# Fat Cat syndrome
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fat-cat-syndrome/149194
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [January 17, 2003, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fat-cat-syndrome/149194 "2003-01-17T07:33:23Z")
**Posts on this page:** 10
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@techchick68](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/techchick68)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2003, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fat-cat-syndrome/149194/1 "2003-01-17T07:33:23Z")
In November I adopted to older male cats, Max and Monty.
Max is fine, possibly of normal weight but his brother…OMG that is one FAT cat.
I haven’t weighed him but you can tell by just looking at him, he could stand to lose a tremendous amount of weight. If he were a turkey, he’d make a good Butterball turkey, one that many could nosh on for hours on end.
So here’s the delimna, funds are limited and I do plan on taking him to the vet for an assessment of his over all health, but how do I get him to lose weight without creating issues with my other cats (Niki is 15 and an original with my animal family and Max who went through a liver problem 2 weeks after I picked the boys up.)
Monty HAS to lose weight, there are no ifs, ands or buts about it.
He is an indoor cat, front claws removed before I got him and his brother.
Anyone with any suggestions?
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### Author:  [@Davebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Davebear)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2003, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fat-cat-syndrome/149194/2 "2003-01-17T22:16:18Z")
Good for you, for adopting animals! Unfortunately, I don’t have a magic answer to bestow upon you for your kindness.
The short answer is it can’t be done, if you’re free feeding (having food available at all times). Been there, done that, had a huge fat cat to show for it.
The only way Monty is ever going to lose weight is to put him on a good cat diet chow (IAMs, Science Diet, whatever), and totally deny him access to the normal cat food. That means you can’t leave the food out for the other cats, which is probably going to confuse and/or piss off the other cats. They’re going to have to conform to your feeding schedule, and Monty is going to have to be separated from them and their food until that food is gone. Otherwise, he’ll be right in their cleaning up whatever is left.
If you do all this, Monty will lose weight. None of the cats will be happy with you, but they’ll get over it. Or, you’ll die. Whichever comes first. 😉
This is the kind of thing that prompted the saying “No good deed goes unpunished.” But, it _is_ a good deed. 🙂
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### Author:  [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2003, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fat-cat-syndrome/149194/3 "2003-01-17T22:48:14Z")
One approach, if Monty has become too fat to jump, is to put the “free choice food” on a counter – or even a high shelf – where they can get to it, but not he.
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### Author:  [@SC\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SC_Wolf)
#### Post date: [January 18, 2003, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fat-cat-syndrome/149194/4 "2003-01-18T01:52:52Z")
Well, I would wager that your cat isn’t [this fat](http://www.tubcat.com).
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### Author:  [@techchick68](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/techchick68)
#### Post date: [January 18, 2003, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fat-cat-syndrome/149194/5 "2003-01-18T02:29:21Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by SC\_Wolf \*
> Well, I would wager that your cat isn’t [this fat](http://www.tubcat.com).
Not far off.
You can’t tell that he has a rib cage like other cats. I don’t have a little girl to compare him to but he is one big FAT cat. It even hurts him for me to pick him up, if that makes any sense.
He doesn’t stretch far from that.
Monty can jump well, oddly enough, so putting food up for the normal/underweight cats is not going to happen. I have gone through a 7 lb bag of cat food in no time. I went and got the large “senior” cat food because it’s decent nutrition for all of them, but heck, what do you do? They all have reacted to fewer calories and fat by eating more, all three of them. The other two cats have seemingly lost weight.
Only one of the three is a fatty and I am afraid that if I don’t get his wieght down by at least half, seriously, I will lose him in two years. He’s such a sweetie and I would love to love him longer but with his weight, when I pick him up, he ruins my shirts (with his back claws) and I can only hold him for so long before it gets tiring.
Ugh, anyone else with any tips? Yes, it’s a free for all here, food wise. Otherwise they bug the living shit out of me and that’s not easy with three cats to change habits. One isn’t hungry when the other is and they have to give you grief when they are hungry.
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### Author:  [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)
#### Post date: [January 18, 2003, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fat-cat-syndrome/149194/6 "2003-01-18T02:51:50Z")
Put him in a kennel for a few months.
Is that fat cat real??? Or is the photo retouched?
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### Author:  [@Bob55](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bob55)
#### Post date: [January 18, 2003, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fat-cat-syndrome/149194/7 "2003-01-18T05:17:25Z")
You need to put all your cats on a diet. It sucks for the skinny cats but they’ll adjust once they get hungry.
I have one cat that gets kidney stones which lead to urethra blockages that almost killed him, so he has to be on a low calcium/low pH diet. Which means my other cat who loves the Fancy Feast just has to suffer and eat the healthy stuff…but he has adjusted (occasionally I’ll treat them both to the good stuff).
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### Author:  [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)
#### Post date: [January 18, 2003, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fat-cat-syndrome/149194/8 "2003-01-18T05:25:54Z")
You need to give fat cats more exercise.
Start buying hamsters and releasing them in the house.
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### Author:  [@j\_kat\_251](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j_kat_251)
#### Post date: [January 18, 2003, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fat-cat-syndrome/149194/9 "2003-01-18T05:28:08Z")
I thought this was going to be about people suddenly afflicted with a disease that made them don top hats and monocles, and walk around in Members Only jackets smoking pipes.
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### Author:  [@kniz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kniz)
#### Post date: [January 18, 2003, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fat-cat-syndrome/149194/10 "2003-01-18T05:38:01Z")
My first reaction was that you needed to get Monty a treadmill. I just don’t know how to get him to use it. :smack:
Then you said that putting the food in a high place wouldn’t help because he can jump. So put his food in a high place just to give him a little exercise and while he is up there feed the other two outside or build a box (a spare closet would do nicely) with a hole they can get through but “Tubby” can’t. ☹
Good Luck! 😉