Are certain breed or colors prone to being overweight?

[JillLovesMinnie14yrs]

I have 3 black cats, 1 Tux, 1 Calico, and 2 Tabby's. Both my tabbys are overweight. They all recieve the same diet (except Minnie, she eats special stuff cause of her sweet age);) I feel bad when I visit the vet because I feel to blame for their weight. Are tabby's more prone to obesity I wonder? :confused: Any insight would be terrific. Thanks!!

[I_love_cats]

I have three cats, tortie, black/white and a tabby. My tabby is kind of big then the other two. He gets fed when the other cats get fed. He is a male, so I think tabbies can be big and overweight. It all depends on the cat and the body of the cat. I do see lots of overweight cats at my shelter. I can't really answer all your question. Tabbies are prone to being overweight, usually the males.

[BastetsMum]

I have to watch Bastet and what she eats. Abby's must be prone to the midlife spread as well!

[Barbara]

To my opinion it is more individuals than breeds. Aby Filou is his 6,5 or 7 lb since he is 14 months old, he's 6 years now. Tigris is 13 lb since he is adult -he's also 6. Tigris bones are longer and bigger than Filou's and he is close to overweight but ok.
If you look at Vio&Juni's Juni she is a slim tabby and I am sure she will stay like that.
Cats like European shorthair, British shorthair or some other genes are bigger than Abys or Russian Blues but all of them are overweight if they eat too much. (If you look at humans it's similar: you can be overweight with any skin or hair colour).

[jenluckenbach]

I am unsure whether certain breeds are prone to weight gain, but I doubt certain colors are to blame. My cats are not free fed as if they were then I WOULD have overweight cats. In my house the orange is the largest and he would bully all the others out of their food. (so would the black tuxedo). You may just need to make sure they don't get too much food or try a food with less calories.

[JillLovesMinnie14yrs]

My two tabbie's are both female, and they have their lil' bellies that hang to the floor :( One of the two doesnt even eat canned food!! Just the dry. The dry food I am currently feeding my cats is the purple bin of "Pro Plan" Hairball Management Formula. This stuff is GREAT in control of the furballs, but possibly not so great on the metabolism of certain cats. (Sigh)

[neko1]

I feed my guys Science Diet Light and boy has it made a difference!!
Cookie is small boned, but we kinda let her get fat. She's been on the Light food now for 2 years and in the first year she went from 13 pounds to 10 pounds and this year went from 10 pounds to 8.5 pounds! Now she looks great!
As for the others, the Science Diet Light helps them to maintain their weight so they don't get any fatter. Pumpkin is around 8-9 pounds and Tama is 6 pounds.

[BastetsMum]

I agree with you Neko1! I have the light science diet for Bastet now ( I alternate her food she gets bored with her diet otherwise!). She has gone from 6kg's (thats pretty big - being in Aussieland I don't know what that is in pounds :( ) Down to a nice sveldt 4kg's. I hope she keeps around that. She is small for an Abby!

[NoahsMommy]

Noah is a tabby/maine coone. He's a big kitty, I think he's at least 15 lbs. I think that is has to do with their personality vs. their breed. Noah is much more mellow than the others, and thus a TINY bit larger in the fat area. ;)

Don't let my hubby see this!!! He calls Noah "Chubber" and I HATE it. Noah is NOT fat, I don't think he has any (well, you know what I mean) fat on him...he's just fluffy and big.

Can you tell I'm sensitive on this subject? :D

[JillLovesMinnie14yrs]

Awwwww Noah's Mommy, if my Cupcake (15 lbs. , short haired tabby) heard you say that she'd be in heaven. I'm fluffy momma, I really am. :p ;) :p ;)

[wolfsoul]

im pretty sure that maine coons are prone to obesity...mine isnt overweight, but im not sure if shes purebred...shes probably about 15 pounds...but i know three maine coons and one im not sure the weight of, maybe 20 pounds...the other is 23 pounds and the other is 32 pounds!!! im serious! its my friends aunts cat, and i met it when i was little and to a little kid, that cat is huge!!! this compares to my poor sara who weighs in at a whopping 7 pounds!! lol

[wayne0214]

Personally, I do not think that coat color has much to do with being overweight. This problem is confined to each particular cat. My Tiger is heavy, but not overweight. she weighs about 9 lbs. (4kgs). BTW, to change Kilograms into English pounds, multiply the Kgs by 0.453, and to change pounds to kgs, divide the pounds by 0.453. Roughly speaking, one kilogram equals approximately 2 lbs.

......wayne

[HoUsEkaT]

Having a feeder of dry cat food all day long seems to have a lot more to do with fat cats than genetics.

[aklor]

I don't know what causes the problem... I have two cats (both Tabbys) the girl is an Abby mix and is slender and lithe, the boy is a Maine Coon mix has a bit of a tummy problem. I feed the same food so who knows...

[wolfsoul]

housekat, i really like ur avatar :)...is that ur cat?

[marysmerrycats]

I don't know if certain breed are prone to being overweight. my Patches is, he's a shorthair, black and white cat, and I think he might be up to about 18 pounds, he is very overweight

neko1
thanks for the info about science diet, I'm going to try that.

does anyone know how long it takes a cat to lose weight? I mean, because Neko1 mentioned her cat lost 3 pounds in the first year, is it normal for a cat to take that long to lost weight?( I don't mean that was too long, I am just worried about Patches and wonder if it will take a year for him to lose) I wouldn't want Patches to lose too fast.

[Pam]

At one of my vet's visits with Trevor, one of the techs said to the other tech "come look - it's another big orange tabby." I asked her if orange tabbies were generally larger and she said yes. I don't know how much experience this girl had but it certainly made Trevor feel better to know that he wasn't the only big boy.

[marysmerrycats]

At one of my vet's visits with Trevor, one of the techs said to the other tech "come look - it's another big orange tabby." I asked her if orange tabbies were generally larger and she said yes. I don't know how much experience this girl had but it certainly made Trevor feel better to know that he wasn't the only big boy.

yeah, they can be big, my Cookie was an orange tabby, and she was a big cat, not fat, but big. she might have gotten fat in her later years, I don't know..when I got her she was 10 weeks old and only 2 pounds!! I could see her bones! I would say oh if she can just get to 4 pounds then I would not worry anout her. then it was 6 pounds LOl. then she got taller, bigger than Muffin, when she had been so tiny, it was funny to see them next to each other.Muffin had got fat for a when I was feeding cookie the high calorie food and canned food, but she lost the weight fairly soon. same with Emma, was fat for just a short time...hmm I wish patches could slim down like they did.