Slightly overweight cat?

[uka888]

I took my male 1 year old cat to the vets for his annual check and booster jab the other week and the vet mentioned he was a little chunky - he’s weighed at 4.63kg.

Do this sound really overweight to anyone else?
He is on a dry food diet and is an indoor cat , I try and get him running around after toys of an evening but I could do more of that.

Any other tips of how to get cats to loose a bit of weight?

Which biscuits does he eat? Several good quality brands (wainwright’s etc) do a good ‘light’ option. Make sure he has plenty of fresh water changed each day if he’s only on dry food! It’s not unusual for indoor cats to struggle to burn off the calories like outdoor ones do.

Hes on Purina Pro Plan, he was on that from cats protection when we got him a year ago. I tried to change him to a bit of a better ‘brand’ of dry food which he ate and seemed to enjoy but it gave him slightly running poo’s!

I make sure he has fresh water everyday as I worry a little about him not having wet food , I’ve sort of just stuck to what he knows but open to ideas on good, especially if there is a wet food that doesn’t have a really strong smell as I know some do don’t they?

IVe noticed online that wainwright’s do a adult light dry food turkey & rice which is 40% fat, maybe I should try switching brands again .

Last year our boy cat was knocking 5 kg and the vet said he needed less food. He disagreed He loved lockdown as it meant it could pester people all day for food. We then managed a holiday and he was visibly more skinny after the cattery and their 2 pouches and no more! And then he made a concerted effort to get back to his target weight. So basically we've spent a year worrying about his weight and constantly battling him and refusing food. He went for his check up last week - and the vet looked at me as if I were bonkers to be concerned at all with his weight. He's 5.5 kg now.

Do you weigh out the amount of food recommended for his ideal weight? I had a FatCat (way heavier than yours but he was big built!) and I used to weigh out his daily allowance into small boxes so I knew I was only feeding him the right amount (adjust for treats). He did get down to his target weight of 6kg.

It's hard to say what the "right" weight is for a cat as they vary so much in size. According to my vets mine are both fine, she's around 4.5kg & he's 6kg and both slim build just tall/long. Justonedayatatime11 has one cat who's 11 kg, but he's a Savannah so enormous and larger Maine Coons can be even bigger as chunkier built. OTOH my DSis's beloved female was about 3kg and a tiny bit cuddly at that weight!

Is it his winter weight? Ours was always lighter in summer. In winter he looked liked an overstuffed soft toy.

Cuddly ..... CUDDLY..... cuddly.

Not. F.a.t.