Cat Diet

pakman

So I have two cats, one is a half Maine coon(female) and the other is a Tuxedo cat(male).

They were both coming in at overweight with the Maine Coon topping out at 6.5kg, him around 5.2kg

They have been on the metabolic food for a few months now and today they got the sign off to return to normal lite food.

My question is, at 4.2kg now, is the Maine Coon too light and is the vet taking into account breed. She just seems so skinny even compared to the other fella who is now the heaviest by .3kg. The vet does a fantastic job so we have a lot of faith in her but the cat's radically smaller than she was and would like a second opinion.

Alun

We had the same kind of argument/discussion with our vet regarding our cats, who seems to think that every cat in the world should weigh 4kg regardless. One of them is just bigger than the other, and always has been since she was a kitten, so we just ignored her and have maintained her weight at approx. 0.5kg above the smaller one. Mind you they are just 'moggies', not a breed, so we're just going on how they look to us.

With well known breeds such as a Maine Coon, I'd be tempted to ask someone well versed in that breed what typical weights should be for your cat given sex and age and take that above what the vet says.

pakman

Alun wrote: »

We had the same kind of argument/discussion with our vet regarding our cats, who seems to think that every cat in the world should weigh 4kg regardless. One of them is just bigger than the other, and always has been since she was a kitten, so we just ignored her and have maintained her weight at approx. 0.5kg above the smaller one. Mind you they are just 'moggies', not a breed, so we're just going on how they look to us.

With well known breeds such as a Maine Coon, I'd be tempted to ask someone well versed in that breed what typical weights should be for your cat given sex and age and take that above what the vet says.

Cheers. Yeah I looked up the weights for the breed but she is a mix so they probably don't fully apply. Looking at it again she was nearly 7kg at one point and did look overweight but its just the severity of the weight loss thats the issue.

Constant begging also was a worry. Considering she never begged before its like living with a victim of Stockholm syndrome.

kathleen37

I can't link, but on the Wikidpedia page about Maine Coon's it says this

"Maine Coons are the largest breed of domestic cat. Males weigh from 21 to 35 lb (9.5 to 15.9 kg) with females weighing from 15 to 29 lb (6.8 to 13.2 kg).[18] The height of adults can vary between 10 and 16 in (25 and 41 cm) and they can reach a length of up to 48 in (120 cm), including the tail, which can reach a length of 14 in (36 cm)[19] and is long, tapering, and heavily furred, almost resembling a raccoon's tail."

So, I guess you could measure your girl, just to see if she is anywhere within these measurements - and if she is, maybe go back to the vet to point out her breed.

Good luck!

pakman

kathleen37 wrote: »

I can't link, but on the Wikidpedia page about Maine Coon's it says this

"Maine Coons are the largest breed of domestic cat. Males weigh from 21 to 35 lb (9.5 to 15.9 kg) with females weighing from 15 to 29 lb (6.8 to 13.2 kg).[18] The height of adults can vary between 10 and 16 in (25 and 41 cm) and they can reach a length of up to 48 in (120 cm), including the tail, which can reach a length of 14 in (36 cm)[19] and is long, tapering, and heavily furred, almost resembling a raccoon's tail."

So, I guess you could measure your girl, just to see if she is anywhere within these measurements - and if she is, maybe go back to the vet to point out her breed.

Good luck!

Yeah I think I might see how she goes after the return to normal food and maybe check her size in the meantime. Cheers

FelineOverLord

It does sound very light for a cat with a bit of Maine Coon, but I'm no expert. 4 would be about average for most moggies but I'd expect a cat with MC to be a stockier build.

mymo

I have two large boys here, just ordinary moggies, one is elderly and a bit heavy at just under 6kg, the other is 5.3kg or there abouts and slim looking and healthy. Vet said he's looks a good weight but was shocked when he weighed him, and said he is much bigger than most cats so it was fine once you could see definition in him between ribs and hips.
My smallest, skinny girl is just under 4kg, and I haven't weighed the other girl lately, but at just over a year she feels about 4.5-5kgs to me, looks fine, but she's very fluffy so harder to tell, she's a big cat also.

My vet has a poster showing how the cat should look from the side and above, 2 of mine look perfect, one looks heavy and one skinny.

A Maine coon cross should surely be heavier than 4kg, can you post a pic?

thegreatgonzo

mymo wrote: »

My vet has a poster showing how the cat should look from the side and above, 2 of mine look perfect, one looks heavy and one skinny.

QUOTE]

Body conditioning scoring using a chart like that and a physical exam is considered a better way of assessing whether an animal is over/under weight rather than relying on average weights of breeds. Probably some vets are still going by the average weight but you don't see as much of it as before.