners fault. wild felines (lions, other) can be fat. who feeds them? And it they're fixed. cats gain weight much easier. over feeding a young cat that can still reproduce isn't going to lead to an over weight cat. so it has more to do with the cat, than the owner.

I love how people assume that obesity=poor diet. There are many factors that affect weight.

The cat has a metabolism disorder.

@41 - I myself have 5 cats, all in great health and of varied ages ranging 3 to 14 years of age. All my cats are on different diets and are fed different quantities, twice daily, and are fed based on their age, weight, level of activity, any allergies they may have, ect, as instructed by a nutritionist. Their meals are satisfying enough that they do not destroy the house and/or my face, they are used to their diet, and used to how many times a day they are fed. I have never experienced behavior issues due to not being fed enough. As long as the animal has a proper diet, there should never be a reason for it to act out. Fat or obese animals in the wild are not exactly common. Many wild felines eat what they require to survive. Animals that live in places where food is scarce in general or during the winter will eat as much as possible to build up stored fat so they do not die of starvation when food isn't readily available. Animals have been evolving for many years, and they will almost always make the best choices in regards to their health. If they didn't, the majority of the top predators would be extinct or nearing extinction, for reasons other than man (habitat loss, over hunting). Spayed or neutered animals can indeed gain weight faster than intact animals, however, all of these factors should be considered in the diet and feeding schedule. It is common knowledge that growing animals (juvenile) require more food and protein since they are still growing which burns a lot of calories and consumes energy, which is why it is recommended to feed them several times a day, and decent amounts of food. Again, all should be considered and worked out in their diet and feeding schedule. When working out a diet and feeding schedule it is always good to consult a vet and nutritionist every 2-6 months for young animals and once a year for older ones. It can also be done by trial and error, however, only for experienced pet owners as there can be many flaws otherwise. @51 and 53 - There are indeed a lot of factors involving weight gain in both animals and humans, however, many owners are just irresponsible with their pets and/or do very little reading or researching the quantities of food their animals require. Some trust the instructions on the bags of food they buy to gauge how much to feed them, however larger name companies commonly recommend using far too much so people run out faster and buy more of their food. Another factor is the food people are feeding their animals, usually it's very fatty, and offers little nutrition. Vets also often recommend using foods that are not suitable for both healthy pets, and ones in bad health, since if they are being sponsored, or have some sort of deal with them, the more food they sell, the more money they make. In summation, I had absolutely no idea that the cat had health problems, and there was no way to know until OP commented AFTER I did. There are many, many owners in this world that give little thought to the health of their pets, and more often than not, feed the wrong food, feed too much, or too little, and mistreat their pets in one way or another, it is almost always safer to assume the owner is at fault, than the animal has some sort of medical issue.

I think you put a little too much thought into this.. A little ridiculous

Not as much as you may think. Animals are something that interest me, and I happen to know quite a lot about them. Some times I don't actually realize how much I've written until I'm am near finished. However, even so I must say, I'm not exactly sure how sharing knowledge or actually bothering to put thought into something (as apposed to being some mindless idiot) is ridiculous.

It's only ridiculous because it's supposed to be fml, where people share their funny stories and other people make fun of them. It's not a lecture hall, step down from the podium miss know it all lol

I would read the previous replies to my original comment before you talk about lecturing.

If the owner of the cat is the leading cause of it's obesity, then why are you saying "**** your cats life?" That's a terrible thing to say, and when you're trying to prove a point to other people, swearing and insulting other people or things makes others lose quite a bit of respect for you, which also puts a damper on how many people support you as opposed to the other side of an argument, and not to mention your reputation.

On a serious note , maybe don't assume overfeeding is the problem. Learning to read an author's response (you know, the one highlighted in blue) can alleviate that sort of problem.

#58 its a bit hard for the tenth commenter to read the OPs reply when the reply is comment 49. maybe learn to read what number comment it is before being a bit rude.