No, you're not a bad kitty mom. As many others here have said, it's really tough to keep them on a strict diet.

JD is a big chubsy and Elvis is very lean. I often think I should have named them Laurel and Hardy. Last time I weighed them, JD registered 10 1/2 lbs, and Elvis weighed in at a slim 7 1/2. The last time I took Elvis to the vet, she said, "wow, a normal weight cat! I never see those anymore!"

I free feed them, but I don't give treats very often. I try to remind myself that treat means once-in-a-while, especially since JD can easily gobble down 10 treats in the time it takes Elvis to eat 2.

Luckily, JD is pretty active. He's 3 1/2 years old, but he still thinks he's a kitten, and he will run around and chase anything you throw for him. I'm just afraid that as he gets older, the pounds will pile on. In his defense, he was a big kitten as well. He was 6 months when I got him, and he was already almost as big as Elvis, who was 2 yrs at the time. JD had those HUGE paws as a kitten, and it was obvious that he was going to be big. I just expected him to be BIG, not FAT.

Looks like many of us here have the chubby kitty problem, so we can relate.