All of us, no matter who we are, can probably agree on one thing: we want our pets to be healthy and happy! Would anyone disagree? We doubt it. However, what you think your pet needs and what it actually needs are sometimes two very separate things. Take food, for instance. Obviously, you want the animal to get all the nutrients and energy that it needs. But if you go overboard with your generosity, you risk hurting your pet’s longevity. To put it bluntly, being chonky isn’t healthy.
Redditor u/divorcedbbmama turned to the AmIOverreacting online community for advice after sharing how she gently called out her sister for overfeeding her already “severely overweight” cat. However, the owner didn’t take kindly to the criticism. Keep scrolling for the full story and the internet’s advice. Bored Panda reached out to the author of the story, u/divorcedbbmama, and she was kind enough to answer our questions. You'll find our interview with her below.
Loving your pet means taking care of its needs as best as you can. However, if you overfeed your cat, it can become overweight or even obese, wrecking its health
Image credits: Chalabala / Envato (not the actual photo)
One woman shared how she gently called out her sister's feeding habits because her cat was getting increasingly chonky
Image credits: divorcedbbmama
Here's how the conversation between the two sisters went
"I know she loves her cat"
We were curious to get the author's perspective as to why her sister reacted to her criticism so strongly.
"I believe she felt as if I'd accused her of animal [mistreatment], which I didn't, but she's very sensitive," u/divorcedbbmama opened up to Bored Panda.
"I know she loves her cat, and doesn't want to be considered a [maltreater] because that would devastate her if anyone thought she wasn't a good cat owner."
Bored Panda also asked the author about the health scare that the cat, Loki, recently had.
"The health scare he had wasn't anything terrible. He ate a sock, and my sister had to rush him to the vet. He was fine, but it terrified my sister to the core," u/divorcedbbmama said.
Meanwhile, she said that, from her point of view, if you want to show your cat love, you should give it space and not overfeed it.
The author added that she's extremely allergic to these animals and only had one cat back when she was around 6 years old.
Here's what the cat, Loki, looks like now. He's a very big boy
Image credits: divorcedbbmama
To be very clear, if you're giving your cat too much food, you're increasing the risk of it developing serious diseases
Ideally, you’re not overfeeding or underfeeding your pet. However, especially for new owners, this balance can be hard to find at first. How much you should be feeding your cat depends not only on the breed, but also on the animal’s age, activity levels, and individual characteristics.
And, just to be clear, the owner’s instinct to overfeed their pet is understandable. It’s how they show their love. That being said, there are lots of other—far healthier—ways to show your pet that you care about it. For one, spend more quality time with them. Food is good. Food is essential. But too much food is utterly awful for your pet’s health, just like it is for us, humans.
PetMD explains that you can consider your cat to be overweight if it weighs 10% to 20% more than its ideal bodyweight. Anything above that enters obesity territory.
Unfortunately, cat obesity is a very common disease. It occurs in a jaw-dropping 63% of all felines in developed countries.
Being overweight or obese puts a lot of strain on your cat’s well-being and poses serious health risks, such as:
- Weakened immune system
- Endocrine disorders
- Metabolic disorders
- Cardiovascular disease
- Arthritis
Meanwhile, PDSA notes that the main problems posed by cat obesity include:
- Diabetes
- Bladder problems
- Liver disease
- Arthritis
- Breathing problems
- Cancer
You should aim to feed your cat based on its ideal weight, not what it currently weighs
Image credits: Toa Heftiba / Unsplash (not the actual photo)
The most at-risk cats are primarily indoor pets that are neutered and middle-aged (between 8 and 12 years of age), PetMD warns. Weight management essentially revolves around your cat’s diet.
Aside from visible chonkiness, some of the main signs that your cat may be obese are that it has difficulty climbing or jumping up the stairs, is unwilling to move around, has unkempt hair, has less frequent bowel movements, and passes more gas.
You can also tell that your cat has weight issues if it loses a visible waistline, you can’t feel its rib or hip bones when you pet it, and if your pet’s profile looks rectangular when looking at it from above.
Some of the main things to keep in mind, in terms of diet, are that dry food tends to lead to more weight gain than canned food, and that you have to be consistent with the portions you measure out. If you’re not specific, you can accidentally overfeed your pet.
Meanwhile, cats that eat too quickly can become bored and (loudly) beg for more food to stay entertained. On top of that, you want to stay on top of how many treats you’re giving your lovable cat. “Treats tend to be higher in fat and calories than a cat’s regular diet, so offering too many treats throughout the day quickly increases the total calories offered and can create a nutritionally unbalanced diet,” PetMD warns.
As per PDSA, if your cat happens to be overweight, you should feed them the amount of food recommended for their ideal weight, not their actual weight.
“Don’t panic if you have accidentally been overfeeding your cat, just reduce their meal sizes slowly over a couple of weeks. Ideally, your cat should graze throughout the day, split their daily allowance into at least two meals (ideally more).”
What are your thoughts, dear Pandas? Do you think the author of the online post was right to call out her sister for how she’s (over)feeding her cat? How would you have handled the situation if you were in her shoes? Have you ever had to put your pet on a diet because it was getting worryingly chonky? What was that like? Let us know what you think in the comments below!
Some readers were quick to notice that the author's sister lived with her mom
Many internet users thought the woman was right to call out her sister and show concern for the animal's welfare
However, not everyone was on the same page. Some netizens questioned the woman's way of handling the situation
