In a recent survey of our cat population at the Robins-Starr Humane Center, we found that over 50 cats weight at least 10 lbs. Since even we are having trouble keeping them trim, we thought it a good idea to revisit the topic of fat cats.

From Sept. 6, 2007: Plump kitties face special dangers

BB is a sweet girl.  Weighing in at over 15lbs when she came to the shelter, she gave the impression of a roly-poly middle-aged lady, not quite obese, but could still stand to drop a few pounds.  But when BB came down with an upper respiratory infection and lost her appetite, those few extra pounds became much more significant.  Despite all of our efforts, BB refused to eat, even the most tempting baby food and tuna microwaved concoctions.  As days passed and BB whittled away, one thing became clear, I mean yellow.  The roly-poly little girl had turned into a shrunken, jaundiced shadow of her former self.  BB was suffering from hepatic lipidosis and was in a battle for her life. 

Hepatic lipidosis, or fatty liver disease, is one of the most common causes of liver failure in cats.  Cats evolved as predators, eating small meals throughout the day.  As cats were domesticated, their eating habits changed, with larger meals, free access to food and expanding feline waistlines becoming the norm.  This may not be disastrous in day-to-day life, but when an overweight cat becomes sick, lost or stressed and stops eating, the consequences are very serious.  The feline liver is unable to process the large amounts of fat that the starving body moves to the liver for processing.  The liver becomes overrun with fat and subsequently fails.

The cornerstone of treatment of hepatic lipidosis is nutritional support.  This can be done by force feeding or by the surgical placement of feeding tubes.  Survival and recovery from hepatic lipidosis nears 90% with nutritional support.  Without such aggressive treatment, most cats will not be able to overcome this disease.

These scenarios are very dire, even in the private veterinary practice.  In a shelter environment, they present even greater dangers.  The stress of moving a cat to a new environment can be enough to put him off his food.  That same stress could also make him susceptible to any number of viruses with which shelters must contend, which could in turn put him off his food.  Is anyone sensing a trend here?  While the portly kitties are snuggly and great lap-warmers (I won’t argue with that), their transition into a shelter environment is fraught with more danger than is experienced by the average 8lb cat.  Age, underlying medical conditions and lowered sociability all stack the scales against this group of kitties, too. 

Please do your cat a favor and go easy on the treats and be a little sparing at dinner time.  He (and his liver) will thank you.  As for BB, with intensive medical care, including force feedings over several weeks, she was able to overcome her fatty liver disease and is still here at the Richmond SPCA waiting for her permanent home.

Today’s blog author is Kate Hamilton. Kate is the medical coordinator at the Richmond SPCA.

We adopted a plump kitty a year and a half ago from the SPCA. It’s not easy to get a cat to lose weight!  We had to find the right amount for dinner. Interest her in playing. 

We had finally started moving in the right direction when she discovered I keep the cat food bags in the pantry. I have a plastic container for the current food but the leftovers that won’t fit are in a paper bag.  The kids kept leaving the door open and I’d find her interested in the pantry.  Wasn’t until I went to pour more food into her plastic container that I discovered she’d ripped several holes in the paper kitty food bag.  She’d been snacking at her leisure.

So her weight went back up *sigh*. But we are still working on it.

Great article.

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