At  19 there is no reason to worry about KFC!! You never know, they could
have related genes and are just from a family of small sized cats.

Nope.  Jessie, 6, and Demi, 7, are 7.55 pounds and 7.25 pounds.  4 pounds is
small, but I don't think it's abnormal for some cats.  What does your vet
say?

Hugs,

CatNipped

Well, you know how everything's bigger in the US of A!  :-)

If they look right they probably are just right. Well within normal
operating
parameters, as their Mothership might say.

Nope. And good (though my vets & I are keen on Milbemax &
Frontline Combo respectively).

Dinna fret yersen, hen, as they might say somewhere in these Isles.

Purrs

Gordon & the TT (FF in just 2 days now, yay!)

I don't think you need to be concerned.  Pan is about 5 pounds, and
he's pretty old. I'd like him to be heavier and make sure he gets
plenty of food, but his top weight in his prime was about 9 pounds.

Francesca I think is about 7.5 pounds, and Nina, the little porker, is
about 8 pounds, now.

Melissa

Hmmm, my Tuppence is 4 pounds (better known as Tasmanian Devil Cat at
the vet), Smokie is 10, Barnabus is 13 (down from a high of 19),
Leonidas is 8.

I know in the case of my cats, that I overfed the ones who would eat
(i.e., Barnabus), rather like I used to overfeed myself.

I think Boyfriend and KFC are probably just perfect.

Smokie Darling (Annie)< <hey, if *I'm* going to be fat, so are my cats
(hee).  Well, not so much anymore...

 Probably has something to do with their genetics.     It would take two
of  them to make one TuTu.  I had a picture book of very large cats and
 they
all looked like TuTu.   I gave the book to  TED to prove to her TuTu's
size was genetic.  

Rusty is 8 lbs. The heaviest he ever got to was 10 lb.
The vet used to caution me about him gaining too much weight, but there is
no worry about that.
I want him to gain a bit of weight, but his prescription food is
not cheap, and I am already feeding him the recommeded amount
for his weight.
I think it is OK as  long as there is no sudden or prolonged weight loss.

But I know what you mean, the cats I see at the vet clinic are mostly
heavier than Rusty. Sometimes I feel like a bad Meowmie in
not feeding my cat enough. But someone pointed out that since
I am underweight, my cat tends to be underweight too.

Winnie

No, if they're healthy, their size is probably simply due to genetic
variation. I can't remember the weights of mine, but my friends now have
three, ranging from massive (would probably make two of mine!) to so small
he looks adolescent, but he isn't.

To be honest, though, the biggest of the three has, shall we say, an
extremely healthy appetite, and to all appearances, no ribs. (Remember the
old test for cats? Ribs sticking out = too thin; Ribs can be felt =
normal; No ribs = fat)

The others, and my two, are presently at normal weights as evaluated by
vets, but have different builds.

Cats just come in different sizes.  It is easy to tell by feel whether
a cat is too thin.  An average male house cat is 8 lb (so I've been
told) and an average female is 6 lb.  I once had a 13 lb male cat that
the vet called "a whopper" and it was by far the largest cat that I
ever had.  It could stand on the floor and peek over the edge of the
kitchen table to look for a treat.  Right now Spotsie is 8 lb and Jo
is 6 (both spayed females).  Spotsie just looms over Jo.

Speaking of large animals, I saw an Irish Wolfhound the day before
yesterday.  That dog looked as if it could stand with all four feet on
the ground and look you straight in the eye.

Aw, don't worry.   First off, I've observed that in general, American
cats are bigger than English ones.  Another thing-- your kitties were
found kitties, weren't they?  They had already reached their full
growth by the time they took you on as their slave.  So their bone
structure was already what it would be.  So they might pack a little
weight on, but their frames are not going to grow the way a cat under
a year old would.  AND your kitties are busy, outside hunting kitties.
If they look good to you, I'm sure there is no problem with them.  And
some of us have observed that some of our cats are on the fluffy side.
My vet says the most common problem he sees in dogs and cats is
overweight.

Theresa
Stinky Pictures: http://community.webshots.com/album/125591586JWEFwh
My Blog: http://www.humanitas.blogspot.com

I doubt it.  I seem to recall the ancestors of the Maine Coon being a
large influence on cats throughout the US, so maybe they're simply
bigger through genetics.

Oscar hovers around 9 lb. .. but even she has little tufts in her toes
and other small signs that might speak of MC heritage.

It has to do with the build.

That is why Tyche, at 10 pounds, is overweight while Nocturne, at 12
pounds, is ideal weight.  Nocturne is a much larger cat than Tyche,
skeletal-wise.  Tyche is  packing fat all around her belly.

