Cats are not animals that take the initiative to exercise. Therefore, if you live a lazy life, your body will get fatter and fatter, and in the worst case, you will become obese. Overfeeding and lack of exercise can lead to obesity, so owners must manage their health appropriately. Obesity increases the risk of developing disease.
Standard weight of a domestic cat
I know the normal weight of cats to some extent. Here, we only show the standard weight for small cats such as domestic cats. The average weight of cats from 0 weeks to 1 year old is as follows.
| Age | Weight |
| 0 week | 100ｇ |
| 1 week | 150～200ｇ |
| 1 month | 400～500ｇ |
| 3 month | 1.0～1.5kg |
| 1 year | 3.0～5.0kg |
After about a year, a cat is almost an adult. A 1-year-old cat is about 20 years old when converted to human age, and growth stops at this point. Therefore, it is better to think that the weight at 1 year old is the normal weight of a cat. Of course, there are differences depending on the cat breed, so it is better to measure in advance with a scale.
Obese weight
Generally, if you exceed the above weight limit, you are considered obese. However, since there are different breeds of cats, it is difficult to generalize. If it is a large cat, it will rather be thin. Therefore, I will describe what kind of risks a domestic cat, a small cat, will have if it exceeds 5 kg.
Definition of obesity
Obesity in dogs and cats is defined as 15-20% more than normal body weight.
disease caused by obesity
Obese cats are more likely to develop diabetes, high blood pressure, and arthritis. Even if obesity does not directly cause disease, it may exacerbate the disease, so gaining weight is not always the right choice.
why cats are fat
The reasons why cats gain weight are generally limited to two patterns.
primary obesity
Primary obesity is when you eat too much and get fat. This can be caused by the cat’s voracious appetite or by the owner spoiling the cat and giving it too much food. More than 90% of the causes of obesity are said to correspond to this primary obesity. Cats are also prone to obesity and diabetes. Diabetes requires insulin injections and regular hospital visits.
secondary obesity
Symptomatic obesity is weight gain due to a congenital disease. Obesity can also be caused by side effects of medications. For secondary obesity, it is necessary to undergo an examination at a hospital, identify the cause, and treat it.
cat’s constitution
It is said that cats are difficult to lose weight because they have the following characteristics.
hard to lose weight
The Libyan wildcat, the ancestor of the domestic cat, obtains prey in an ambush mode that consumes as little energy as possible. This is because searching for prey for a long time in a desert area where prey is scarce is a waste of energy. Even now that he has become a domestic cat, his lifestyle of avoiding wasted effort has not changed. Therefore, there is a weakness that it is easy to fall into lack of exercise.
stroll
Domestic cats do not need a walk. Unless you have to walk every day like a dog, cats don’t even need a walk. This is a red flag as an overweight cat will not be able to curl up and will have a harder time keeping itself clean. It is important to take the following measures to create an environment in which you can lose weight.
コメント