# Why is my cat heavy? (not fat) **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 17, 2007, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-my-cat-heavy-not-fat/400522 "2007-04-17T20:41:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![conurepete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a88e57/32.png) [@conurepete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/conurepete)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2007, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-my-cat-heavy-not-fat/400522/21 "2007-04-18T02:34:28Z")
He ain’t heavy, he’s your… oh never mind ---
**Author:** ![David\_Simmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9de053/32.png) [@David\_Simmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_Simmons)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2007, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-my-cat-heavy-not-fat/400522/22 "2007-04-18T02:35:30Z")
[QUOTE=docandjean] We have a postal scale that we use to weigh our two cats. My husband’s weighing method is to put the scale on the coffee table, then put a section of newspaper on the scale. Wait about two minutes, cats will appear to sit on the paper (one at a time). note weight. never fails. [/QUOTE] Especially if you pretend to read the paper. ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2007, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-my-cat-heavy-not-fat/400522/23 "2007-04-18T02:38:29Z")
[QUOTE=Sublight] Could just be muscle, as others have said. He looks quite like my parents’ siamese, who’s very slender but weighs a ton. When he was younger, the vet looked at him and said “that is the most muscular cat I’ve ever seen,” and added that it was almost a shame we’d had him (the cat, not the vet) neutered. This could bode well for Jork. Chatchat is fifteen now and is still very healthy and active. [/QUOTE] That’s good to know, thanks! As long as I’m here, why is one of his pads dark and the rest light pink. It was like that when we got him, as can be seen in [this picture](http://wretchawry.com/gallery/cats/all/photos/P1010963.html), and it’s still like that. By the way, there are a lot of pictures [at that first site](http://wretchawry.com/gallery/cats/all/index.html) with Jork and Ecto on the chair. All those first pictures were amazing because Ecto hated Jork (who was always trying to bite him under the neck) and those pictures of them together were WAY out of the ordinary. Also, if you look close at the big versions of each picture of Ecto on the chair, his eyes seem to be a different color in each one! I love that and I’m so glad I had the camera handy. Those were the last pictures taken a few days before he died. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2007, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-my-cat-heavy-not-fat/400522/24 "2007-04-18T02:40:34Z")
> [@](#): > > Good Lord, though, he’s as long as a jackrabbit (see first photo). I’ve noticed that the first thing a cat does when it wakes up is, it stretches. And the last thing a cat does before falling asleep is, it stretches. And yet, they never actually seem to unstretch. I’m amazed they’re not all that long. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2007, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-my-cat-heavy-not-fat/400522/25 "2007-04-18T03:38:48Z")
[QUOTE=Equipoise] As long as I’m here, why is one of his pads dark and the rest light pink. It was like that when we got him, as can be seen in [this picture](http://wretchawry.com/gallery/cats/all/photos/P1010963.html), and it’s still like that. [/QUOTE] Just a deposit of melanin. My half-educated WAG: Your cat has the wild-type mackerel tabby gene, dominant black gene being modified by a dilution gene to produce that gray color, then the piebald gene overlaying that pattern with white. The piebald gene is a masker and likely the pink feet result from those white stockings. The black is probably the “true” skin color peaking out, unmasked - my black cat has black feet. Regardless it makes for one handsome fellow :). - Tamerlane ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2007, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-my-cat-heavy-not-fat/400522/26 "2007-04-18T04:11:32Z")
Since we’re talking about kitty feet - do they usually _change_ color? Eddles started out with almost all pink feet, and now they’re mottled pink and black. (He’s an orange tabby.) Also, the skin on his feet peels a lot. It’s kind of weird. I meant to ask the vet, but of course you forget all your questions when you actually see any doctor, animal or human. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2007, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-my-cat-heavy-not-fat/400522/27 "2007-04-18T04:23:59Z")
[QUOTE=Zsofia] Since we’re talking about kitty feet - do they usually _change_ color? Eddles started out with almost all pink feet, and now they’re mottled pink and black. (He’s an orange tabby.) Also, the skin on his feet peels a lot. It’s kind of weird. I meant to ask the vet, but of course you forget all your questions when you actually see any doctor, animal or human. [/QUOTE] Huh. Never heard of that myself, but then the things I don’t know could fill many a sea. But I can’t imagine constantly peeling feet is a good thing. Apparently chronic irritations can cause skin darkening - I’d definitely ask my vet to at least take a look. This chart claims that color change can be a “normal process.” [http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?cls=1&cat=1338&articleid=205](http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?cls=1&cat=1338&articleid=205) Maybe **vetbridge** has an opinion? - Tamerlane ---
