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Cat Forum / General Topics / November 2007Digital bath scale for people as well as cats?
Both I and my cat need a weighing scale and I was wondering if we could get by with one. For myself, I don't require analysis of water, fat, bone, etc.; accurate and consistent weight readings would do. Good readable display etc. For the kitty, I was thinking it should be accurate to 0.1 lbs. That should be ok to get by at home. For greater accuracy there's always Vet's office. Some sort of memory function, so I can go back and check what her weight was in case she is covering up the display. Does any model come to the mind? Thanks. Stand on any scale and weigh yourself. Get off and pick up your cat and step on the scales again. Take first reading away from second reading and surprise, surprise! you have the cat's weight! > Both I and my cat need a weighing scale and I was wondering if we could > get by with one. [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > > Does any model come to the mind? Thanks. : Stand on any scale and weigh yourself. Get off and pick up your cat and step : on the scales again. Take first reading away from second reading and : surprise, surprise! you have the cat's weight! Or I could put a few treats on the scale and she would climb up. :) My main concern is accuracy of the reading. For a 170LB person, an error or 0.5 LB is insignificant. However, for a 5 LB cat it would be meaningful. That's why I want the scale to be accurate to 0.1 LB. The method you suggest would require two readings, which would effectively double the uncertainty. For example if the reading is 5LB and scale uncertainty is 0.1 LB, then she weighs between 4.9 and 5.1 LB. However, two readings of 175 and 170 LB really mean 174.9-175.1 LB and 169.9-170.1 LB, so her weight is in range 4.8-5.2 LB. Not the biggest deal in the world, but a direct reading is better. > : Stand on any scale and weigh yourself. Get off and pick up your cat and > step [quoted text clipped - 16 lines] > > Not the biggest deal in the world, but a direct reading is better. Put a cat basket on the scales and turn the dial back to zero. Then place the cat in the basket. Use digital for more accuracy. Weight the cat first thing in the morning before first meal. Preferably after it has peed... Presumably it is a diabetic cat and you want accuracy for medication purposes? : Presumably it is a diabetic cat and you want accuracy for medication : purposes? Oh no, she is only 1 year old and just fine. I however do have beginning of that disease---hence my guess that members of that forum might know about weighing scales. :) The reason for wanting an accurate scale has nothing to do with that. Since I have to buy a scale anyway, might as well get a reasonably accurate one. > My main concern is accuracy of the reading. For a 170LB person, an > error or 0.5 LB is insignificant. However, for a 5 LB cat it would be > meaningful. That's why I want the scale to be accurate to 0.1 LB. IMHO, for people, I've stuck with a plain ol' analog scale. I bought a $30 digital scale at Target and it only lasted a year. I went back to the old-fashioned kind for me and am happier. I don't need extreme accuracy for myself anyway. How about buying a digital postal scale for the cats? I have used one for nearly four years and have found it to be quite accurate (it has to be, for mailing packages). I ordered mine here: http://www.toplinedigitalscales.com/catalog.php?action=124&item_id=166 To weigh a cat, place a small box on the scale and tare out the weight. Then put the cat in the box and record the weight. This scale does not have a memory function. I keep records of my cats' weight on an Excell file, so I can add comments as needed. You also have the benefit of a scale in case you do need to weigh a parcel. . . Do cats sit still for this sort of thing? Any scale is going to need a couple of seconds to get the weight, so you need to either put the cat in something or hold it. Or train the cat (is this possible??? :-)) I had dogs who were trained to sit-stay, so I could weigh them either on their own or in-arms. It could be a close thing at home, though, with the size of the dog vs. the size of the scale platform -- barely big enough. bj >Or I could put a few treats on the scale and she would climb up. :) Nice try. Won't work. My cats take the treat, run off before the scale can do it's thing. >My main concern is accuracy of the reading. For a 170LB person, an >error or 0.5 LB is insignificant. However, for a 5 LB cat it would be >meaningful. That's why I want the scale to be accurate to 0.1 LB. Have the vet do it when you bring the cat in for a check up. >Stand on any scale and weigh yourself. Get off and pick up your cat and step >on the scales again. Take first reading away from second reading and >surprise, surprise! you have the cat's weight! You forgot a few steps. Like pick up the cat again whe it gets away, wiegh yourself again after the cat gets away before the scale finishes. >>Stand on any scale and weigh yourself. Get off and pick up your cat and >>step [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > away, wiegh yourself again after the cat gets away before the scale > finishes. ...dab antiseptic on the resultant claw holes... In misc.health.diabetes Ozgirl <are_we_there_yet@maccas.com> wrote: : Stand on any scale and weigh yourself. Get off and pick up your cat and step : on the scales again. Take first reading away from second reading and : surprise, surprise! you have the cat's weight! We used to do tht with a 60 pound huskey! At least my husband did it. Worked fine too. Later we had a vet with a stand on scale for the dog that we coul dcome in and use whenever we needed to It washelpful to see if a wormin med was working ao she was putting on the lost weight. Wendy > In misc.health.diabetes Ozgirl <are_we_there_yet@maccas.com> wrote: > : Stand on any scale and weigh yourself. Get off and pick up your cat and [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] > > Wendy If you get a small scale, like a baby scale, and always feed your cat in the scale's pan, pretty soon the cat will get used to eating there, and then you will be able to weigh her/him every day with no problems......Just subtract the weight of the bowl & food from the reading...... > > In misc.health.diabetes Ozgirl <are_we_there_yet@maccas.com> wrote: > > : Stand on any scale and weigh yourself. Get off and pick up your cat and [quoted text clipped - 13 lines] > will be able to weigh her/him every day with no problems......Just subtract > the weight of the bowl & food from the reading...... Don't need to subtract the weight of the food. If it's not in the dish, it's in the cat (unless it's spilled onto the scale). Any way it goes, the cat'll eat it eventually. And if the food makes a significant difference in the cat's weight, maybe the cat's being overfed. But I think a scale that's accurate to 1% across more than two orders of magnitude) is a tall order.  