To be fair, that was obviously quite a large cat to start with. Don’t get me wrong; he’s massively obese. But even if he were at his fighting weight, he’d still be a damn big cat.
Reminds me of the cat that a sorta-friend of mine used to have. She fed that cat CONSTANTLY, until he was almost literally round and his gait became more of a waddle than a prowl. It was disgusting. I told her point-blank, “You’re not doing the cat any favors. Stop feeding him so much; you’re making him unhealthy.”
Her response: “But I love him!”
The cat died a few years later, although I don’t recall the cause.
I adopted a HUGE orange cat from a cat sanctuary. James Morris Brontosaurus weighed about 23 pounds and had for years – despite diet food, exercise, and living at this sanctuary that provided more and better quality medical care than most humans get.
He also had two sisters who were just about as massive and who also didn’t respond to the same type of ministrations to lose weight.
He lived to be about 12 or 13 and never did lose the weight despite my intensification of the diet/exercise routine. He died of kidney failure, which is a fat cat malady (I heard his sisters did too, at pretty ripe ages for kitty cats, though).
HOWEVER, I cannot even imagine my James at twice his weight, as this cat is. Wow!
Experts argue…either the Maine Coon or the Ragdoll. I’d personally lean towards Maine Coon, though I love me some Ragdolls…I’m serisouly thinking about getting a Ragdoll as our next cat.
(which won’t be for minimum 5 years from now…we already have 3 and are planning on getting a big dog next year wink)
When a dog gets McDonalds because the owner doesn’t make the time to get proper dog food, that’s abuse. The dog doesn’t have the option of running out and picking himself up a nice t-bone - he’s dependent on what his owner feeds him, and as pet owners, it is our responsibility to feed our pets properly.
We had a twenty-pounder when I was in high school - he was just a really, really big cat. If you’re looking after your cat and he’s still big, Lorinada, then this thread isn’t about you. It’s about people who overfeed their pets because they think a fat pet is cute, or they let their pets eat non-stop, or they feed their pets people food all the time, or whatever thing they are doing that is bad for the animal and ends up with the animal being grossly overweight.
It’s a cat. A really fat cat but a cat just the same. Can all those people that said that the cats owners were abusive, honestly say they don’t have a fat family member or friend?
Are we abusing our fat friend when we watch them eat?
I bet that cat can’t look forward to being an elderly cat but it doesn’t look terribly unhappy. Give it a good run outside, running from danger keeps 'em fit
No the cat should not be taken away. Fat children are not removed from parents. Fat parents are not removed from children. Fat pussy cats should get to stay too. The owners should stop feeling so proud about their fat arse cat though.
(owner of a very slim feline who was born in 1988 and spends 50% of her life on the bed, 40% in the kitchen demanding food and 10% outside pooing/peeing and sniffing things)
We have a 22 pounder (he lost two lbs recently). We asked the doctor, and he said “he is what he is”. We don’t feed him much at all. But in order to let him hang out in the house with us, he gets access to the other cats’ chow. We call him Fats Domino.
My point is that this clip was used to present the argument, despite the fact that NO ONE who has posted here knows this cat’s diet or medical history. There is no evidence this cat is being fed McDonald’s. I reread the OP to make sure and it’s very clear the OP thinks this cat is overfed and underexercised. Astro very specifically says “this cat”.
Now, if this thread presented the question, without the clip, I would probably not have even felt a need to post…except maybe to agree.* Purposely overfeeding and underexercising your pet may be abuse, but no one can say this cat is being abused.
I wonder if it is possible for an animal to get that much overweight without abuse.
Either abuse by over feeding, or abuse by failing to get medical intervention.
Are there any disease where those responsible for the animals welfare have no way to avoid it getting extremely over weight?
Well… the cat’s not being beaten or starved, but the owner is (IMO) neglecting their responsibility to properly care for the cat by allowing it access to vastly more food than it needs. An indoor house cat is not human being and it depends on it’s caretaker human to adjust it’s diet if necessary. Unless the cat is acquiring calories by magic, a cat that huge is (again IMO) in an unhealthy state which is willfully perpetuated by it’s owner. The cat can barely waddle up the stairs or lick itself. If that’s not abuse of the animal it’s something damn close.
