We tried putting Tybalt on cat food “for less active cats” for a while … he gained three pounds. I try to keep him as active as possible but he’s a lazy bastard, currently 25 pounds and holding. That’s right, he weighs as much as a big ol’ bag of kitty litter.
We’ve never been able to find a medical reason for his fatassity; I guess some cats’re just big.
Lots of good advice everyone.
RTFirefly, is astro’s poem the one you were thinking of?
Pablito, Muffin & fizgig: unfortunately we don’t have the time to dedicate to a dog or even another cat, much as I think it would be nice to get one. Cookie is in the house all day until one of us gets home from work, and then she runs around outside for about 2 or 3 hours. We also have a ritual that when I get in from work, she stalks me around the house, and lacerates my hand and arm when she catches me.
UncleBill we got her at 12 weeks from the small litter of a friend’s cat.
techchick68, I’ve heard before that cats really shouldn’t get any carbs. Will investigate with the vet.
Dragonblink someone’s pulling your leg. Tybalt isn’t a cat, he’s a leopard.
Our cat Babu ranges from 17 to 20 lbs. usually on the heavier side during winter. He’s just tall. I’ve taken him to the vet myself because I didn’t trust my parents when they said the vet said there was nothing wrong with him-I got the same answer. Healthy bastard just big boned and muscular. Well, a bit of a fat ass but it looks good on him.
oh and the best advice i can give is “lift from the knees, not from the back” just like snow shovelling.
I find with our fat cat, Happycat, that it helps if I hug him a lot and kiss his little paws.
Not that it makes him any thinner, but it’s fun.
Whoa - Dragonblink Tybalt is a big cat (I’m sure you knew that) 
I have a feeling my tabby Hanna is going to be a big cat. She has huge feet, and at 6 months she is almost as big as my 7 year old female, Abby.
I have heard that when cats are faced with diet food, (the “lite” varieties) they tend to eat more to make up for the not-so-full feeling they have after eating it. I have never had much luck with diet cat food.
Then his compact little 8 pound hunchbacked mother Caliban has some explaining to do … 
Dragonblink it must the name because my cat Tybalt is also very large and weighs about 25 pounds. It’s really something to watch him lay on his side by the water dish and then dip his paw in the water and then roll on his back and let it drip into his mouth.
He also still likes to nurse on my wifes hair.
PS do people get the name?
Yes, the whole “good king of cats!” thing (what Mercutio calls Tybalt). Great name for a cat.
What to do with a big fat cat?
Feed him. What else? 
(I have a big fat cat who is unfortunately already ON special food so I can’t try him with diet food. So he’s on restricted portions, and while he hasn’t lost any weight, he hasn’t gained any in the last year or so.)
Prince of cats delphica but the rest is right.
Trying to fool us with a picture of a circus midget holding a housecat. Shame on you!
That cat is huge! Also gorgeous!
I also own a very large cat. Big-boned and heavy even when he is skinny. Alas, he is no longer skinny, so now he’s scary. No idea what he weighs. He’s a lardass for sure.
What can I say, ya got me.
– Dragonblink, 5’7" circus midget
You could fire it from a cannon.
Act two, scene four:
Mercutio:
More than prince of cats, I can tell you. O, he is
the courageous captain of compliments. He fights
as you sing prick-song, keeps time, distance, and
proportion; rests me his minim rest, one, two, and the
third in your bosom: the very butcher of a silk button,
a duellist, a duellist; a gentleman of the very first
house, of the first and second cause: ah, the
immortal passado! the punto reverso! the hay!
and also
Act three, scene one
Mercutio:
Good King of Cats, nothing but one of your nine
lives; that I mean to make bold withal, and as you
shall use me hereafter, drybeat the rest of the
eight. Will you pluck your sword out of his pilcher
by the ears? make haste, lest mine be about your
ears ere it be out.
