An intriguing and shocking cat photograph, in equal measure. You can see where the title comes from. Photographing this tabby cat from this angle makes him look a bit like a watermelon with fur! Or a bowling ball cat!
I shouldn’t joke about it though. This is a serious matter and the owners should really do something about it. It is a classic case of cat obesity and it is really quite easy to manage that: you feed your cat less and you feed your cat with better cat food. Less food treats is also an important factor in weight control. Throw in a bit of playtime too. Mild exercise must help. Less calories, more calories out = weight loss. Obvious
We know how people love to be loved by their cat and as a consequence they can tend to overfeed them. I think overfeeding a cat is really showing up a person’s weakness and vulnerability and the need to be loved. The way I see it is that cat owners think that their cat will no longer like them if they refused them food. What can happen is the cat owner gradually habituates their cat to eating more and too much and then they unable to reverse the process due to the fear of alienating their cat companion. This is all about people, as usual.
The rise in domestic cat obesity parallels the rise in domestic cat type II diabetes and it would seem also to parallel the rise in human obesity which is occurring in the West. It is certainly occurring in the UK, the USA and possibly northern Europe. Dry cat food also contributes to the rise in type 2 diabetes in cats it is said. It makes sense because the body’s sugar level control is messed up by the unnaturally high level of carbohydrates in cat kibble.
My Singapura got to be a bit rotund, and then started loosing weight – I thought it was the exercise our new kitten was giving him! But then we started noticing he acted constipated and occasionally we would find rock hard poo pellets on the floor in random-but-near-box locations. I finally took him in – x-rays indicated severe compaction from a condition known as Megacolon. The vet explained that cats who eat a lot and are overweight tend to produce this condition where the colon gets ‘worn out’ and doesn’t push the digestedfood through, but continues to extract moisture from the matter. What finally does get pushed out is hard and almost sandy in texture. It was quite difficult to get him ‘cleaned out’. She even had to do some hand extraction as far as she could reach – not much fun for either of them. This procedure happened twice. Meanwhile he was getting dreadfully thin and very unhappy. I was in quite an emotional panic that I was going to lose my precious lap-tiger. We finally got him lubricated with a syrup like liquid twice daily orally. Now he is doing fine. We take our meds ‘together’ and he has gained back an appropriate amount of weight. I still have trouble convincing my husband that the open food bowl policy is not good. Attached is a photo of the former pudge puss.
Cass I don’t think I responded to your useful comment. Thanks for commenting. Your comment is instructive.
Sarah Hartwell’s essays on her ‘Messybeasts’ website are not for surfers with short attention spans. Despite this shortcoming,’Messybeasts’ may be one of the finest online sites for cat fanciers.
Neither is Lisa Pierson, DVM noted for her brevity. But her treatises are exhaustively informative.
She has nothing but condemnation for kibbles (cornmeal pellets), which she says largely consist of cheap fillers cats did not evolve to digest, are low in protein and high in fattening carbs, dangerously low in moisture, over-processed at high temperatures – which further destroys their few nutrients – treated with carcinogenic preservatives, goosed up to the limit with artificial colors and flavors,rancid (despite the preservatives) and contaminated with bugs and bug droppings.
She takes a dim view of veterinarians who prescribe not only these ‘convenience foods,’ but certain canned foods(including Purina and Iams)and so-called ‘prescription/veterinarian-recommended’ canned foods, and contends their labels are nothing more than marketing hype.
She breaks down in detail the cost of homemade foods, and says caregivers who prepare their own cat foods spend substantially less than those who buy canned foods – including ‘gourmet’ – and far less in veterinary costs. If people fed their cats the diets she recommends,she says the vets would be spending their time on the golf course.
Several other of her comments: (1) She freezes her homemade food in GLASS jars and stays away away from PLASTIC containers with their PCBs that leach into the food; (2) She says there’s no pressing need for caretakers (cat-parents) to shy away from ‘byproducts’ in canned cat food, as these substances are reasonably nutritious – far more so than kibbles. (3) She provides the brand-names of several sprinkle-on, cheese-flavored substances that entice cats away from what Martha Stewart’s vets describe as ‘kitty crack’ (kibbles), and speeds their acceptance of home-made victuals.
[Feeding your Cats: Know the Basics of Feline Nutrition]
[CatInfo.org Making Cat Food – Lisa A. Pierson, DVM]
Thanks Sylvia. Nice comment. For me, kibble is a commercial invention. It’s raison d’etre is profit. It does that by being attractive to cat owners who demand convenience. The cat himself is third in line in the list of priorities:
1. Business Profit
2. Please cat owner
3. Feed cat!
Homemade cat foods are potentially the best – no doubt about it. But who has the time and the experience to do it well? Why is it down to cat owners to make the best cat food? Why aren’t manufacturers making cat food that is as good as homemade cat food and selling it at supermarkets. In the UK there is no cat food like this. Impossible to get.
Poor kitty I just feel sorry for him 🙁
This is an alarming picture if it is real.
It makes me wonder how the caretaker could let things get this far.
I understand, completely, how hard it is to deny our cats anything It’s almost unbearable when they are begging and crying for more of something that they can’t have more of.
That’s one of the reasons I stopped manufactured treats years ago. Not only are they unhealthy, but they are almost addictive. I had 2 cats that only wanted treats and wouldn’t eat food until I stopped getting them. I don’t want that battle anymore, so there are no treats here.
The shape of the body looks more like a rabbit than a cat to me, if the pic hasn’t been photoshopped then I think that cat is scared stiff and is drawing his/her head in and fluffing up the body. It somehow doesn’t look natural to me. I’m a bit of a watermelon myself LOL
This can’t be 100% real. The head position may be possible, but the foot position, in my opinion, would not. Would it? Nah… This is a very well done Photoshop.
Smart thinking Dan. You could be right. You really could.
Dan is pretty sure that it’s been photoshopped. Initially, this did not occur to me but now that Dan has mentioned it it looks as though it could be a possibility.
wow so giving cat too much dry cat food can rise in diabeties. Will have to keep a more controllled eye on how much i feed my cats.
The domestic cat is often too inactive and overfed. Here is the world’s fattest cat 1950. His name was Klauz. I think he lived in Holland.