American Cats Are Bigger Than British Cats?

by Michael
(London, UK)

Ummm…just chewing the cud..American people are bigger than the British. I think that is a fair comment to make. I mean on average and I mean in terms of weight! The reason is the abundance of really good food in America. Some people think that American food is all fast food. I don’t think that is fair. The choice is unbelievable, the quality is often very high and the prices shockingly cheap to us Brits.

Translate that to the cat world. Is that why American cats are bigger, much bigger than cats from Britain and other parts of the world? Are they bigger I hear you ask. Yes, I answer, based on a long standing poll on cat weight and size run on this site and which has 1,871 votes as at this fine July day in 2010.

Lets say that the average domestic cat weight is about 8-10 lbs. That is what I feel the average is across the board. It may be a bit more.

The results of the poll is as follows:

Tiny – under 3.5 lbs (1.58 kg) 2% 34
Small – about 4 lbs (1.8 kg) 3% 62
Average – 5 to about 10 lbs 19% 347
Biggish – 12 to 18 lbs 43% 806
Very Big – 18 to 25 lbs 21% 397
Huge – 25 lbs plus (11.3 kg) 12% 225

1,871 votes total

In the poll I have stated that average is between 5 and 10 pounds. That may be a bit on the low side but it is based on purebred cat weights. That said some modern purebreds are lightweight and refined (foreign or oriental appearance).

Now, about 40+% of the visitors to this site are from the USA.

Bearing in mind the above it seems to me that by far the majority of cats are on the large size and are from America. I think 12-18 lbs is a large cat. Maine Coons can reach 20+ lbs but they are the biggest purebred cat registered with the CFA. They are known to be large cats.

On that basis an 18 lb cat is large and I don’t see many moggies in the UK that I would classify as large. They are about 10 lbs or less lots of them.

I think it also fair to make an assumption that the quality and quantity of cat food bought for cats in the USA is better and larger than in the UK. If cats are fed higher quality food over generations it seems likely that they will on average become bigger. Sounds strange?

People have become substantially taller over the ensuing last few generations. I feel it myself. Kids these days are consistently taller than me and I am 6 foot tall. Better living, better food points to this. Go further back and we see massive changes in height. It seems that several hundred years ago people were a good 6 inches to a foot shorter.

So, the domestic cat is getting bigger! Britain will follow America. Where will it end…More black panthers lurking in the undergrowth on Bodmin Moor or in some remote urban landscape in America. Only they won’t be black panthers, just a humble black moggie minding its own business.

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