Tips for Maintaining Your Cat's Healthy Weight
Cats are lovely; only their owners know what it feels like to have them around. It feels like a friendly neighborhood house with cats, and everyone bonds with them easily. Having a pet is a heavenly experience; nothing can beat the mood they create around us. Their presence is great, heartwarming, and full of excitement. Nothing can be compared to the love between a cat and its owner. However, this love, friendship, and trust bond does not develop over time. Rather, it takes a considerable amount of time.
However, during this bonding time, we often exceed our love to the extent that we offer our cats the most exotic foods that they gain taste buds from. And then, it is all your cat and the food you offer it, and that may result in them gaining weight and becoming obese. When this happens, pet owners are in a hurry to change their diet and get a more weight-controlling-friendly food option. Petco.pk is the best option for your pet cat when selecting a weight-balancing food.
Weight Gain in Cats
Our read’s introduction was about the emphasis on weight, cats, and pets. These words are a mixture that interrelates with each other. You may have seen loads of cats wandering around the streets, roads, and parks, being superb in their physique, style, and body shape. However, the same cat, when brought home in turn, floated. There is a simple reason to understand this change and shift in their bodies. Cats that are astray have to wander a lot for food or from moving to a new place. Their life depends on them wandering places. However, there is a whole different story in homes.
Household versus Stray Cats
Pet cats do not have to move and work often and do almost nothing when getting food. Household Cats get food at the appropriate time and in a distinct proportion. Compared to stray cats, pet cats get proper nutrition every time of the day. This also reflects a continuous nutritional diet without any gaps and breaks except when they are ill. And if you add it up with the minimal or no work routine they have indoors, the food settles in, resulting in them gaining weight. Weight gain is also why cat owners love to feed their cats with good diets and in considerable proportion to keep them happy.
But little do cat owners know that they are resulting in obesity in the same cats. Not every food is typically directed at maintaining your cat’s weight. Many cat food products are to be offered in mild quantities due to the ingredients used to formulate them. Hence, pet cat owners must read cat food labels before feeding them.
Is Your Cat Overweight?
Pet and household cats are generally thought to be overweight. In essence, general research indicates that around 63% of pet cats suffer from obesity and are overweight. When you dig deeper, the primary reasons cats are overweight are imbalanced exercise and poor work routines. While we will be addressing different ways to ensure your cat gains the right amount of weight, it is necessary to understand whether your cat is overweight. It may seem simple and unnecessary to discuss since you may believe that weighing your cat on a weight scale will depict your cat’s weight, but the weight would not be actual. Hence, there are other ways to look at your cat’s weight. The most common method is the body score method, where their appearance is judged by weight. So here’s how different options stack up.
Too Thin
As the name suggests, this is the lowest weight your cat can have, and it is evident from the ‘exposed’ body shape that they possess. Their bones are obvious from their body due to the small amount of mass over the body.
Slim
Next in line is the slim body type, where you can feel their ribs when you touch the cat’s body, along with a visible spine. In contrast to being thin, slim cats do not show bones; thus, their body appears okay or within the acceptable range.
Perfect
Cats that have a perfect body do have a slight tummy tuck. When you gently run your hands down their sides during those precious bonding times, you can feel your cat’s ribs and hips without pressing too hard to touch them.
Overweight
A cat that is overweight has a body shape like a sausage that has no visible body line or shape whatsoever. Looking from above and from the side, their body has no waistline, and their abdomen is saggy.
Obese
Obese is when your cat has a chubby and saggy body, especially the abdomen. This is the stage where the overweight range has exceeded, and now you need to focus on your cat’s weight.
Ways to Maintain Your Cat's Weight
Now that we have provided every detail regarding your cat being overweight, it is time to offer you feasible and probable solutions to what you should be doing to ensure your cats have a balanced weight. Below, we have shortlisted ways and methods you need to adopt and adapt your cats to them for weight maintenance and balancing.
Keep Them Active
For humans and animals, the first and foremost way to maintain and balance the right weight is through an active lifestyle. Pet owners must suggest good options such as activities, exercises, and playful games to keep the pets active. It can also include engaging in special active sessions with them, especially outdoors, to get their wild instincts into play. In essence, this also means that you develop food-hunting activities inside the house to allow your cat to create this sense of ‘working for the food’. Remember that it is all about your cat understanding that it has to work each day and show athleticism for treats and food.
Regularly Follow-Up Weights
When on a mission to reduce your cat’s weight, you may be working hard to keep everything in control and check. However, it may be necessary not to ruin your efforts while keeping a light note of your efforts. To treat obesity and overweight issues in your cat, you will use a low-calorie and dedicated diet made for treating these issues. However, if you keep an eye on your cat’s weight, you can predict and check if there is any effect on your cat’s weight or not. This will tempt you to either continue with your change or switch to another product for better changes. In short, regular weight follow-ups will help a lot.
Feed Proper Portion Sizes
It has been found that around 68% of pet cats gain weight and become obese due to their owners feeding them the wrong proportion of meals each day. It is imperative to understand what types of food and what quantities are necessary to feed your cat. For example, a kitten’s diet and nutritional requirements differ from those of a young cat and that of a young cat with that of an adult cat. To take this difference into notice, it is also important that pet owners consult and discuss with vets when devising food and diet portions for their cats. This will greatly help in keeping their weight in check.
Feed Healthy Foods
Your cat always needs healthy foods, and it is your primary responsibility to provide them with the right amount of nutrients through the food. It is also essential to know what your cat feels right about the food type and what type of food suits their body, weight, and breed type alongside medical conditions. When all such considerations are considered, a pet owner has a wider and broader picture of the food types their cat can benefit from. A smart pet owner will always invest in healthy food so their cat gets the best from diet sessions.
"Conclusion"
Overweight and obesity issues in cats are common, and you can treat them in limited ways. When you shortlist some options, the best options we consider great are reducing the calories in your pet cat’s diet and minimizing their laziness routine by involving activities that will help them move muscles and stay active. Also, when adjusting their diet, the right food products to treat obesity must be selected. Petco. pk has a wide range of perfectly structured cat food products that can help your cat lose that extra weight and maintain a decent weight as per their age.
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Frequently Asked Questions
How to maintain a cat’s weight?
The easiest ways to maintain your cat’s weight include keeping them active, providing a low-calorie diet, supporting their diet schedule, and feeding them proper food portions.
What is the weight of a healthy domestic cat?
A healthy domestic female cat weighs 8 to 10 pounds, whereas a male cat weighs around 3.6 to 4.5kg.
How do you help your weak cat gain weight?
Some basic ways to get your cat to increase in weight include feeding them small portions, warming their food, offering the right snacks between meals, and reducing your cat’s anxiety.
Is milk bad for cats?
Most of the cats are intolerant to milk. This means consuming milk will result in diarrhea and vomiting.
What are different body sizes for judging a cat’s weight?
The different body sizes among cats for judging their weights include being too thin, slim, perfect, overweight, and obese.