Answer: Obesity arises because an animal or, indeed, a human being, consume more food then is needed to supply it with energy and the surplus food is then stored as fat.
Most cats refrain from overeating, though if the owner regularly provides more food then is required, particularly if it is highly palatable, overweighting will be encouraged. Obesity is most likely to effect neutered cats where energy requirements, and therefore food requirements, are less then foe entire animals. In general, if you cannot feel a cat’s ribs it is likely to overweight.
In theory the treatment of the obesity is simple. If less food is provided then the cat need to satisfy its energy requirements, then it will begin to reduce its fat stores. This body fat is used to supply the energy which is deficient in the diet. In practice, the cat may be supplementing its meal at home with food from elsewhere, either prey it catches or meal provide by kindhearted neighbors.
To slim a cat, ad lib feeding, practiced, must be stopped and there must be no giving of tidbits. And little if any milk should be provide because of its fat content. As far as possible other sources of food should be eliminated. Then the cat must be relatively underfed on its normal diet, provide that this has a balanced composition. On suggested regimen for doing this is follows. Weigh the cat in pounds and then, having regard to its breed, age and sex, estimate what it should weigh if it were not overweight. If necessary your vet will help with this estimate. By subtracting one weight from the other find how much overweight the cat is, in pounds. Then multiply this number of pounds by 80. Lastly divide the figure you have just obtained by 100 if you need a dry food, or by 85 for a semi-moist food by 40 for a canned, or home-prepared, diet.
The final figure represents the number of ounces of that food that should be removed from the diet each day, i.e. the daily reduction that must take place.
Weight the cat regularly (at least once a week) and, when it has reached the previously estimated normal weight, its diet should be increased again to prevent any further weight loss. Do this by restoring each day half of the number of ounces of food that you removed originally. This daily ration of food can be fed continuously, probably for the rest of the animal’s life, unless it becomes ill or pregnant or shows any further marked weight change.