--Fil

Four lbs sounds like a small cat.  How cute!  Betty is 8.5 lbs, and I
consider her to be small, but she's the only cat I've had.  She looks
smaller than most human infants I've seen, so in my mind, she's
"small".

Sometimes, when I pick Betty up, there's a set of exclamations that I
ritually make about her attributes as I carry her around.  One of them
goes: "How small!  How teeny-tiny!  How wonderful!  How beautiful!"
And repeat.

Shmogg was about 6kg in his prime, and thats about 13 advp and 16
pounds troy (no, I don't know what that means!) For an Australian he is
considered a very big, solid, but not overweight cat. IBKFergus is
significantly smaller and alot slimmer and more delicate looking
(Shmogg is very broad all over, he'd be a fullback, and IBKFergus would
be a gymnist).

I didn't have Shmogg neutered until long after I should have (I didn't
know!) so he got his full complement of testosterone. Still, those 20lb
cats out there must be bigger than Shmogg.

I figure that its probably due to the fact that inthe USA,t here's a
fair proportion of Maine Coons and other larger breeds in the mix, and
therefore your average stray moggy has probably inherited some of the
bigger cat traits that the rest of the world has yet to inherit (at
least to some degree).

Also, cats haven't been bred for as nearly as long as dogs, and you
already know the size differences in dogs. Eventually, one assumes
there'll be the catly equivalents of the Great Dean, St Bernard, the
chihuahua and the shitzhu in size in the pure breeds, and every size in
between in the mixed breeds.

As long as they are healthy and neither skin & bone nor a butterball,
it doesn't really matter what weight they are.

Hi Tweed,

My Chloe and Tiffy are small too - Chloe and Tiffy are under 9 pounds, Romeo
is about 11 pounds, Juliet is about 14 pounds and Jetson is about 16 pounds.
I think it just depends on the cat. Like people, cats come in all shapes and
sizes.

Some cats are just small.  My oldest brother has a cat named Neferkitty who
looks like a kitten even though she's at least 10 years old now; she *might*
weigh 7 lbs.

On the other hand, we have Persia, who is 18 lbs (and definitely overweight,
I'm working on it! really!  *I'm* the one who needs the discipline when it
comes to feeding her!)  But when she stretches out her full length she's not
that far from being almost a meter long (not counting her tail)  She's a big
cat even when she's not "fluffy" :)  And when she meatloafs... let's just
say if I ever baked a meatloaf that size it would feed at least 10 people!

[Note to self: buy ingredients for meatloaf.]

Jill

Redunzel and Sarrasine are also small. Redunzel just about clears 7 lbs
and Sarrasine is just under. However they are perfectly healthy and not
under or over weight. Their mother was even smaller when I saw a
picture of her having previously had Isis, Fugazi and Speedy Joe all of
whom were in the 10 lbs + range I couldn't believe she could be
pregnant- she was only the size of a small kitten!

Lesley

Slave of the Fabulous (Petite) Furballs

Our cats verage from 8 (Maya) to 12 1/2 (Fez) pounds in weight. Our
beloved Quetzie (RB) was close to 20 lbs on his last vet visit, but he
was not fat, he was just a big cat. A big tub-o-butter. I miss my baby
boy. :(

Some cats are just smaller.  Here in Thailand, cats are really small.
And I'm not just talking about the starving strays.  Even the "owned"
and well fed cats have that small lean look.  It's just genetic.  At
12 lbs, Vino is a real giant here.  People also freak out when I tell
them he is 7 years old.  I guess that's unheard of old around here.
Sheesh, he's still got at least another 20 years in him ;-)
Maybe cats in the US all have a bit of Maine Coon in them from way
back?
--
Britta
"There is no snooze button on a cat who wants breakfast." -- Unknown
Check out pictures of Vino at:
http://photos.yahoo.com/badwilson click on the Vino album

I think it depends on their in utero experience, early growing up
eating habits/food, genetics, and who knows what else?  My brood range
from about 8 lbs. (Internet) to 14-15 lbs. (Brando), with everyone
else somewhere in between.  I think 8 lbs. is about the average cat
weight, IIRC.

Ginger-lyn

Home Pages:
 http://www.spiritrealm.com/summer/
 http://www.angelfire.com/folk/glsummer (homepage & cats)
 http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~summer/index.htm (genealogy)
 http://www.movieanimals.bravehost.com/ (The Violence Against
                        Animals in Movies Website)

Oh, no, I wouldn't worry. I'd rather see them lean and "just
right"--that means they just have a smaller frame, and that's probaby
genetic. My Booty is about the size of Boyfriend. Bosley is getting
huge, I imagine he's 20 lbs. of housecat by now. They got raised on the
very same food from kittens.

Sherry