Thread: Podgy Pets Leaflet!

Yes - he's built for comfort, not speed! Bless him My blue tabby is about the same weight and he is overweight, but then he is also very lazy and always has been. Alfie is 7.5kgs at 2 and still has some filling out to do. Chester, aged 4, is a titch (5kgs) but is always very busy and on the go. Two and a half kgs does seem like quite a bit. Maybe aim for a loss of about 1kg?

I had the same with Harry when he last went to the vets, infact I posted my concerns on here, together with pictures etc and pretty much everyone agreed that he looked fine, the vet suggested we started putting his food down only at specific times instead of leaving it down all the time which is what we had always done. I'm afraid I didn't listen to to his advice as I was sure that as soon as the weather improved and he was spending more time in the garden he would get back to normal, which seems to be happening. The pouch (that was the vets concern) has definately shrunk so I think it was just the time of year that made him a little podgy (bit like his mum !)

I don't think he looks too bad, though it is hard to tell without feeling of him. Our nearly three year old is more overweight, but our nearly two year old boy is thinner (though he is >20lbs). From our experience, male MCs are quite muscular. The girls stay fairly bony but not the boys. They shouldn't have lots of loose flab on them, but expecting to easily feel their ribs is not what I have come to expect. Frankly, many vets know nothing at all about MCs and tell you things that are simply incorrect for MCs. So I would be a bit skeptical. 6kg sounds awfully light for a 1.5 year old male MC unless he is a fairly small one. Male MCs do not have the same physiques as moggies--they have much heavier frames and more muscle. Don't expect a male MC to feel like a moggie!

Aww how cute, lovely colours too

After the crazy half hour here I will add to the exercise ideas.............a big fly!!!!!!!!!!!! Total lunacy and two pooped cats and one amused baby - it was like he was watching tennis bless

Thank you all for the advice, it's much appreciated! I think that I will cut down his RC MC kibble (i.e. stop the husband feeding him). I did look at the instructions on the RC MC pack and we were giving him too much, plus an Applaws pouch each evening and the odd treat! I'm using the feeding guide on the pack for podgy cats and have stopped the treats for now. I'm also looking for a laser toy and am working on the fly workout.

At the moment he's out in the garden on his harness and the girls are taking more time to play with him. Fingers crossed he will loose a little bit, I'm tending to think 7kg sounds right. Not sure if the vets are used to maine coon's maybe I should ask next time I go and get him weighed!

Thank you candes - I will do that! Teddy and Nala sound so cute

I went to the Coontica show in Milton Keynes yesterday and took a good look at the lovely Maine Coons there. I can definitely confirm that Mufasa is a little bit 'podgy' but not that much in comparison to the other cats there. I think Candes you are right - he needs to loose a little bit of weight, but definitely not 2.5kg! I hadn't seen any other adult Maine Coon's in 'real life' before, they were magnificent.