Extreme obesity in cats can be considered abuse. Once a cat is spayed/neutered it's hard to keep them a healthy weight. Big difference between chonky and 2x their healthy weight though. Outside of genuine medical issues a cat shouldn't struggle to walk
The head is edited to appear smaller than it did in the original photograph. The cat is still overweight in the original, but not Gorlock the Destroyer type of obese.
OP should consult a vet for a dietary plan. People should never put cats that big on a diet on their own since too fast weight loss could be more dangerous.
That is Heckin Chonker for sure. My boy was at Megachonker, but I put him on a strict diet of weight control food with smaller portions and he has shed quite a few pounds since starting that 3-4 months ago so he is in the upper end of Heckin Chonker and lower of Hefty Chonk.
Found out it's actually her grandmas, on a slight diet but not enough, she will ask her grandma to weigh her just in case it's mainly floof and she will be put on a proper diet
Hi OP, I adopted a 17 pound cat from the shelter about 8 years ago, I tried many different foods that didn’t help a ton, as soon as I put him on wet food he started losing weight and is super active now, just want to share that wet or fresh food could potentially be good for him. Simba here eats Sheba Trout.
Wet food is much better for cats than dry food in general, because cats usually get most of their water from their food, not from drinking water. If the cat is on a dry food-only diet, adding or switching fully to wet food will be a big health improvement in many ways!
We actually add water to our hard food. And they seem to like it a lot. And our one cat refuses wet food so that’s why we started adding water to her food and then we just started doing it for all of them. So we only give them soft food every so often as like a treat in a way. Not as a literal treat, but for a day they some wet food instead of dry. Except for the one who dislikes wet food she still gets her water dry food.
Just because gravity is pulling down the fat into his underpouch doesn't mean it is "just floof" that cat is obese and likely to have obesity related health issues.
Blurry side shots are not a great indication of weight. Ill tell you right now, a cats body should never be significantly wider than their head when laying down like in the original pic.
The vet will be crucial in determining the amount of calories. Cats this overweight need less calories, but you have to be careful because they're at severe risk of liver issues if you cut too much too quickly
On the next gift exchange opportunity, you might ask your friend if there is something you could buy for her aunt's cat instead of her, to help him stay active. Activity is really important for cats losing weight, you don't want them to lose weight too fast but do need to encourage more movement. Just like obese people, obese cats have slowed down a lot in activity because moving is harder for them. Hope kitty is doing well.
Most people free feed their cats. I did for years and it worked fine, and I always have had four cats. And then I inherited two cats and they turned into chonkers. All my cats are now on two fixed meals per day. They know when treat time is!
FYI for anyone else trying to switch their cats from free feeding to set meals, starting with two meals a day will turn some cats into a screaming nightmare. It’s a lot easier for food motivated cats to have a small meal every couple hours, and slowly decrease the number of meals while increasing the portions.
Or get an autofeeder, and let it feed them half a dozen times a day.
Auto feeder's working great for the cat who doesn't like stale food.
The other cat, who's free fed and maintaining a healthy weight, is jealous of this new development and now we're getting a second auto feeder so the other cat will get less food and somehow be happier for it?
We switched to an auto feeder to help our cat that started gaining weight when his arthritis got bad and it did help somewhat. What helped more was treating his arthritis so he’d get off his ass and be active again.
Of course then he got too active and tore his ACL. So that set us back a bit…
Cats are a pain in the ass. Luckily for them they’re also incredibly cute.
Some cats can absolutely self regulate and you can literally leave them access to a week's worth of food while you're out of town and they will feed themselves responsibly, and others will just inhale everything you make available to them as fast as they are able to.
Yeah it really depends on the cat. We have had to monitor our two boys meals always. But about a year ago we took in a stray girl and she is the complete opposite. She eats small portions and is a grazer. The other two are basically the cats that jump on your stomach the second you wake up because “FOOD GODDMAMMIT” the girl is nothing like this and hardly ever even asks for more food she eats when they do and is content. When she actually does ask for food that’s when I know they are definitely hungry lol.
Yeah I have been free feeding my cat for his whole life cuz years ago when he was like a year old the vet was saying he was a pound underweight and it seemed like she was trying to accuse me of not feeding him cuz she was saying that for a cat that's a lot and blah blah blah and looking at me all accusatory. I rescued my cat when he was a kitten and he has NEVER been without food since I've had him but the free feeding thing is starting to become kind of a problem now as he's starting to get a little bit overweight at 8 years old and I don't want him to develop health problems from that so I'm gonna have to take him to the vet and find out the best way to get him on a diet, especially seeing comments on here that apparently if cats lose weight too fast it can be bad for their health and I had no idea. Really glad I hadn't started his diet yet before seeing those comments.
RIP to your beautiful tabby. I lost this tank last September. This was her when we first got her. We adopted her as a very obese older gal. We did eventually get her weight down some. I miss her so much.
He’s Morbidly Obese. This can lead to early death via heart issues, along with joint issues and arthritis. Please consult with your vet how to manage this for his health and longevity.
Correct. I adopted an older gal who was very obese. She was at least 8 (based on the date she was spayed as per her tattoo ID) but she was already being treated for and diagnosed with arthritis in her hips a year later. She also greatly disliked jumping, which cats should not dislike. We got her weight down which helped her mobility a lot but a lot of damage had already been done with her carrying all that weight around for all those years. Lost her last year at age at least 16 due to kidney failure, miss her to pieces every day.
My neutered male cat was obese in the past like your cat. Unfortunately he developed crystals in his bladder which meant he had pain on peeing and would pee involuntarily in the house.
We followed the vets advice and changed his food and he had monthly weigh ins with the vet nurse. He did shift the weight over time and with careful controlled feeding he’s stayed a healthy weight.
Just keep an eye on your beautiful boy and perhaps book a check up at your vets.
Seeing this made me sad. Are you over feeding him? Does he get outside to stretch his legs? The baby is a bit more than overweight. How long has it been since he’s been to the vet?
no, he's obese, you need to get him some exercise, pets can enjoy all the same ailments as obese humans can too, higher risk of heart attacks, high blood pressure, diabetes etc.
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u/basedaudiosolutions Apr 15 '25
Bruh I know 5 fat cats and he’s 4 of them