My kitten is overweight :(

Hi,

Just been with Mia to vet as she got a quite bad breath and it was time to book her a spay appointment as well. So she has been checked by nurse, I was told that here breath is because she is teething, got her booked for spay. But also I was told she is overweight, that she shouldn't be weighting almost 3 kgs at 6 months old and that a skin fold under her belly is not normal either Actually I was told she should weight 400 grams less! Also was told she is a beauty and quite muscular one, and that she probably got Birman ancestry but I need to put her on diet!
She is quite active one and I feed her Animonda Carny, Bozita and Smila tins. I think she eats around 250g-300g per day but I reckon it is too much? How much I should be giving her?

 

Anybody can please advise? Would 3x70g be enough for her? and is she really so fat that should be weighting almost 1/6 her current bodyweight less?

 

My personal response to being told a KITTEN is overweight and to put her on a diet is CODSWALLOP!

 

This is just a personal opinion but I think vets are programmed to tell all clients whose cats dare to have an ounce of padding, that they are over weight.
Kittens in particular are rarely over weight and great care should be taken when considering any restriction to their feeding requirements.Surely as kittens/cats are individuals weight is only part of the story ,build/breed ect needs to be taken into consideration too.
I wouldnt worry about her ,she neither looks nor sounds overweight to me.

 

Spid, I really like your theory! Tbh I was giving her as much food as she wanted, thinking that she is a kitten and she is growing and is rather an active creature...
But I was told that she has a loose skin fold under her belly and it shouldn't be there at this age?
About that 400g I was not convinced as how one can say how big moggie is going to be? Maybe she just will be a big cat?

 

I know exactly how you feel as when I took my own 6 month old kitten in for spaying, I was told she was too fat and 'it was like looking for a needle in a haystack!!' Referring to her uterus!

She weighed 2.8kg and they wanted me to change her biscuits to adult! I ignored them

 

I'm fairly sure this is what your kitten has and if so it is a natural part of their anatomy
What Is the Primordial Pouch in Cats? | eHow.com

 

She is so lovely! Not fat at all

 

She doesn't look fat to me. Vets seem to be a bit obsessive about weight these days. Fair enough in an older animal that really does look too heavy as it's not good for them, but a growing kitten???? Oh, and she's lovely

 

Shes beautiful, i can't see any fat either

 

She is a really cute little kitten, and she does not look the least bit overweight to me.

Personally I have always followed a routine of feeding kittens as much as they want, as they are growing and need a lot of 'fuel' for that, as well as the fact they are very active and energetic little creatures.

As Buffie says, the fold of skin under the belly is a natural part of the anatomy, it just happens to be more pronounced in some cats than others, according to their genetic inheritance.

 

... I can't see any fat .. She's a gorgeous healthy happy cat!

Romeo is 6/7 months old and he weighs 3.25kg ... He was weighed last week and nobody said a word about him being overweight. The vet said he's going to be a BIG cat.

Button is tiny.. and has a "pouch" (not sure how much she weighs but I can't see it being much more than Romeo) and she's 9/10yrs old ... Cats have different frames!

 

I would think uterus is under fat not in fat...

The diet change after castration to 'adult royal canin' has been mentioned as 'she will need special diet' and 'she will need to eat up to 30% less'. But after she asked me what I feed Mia and I told that she is getting dry once in a blue moon as a treat because she loves it - she stopped to speak about that...

Overall I was happy with visit - this was a new surgery, in old one vet got good ideas about feeding (only wet, including raw) but apart from that was uncommunicative, I didn't feel he checked cat properly, and last but not least I've paid for jabs over 100 quid... in cash as he does not accept cards

 

I've put that in goole image and it looks like that! A small pouch under belly, nothing massive!
Thank you!

 

Thank you all for nice words and reassurance, I really appreciate that.
And I will not read to Mia what you have written as she already acts like real diva, she does not have issues with self esteem for sure

 

Your kitten is gorgeous, and does not look at all overweight to me!

My kitten is almost 5 months old and already 3.5kg but then he is a Maine Coon.....it'll be interesting to see if the vet says he's overweight too when he goes in for neutering on 19th Nov!

 

I got the same lecture the other day - about Royal Canin! My cat is just over a year-ish and due to me reading the wrong feeding guidelines she was a TINY bit over weight. Out came the 'you must feed Royal Canin dry' speech. She was also due to be spayed the following week so of course we need to put her on a special Royal Canin Neutered dry food. And apparently feeding wet makes cats fat. And feeding a different brand dry with the wet (if you dare give a cat wet food LOL) will make it fat.

As a human being, i'm not an obligate carnivore like a cat, and i have a proper thirst drive, unlike a cat. But i'm still pretty sure if i ate nothing but cereal the rest of my life I'd bet pretty miserable (and my coat wouldn't be so glossy LOL!)

To be honest, my vet is wonderful in every aspect but food/nutrition and in my short time as a cat owner have learned to just let the vet's Royal Canin dry food speeches blow right over my head!

And, I've not had a kitten to raise before, but from what i've read on here you just feed them up lots as they so active and growing loads! That's what we've always done with our puppies.. so i'm sure it's the same for growing kittens! How on earth can an animal be over weight when it's still growing is a puzzle to me :crazy:

 

It's my general impression that a lot of vets just have this notion that a cat/kitten at X age should weigh X amount, with no allowance for breed or future size or frame. They just plug in numbers, and then many of them jump straight to the Rx diet for life, that you can conveniently buy from them. Nice cash flow source.