**Author:** ![toadbriar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bb73d2/32.png) [@toadbriar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toadbriar)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2007, 8:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-my-cat-heavy-not-fat/400522/28 "2007-04-18T08:33:55Z")
My 19 lbs (not fat!) cat has peely thick calluses on his front paws. I actually thought they might be plantar warts at first, but the vet said they’re just crusty ol’ calluses. I don’t have photos of his hooflike paw pads, sadly. But - [next to his 55 lbs greyhound](http://flickr.com/photos/kimhotep/323235496/) [here’s what he wears when he’s feeling saucy](http://flickr.com/photos/kimhotep/296415861/) [here’s what he wears when he goes to space.](http://flickr.com/photos/usonian/120990857/) ---
**Author:** ![Surok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@Surok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surok)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2007, 8:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-my-cat-heavy-not-fat/400522/29 "2007-04-18T08:43:45Z")
**Equipoise** , when I opened those pics I through for a minute you’d kidnapped my cat! Jork is incredibly similar to Skymbrik, my one year kitty - the length, the markings, the black/ pink foot pads. Symbrik is slim, but heavy. I just put it down to densely packed muscle from his Siamese mother. ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2007, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-my-cat-heavy-not-fat/400522/30 "2007-04-22T00:27:52Z")
Sorry to bump this thread, but I realized I hadn’t responded to this. [QUOTE=Tamerlane] Just a deposit of melanin. My half-educated WAG: Your cat has the wild-type mackerel tabby gene, dominant black gene being modified by a dilution gene to produce that gray color, then the piebald gene overlaying that pattern with white. The piebald gene is a masker and likely the pink feet result from those white stockings. The black is probably the “true” skin color peaking out, unmasked - my black cat has black feet. [/QUOTE] I wanted to thank you for this info. I had never heard of any of this and it sent me looking to Wikipedia and other sites, reading for hours about the “mackerel tabby gene” and the “piebald gene” and it was all so fascinating! For most of our kitty-owning life we only ever had pure white cats, and one tan and white tabby. It never before occured to me to look up and find out why cats are colored the way they are. It was an interesting learning experience, so I appreciate the info that prodded me to learn more. [QUOTE=Surok] Equipoise, when I opened those pics I through for a minute you’d kidnapped my cat! [/QUOTE] Very cool! Now I know that Jork has a double in Russia! ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2007, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-my-cat-heavy-not-fat/400522/31 "2007-04-22T01:52:11Z")
[QUOTE=Equipoise] It never before occured to me to look up and find out why cats are colored the way they are. It was an interesting learning experience, so I appreciate the info that prodded me to learn more. [/QUOTE] You’re welcome :). Obviously I find that sort of stuff pretty interesting myself and it was actually the SDMB that prompted me to read up on it a bit more several months/maybe a year ago. One of our semi-annual calico/tortoiseshell qurestions here in GQ. > [@](#): > > For most of our kitty-owning life we only ever had pure white cats, But of course now you have to do homework and try to think back and figure out just what sort of white cats you used to have ;). **Dominant White** - all white, without a speck of color. Blue-eyed versions almost invariably deaf. **Piebald White** - one _huge_ white spot, usually with a tell-tale patch of color or even just a few colored hairs somewhere. Blue-eyed versions almost invariably deaf. **Albino White** - relatively rare. Blue-eyed versions usually can hear just fine. - Tamerlane ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2007, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-my-cat-heavy-not-fat/400522/32 "2007-04-22T04:04:52Z")
[QUOTE=Tamerlane] But of course now you have to do homework and try to think back and figure out just what sort of white cats you used to have ;). **Dominant White** - all white, without a speck of color. Blue-eyed versions almost invariably deaf. [/QUOTE] They were dominant white cats, but not albino, and none of the three had blue eyes, or were deaf. [Ecto](http://wretchawry.com/gallery/cats/all/photos/EctoJork3.html) [Otto](http://wretchawry.com/gallery/cats/all/photos/otto3.html) (that’s not a spot of color on his nose, he’d just gotten into something) [Harvo](http://wretchawry.com/gallery/cats/all/photos/harvo1.html) Since they were all strays, I have no idea what their parents looked like, or what kind of cats they were beyond (lovable, adorable) mutts.They were not related in any way. ---
**Author:** ![mlerose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/43a26b/32.png) [@mlerose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlerose)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2007, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-my-cat-heavy-not-fat/400522/33 "2007-04-22T04:19:58Z")
We have a cat ([Loki](http://bp3.blogger.com/_2d-Faw-8Lic/RZVwBcqfCuI/AAAAAAAAADY/iMm6m5w0Gq0/s1600-h/catbird+002.jpg)) who is eight feet long. Well, he looks eight feet long when he stretches out. He’s quite thin for his size and weighs a good 14 pounds, twice as much as his petite sister Petra. His back legs are so long that when he sits in sphinx pose they stick up several inches above his back. I think some cats are just really muscular, and their weight reflects their build. ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2007, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-my-cat-heavy-not-fat/400522/34 "2007-04-22T04:26:18Z")
People, people, how can you look at those pictures of the cat in question and not spot the answer right away? It’s the ears. The HONKIN’ HUGE EARS. Got to be good for an extra three pounds’ worth, each one, at _least_. :eek: [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-my-cat-heavy-not-fat/400522.md?page=1)