Ragdoll owners - can you help? Vet says my cat is overweight

[lottielou7]

I took my cat to be weighed yesterday and the vet nurse said she's overweight because she can't easily palpate her ribs. She's 11 months old and weighs 4kg. The thing is that I thought Ragdolls were supposed to be chunkier than most other cats anyway. Obviously I don't want her to be overweight but I also don't want to be giving her diet food if the way she is is normal for her. We don't overfeed her - she has about 60grams of Applaws dry food and sometimes half a pouch of wet food. The vet nurse didn't seem to know much about ragdolls.

I'll post a picture so you can see what you think.

Here's s recent photo

And here

Oh she is beautiful! I love her little face :) is she a seal colour point?

I have a 6 year old Ragdoll but she's a rescue so I didn't have her for her first 5 years so I'm not sure what they are supposed to weigh at 11 months. Last time I took my girl in, if you imagine a sliding scale where 1 is too thin & 10 is too fat then she's 4 so she's a bit underweight. Here's a picture of her, not sure if it will help.

Ragdolls are big cats especially when they have their winter coat but there's a difference between a large breed of cat & a fat cat :) if I were you I'd get a second opinion, maybe book an appt with the vet before you change her diet or anything like that. My cat has a bowl of dry food down all the time & she has one pouch of wet food per day split between 2 meals but she doesnt eat it all. But then she's got dodgy teeth (back story before she came to live with us) so that may be a factor.

Thanks for your advice - your cat is beautiful too yes, she's a seal point. She is a bit of a gannet but often if she's asking for food I ignore it and feed her twice a day and no more. I read that rag dolls have a pad of fat on their tummies and I wondered whether this is why her waist can't be seen so well.

I will try to get another opinion. I'm quite happy to change what she's eating if she is overweight of course but want to be sure. She's a house cat and we do encourage her to play and run around. She's very docile and not the most active cat I've ever had.

Most cats are overweight so nurse is probably right.
Feeling for ribs is the right way to tell.
If you stand over cat when she's standing, does she have a definite "waist"?

It's hard to see because she has quite long fur... If I smooth her fur down I don't think she seems particularly big. But then she's not even a year old yet.

I'm ?? that any housecat 'should' ever have a fatpad in the tummy. Breed regardless. Maybe a vet needs to comment.

I can find a waist on my long hair cat (when he has a waist anyway), by smoothing buckets of fur down. My fluffy FatCat likes to sleep flat on his back and his ridiculous tummy sprawls everywhere right now. Resembles a big mop rather than a furry tube. He was a trim weight only 4-5 weeks ago, sigh. (Must sort him out). At a trim weight he's still > 4 kg, to be fair. Too close to 5kg right now.

Very few otherwise healthy young cats are underweight or remotely close to it.

She does look to be a little 'fuller-figured' to me but then I don't know the breed that well and the fur.......Glory. (I'm only going by her face and that's not reliable.)

I think I'd get a second opinion also before changing her current diet.

Gorgeous girl.

The profile of a rag doll it does say that they all have a pad on their tummy even if underweight. The other thing about them is that they grow until about 3 years old.

I'm wondering if I should stop giving her dry food for a while as this apparently piles the weight on more quickly?

My mums Ragdoll (nearly15) has always been underweight due to having had 2 very large bowel resections as a kitten and being very fussy with food and he still has a fatpad . The hair is very deceptive because he never looks underweight and it's only when you pick him up that you notice how thin he is - he has access to wet and dry food at all times ( new wet food is put out every time he meows !) and he has a bowl of prawns in the evening ,which is often the only thing you can guarantee he will eat .

She's a beaut. I had exactly the same thing with my BSH recently, slight padding on his belly. Vet recommended we split up his dry food (he gets 65g a day) as he had often finished it by 2pm, so now we hold a third back for 6pm. We only give him three Dreamies a day and I've tried to stop him sticking his head in my cereal bowl and yoghurt pots.

I've stopped giving her Dreamies because she would get the packet and rip it open in the night! Thanks for your replies.

All cats regardless of breed should be able to palpate their ribs easily with light pressure.
No cat should have a fat pad on my their abdomen, yes show standards describe this, however pretty much every show standard for dogs and cats are describing an overweight pet.
At under a year old weighing 4kg that is a lot for a female of her age. I would expected that weight at about 3 years old in a Ragdoll.
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You should be able to easily feel the ribs in any breed of cat. The ideal bodyweight can vary quite a bit with the size of their frame, so the weight in kilos on it's own is not that helpful, it's why vet practices tend to record a 'condition score' as well as the weight. link to condition scoring information
The other 'cheat' to assess how ribs should feel goes like this. Make a fist and feel across your knuckles - that's too skinny. Hold your hand flat and feel your knuckles - just right. Turn your hand over and feel knuckle joint across your palm - too fat.

My 6 year old rag doll cross is 4.5kg. We split her food up throughout the day: 1/2 an 85g pouch plus some biscuits in the AM then repeated in the PM. Sometimes she eats it all and asks for more, sometimes she doesn't even finish it.

My raggie is 8 years old and weighs 4.5kg. She feels heavy but when her fur is smoothed down she looks slim and from above has a definite waist and a slim back. She has whiskas dry food down all day and a tin of gourmet gold wet food split across 2 meals. The vet said her weight is just right. It's hard to tell from the photos you've posted of your cat.

Thanks for that guideline MiloArmadillo. .

I met a lady who had a houseful of Raggies, almost all rescues, I think there were 9. The ones I saw all seemed obese, tbh. One reason I wouldn't want an indoor cat is that it seems so much harder to keep them a healthy weight. At least I can chuck greedy meowers outdoors for 5 minutes to more easily ignore.

Thanks for replies. I can feel a waist on her but the vet nurse said she couldn't. I can't easily feel her ribs. I guess it is hard to tell from photos because of the fur.

Here are some more but maybe still hard to see

I'd be dubious of dieting a baby animal.

Ours is 6.1kg, but he's a Bengal. When he's weighed I can see the vets thinking "well he's heavy but it's a large breed and he has no spare flab". If you go off weight charts he's obese.

She doesn't look overweight, our old Persian was overweight and when he sat down there was definite spreading over the back which I can't see on yours.

Yes, that's what I'm concerned about really. She's going to grow for another 2 years so I don't want to do anything that could inadvertently cause other heath problems. At the moment she doesn't seem to be eating a lot - she has only had about 20g of Applaws so far and hadn't asked again today. I would expect her to eat again this evening but she only does one poo a day so she can't be eating loads.

She looks fine to me.absolutely gorgeous. Just keep an eye on her and take action if you notice her getting fat but she's still growing. If you're worried then maybe get second opinion from another vet but the photo looking down on her she looks all in proportion. I bloody love ragdolls :D mines always been a housecat and has never been fat.

Thank you neon - me too - we adore her. We are getting a boy soon so I want to get things right for him too but I do think she will benefit from a companion. Ragdolls are the most amazing cats.

She looks fine to me too. I have a tabby seal. She's not fat. She's fluffy.

She's beautiful PuppyMonkey :))