Obesity in Older Cats

Approximately 25 percent of cats are overweight or obese. A cat is considered obese if it exceeds its optimum weight by 20 to 25 percent due to an accumulation of fat.

Extra weight puts a strain on organs like the heart, liver, bones and joints and may cause or aggravate other health problems. Obesity has been associated in older cats with increased severity or incidence of health problems such as diabetes, liver and pancreatic disease, locomotor dysfunction, and complications during anesthesia and surgery.

The best way to determine how well your cat's diet meets its activity level is to examine its physique. You should frequently monitor your cat's body condition and give a body condition score. By putting your hands on your cat and feeling its ribs, you can determine whether you need to readjust its food intake.

The Purina Body Condition System provides a tool to help evaluate your cat using a benchmark of nine body conditions, ranging from emaciated to grossly obese. Ideal body condition should be the goal. This would be a well-proportioned cat in which you can observe the waist behind the ribs. A cat in ideal body condition would have minimal fat covering its ribs and minimal abdominal fat.

To keep your older cat as lively and healthy as possible, it is important to control its weight. Calorie requirements based on your cat's individual needs can be determined with your veterinarian's help. A successful weight-loss program must reduce a cat's calorie intake while also controlling the rate of weight loss to around 1 to 2 percent of body weight per week. Other components of a successful weight-loss program include:

• feeding a diet containing reduced-fat and reduced-calorie density while providing adequate nutrients;
• eliminating table scraps or other high-fat foods
• feeding measured amounts rather than free-choice feeding
• increasing activity
• limiting treats to 10 percent of a cat's daily calorie intake
• feeding a cat smaller portions several times daily to help increase metabolic rate
• not feeding supplements unless specifically recommended by a veterinarian