Signature-eben QebWenE01R@vTerYizUonI.nOetP http://royalty.mine.nu:81 SCORPIO: Get ready for an unexpected trip when you fall screaming from an open window. Work a little harder on improving your low self esteem, you stupid freak. -- Weird Al, _Your Horoscope for Today_ But I think a scale that's accurate to 1% across more than two orders > of magnitude) is a tall order. 1% scales are for things like drugs and diamonds.....Nobody needs that kind of accuracy for cats......Just drinking or eating before weighing will cause more than a 1% change...... > But I think a scale that's accurate to 1% across more than two orders > > of magnitude) is a tall order. > > 1% scales are for things like drugs and diamonds.....Nobody needs that kind > of accuracy for cats......Just drinking or eating before weighing will cause > more than a 1% change...... 0.1 lb out of a 10lb cat is 1%. 1% of 170lb is about 2lb. IIRC those specs were in the OP. 1% _precision_ is not hard at all, even commonplace; witness all the bathroom scales that tell your weight to 0.2 lb; out of a 150lb person, that represents 0.13% precision. But are they _accurate_ to anywhere near that level (i.e., when they say X lb, what is the true weight)? I think not. I bet your drugs and diamonds scales are _accurate_ to 1%; IOW when they say the weight is X, it's really between 0.995X and 1.005X. The poster wants a single unit that can weigh a 5-10lb cat to within 0.1 lb, as well as a 170lb human to within a few pounds. I contend that if such a beast exists, it'd be quite expensive. IME he'd be better off with two scales, each optimized for one task. Signature-eben QebWenE01R@vTerYizUonI.nOetP royalty.mine.nu:81 When we've nuked the world to a cinder, the cockroaches picking over the remains will be crawling over the remaining artifacts and wondering what "PC LOAD LETTER" means. -- PC / ASR >> But I think a scale that's accurate to 1% across more than two orders >> > of magnitude) is a tall order. [quoted text clipped - 19 lines] > such a beast exists, it'd be quite expensive. IME he'd be better off > with two scales, each optimized for one task. Yes....There's a difference between absolute accuracy and relative accuracy.....When I weigh myself on our cheapie bathroom scale, I really don't care if it's absolutely accurate. All I care about is that it doesn't change calibration from one weighing to another, so I can tell if I've lost a couple of pounds from week to week. > Both I and my cat need a weighing scale and I was wondering if we could > get by with one. [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > > Does any model come to the mind? Thanks. Tanita makes a very good line of scales, and I have two (one for myself and a pediatric one for my cats). I use model #351 for myself. It has 5 memory buttons, so it could be used for 5 people - or you could use reserve one for yourself and separate buttons for up to four cats. It is a digital model and has been very accurate. If I get on and off to recheck, I always get an identical weight, even if I do not stand on exactly the same position on the scale. It weighs in increments of 0.2 lb. I use a Tanita model #1583 baby scale for my cats. It has a tare function to eliminate the weight of a towel or carrier before weighing the cat. It weighs in 0.5 lb. increments. I prefer to use the baby scales for my cats, but I have achieved nearly identical weights on the #351 model by using the method described by Ozgirl. Tanita scales are expensive, but they have been *very* accurate, in my experience. I have had each of these models for several years, so they have had a great deal of use. I have also compared weight taken at home with weight taken in the vet's office, and I obtain almost the same results. Here is a link to model #351: http://www.tanita.com/DigitalScales.shtml And here is a link to model #1583: http://www.tanita.com/PediatricScales.shtml (You may need to scroll down the page to the correct model.) MaryL > Both I and my cat need a weighing scale and I was wondering if we could > get by with one. [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > > Does any model come to the mind? Thanks. Google, "Baby scales"..... > Both I and my cat need a weighing scale and I was wondering if we could > get by with one. [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > > Does any model come to the mind? Thanks. A pad and pencil are the most effective. As far as weighing the cat just weigh yourself first then hold the cat and weigh again. Subtract your weight from that and you have the weight of the cat. > Both I and my cat need a weighing scale and I was wondering if we could > get by with one. [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > > Does any model come to the mind? Thanks. Or if you're engineering minded like me, you design your own scale that has a direct tie in to your computer and records the data in a MySQL database. Hmm, I smell another project coming. >> Both I and my cat need a weighing scale and I was wondering if we could >> get by with one. [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] >> >> Does any model come to the mind? Thanks. Here is a linkj to a 50 pounder..... http://www.northshorecare.com/healthometer-mechanical-pediatric-scale.html > Both I and my cat need a weighing scale and I was wondering if we could > get by with one. [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > > Does any model come to the mind? Thanks. Every now and then I go to the post office and use the scale at the self service area. >Both I and my cat need a weighing scale and I was wondering if we could >get by with one. [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > >Does any model come to the mind? Thanks. step 1. weigh yourself. step 2. pick up cat and weigh yourself and the cat together. step 3 subtract your weight from the combined weight. now you have the weight of the cat. I found a baby scale on craigslist for $20. It is very accurate and easy to use. I have weighed my cat before a vet visit and then at the vet's office, and the difference was only 1 oz. So, fairly close. And of course, for weighing at home, the only really important part is the difference over any given period of time. If my scale is 1 oz higher than the vet scale, it will still be 1 oz higher when I weigh him again in few days, a week, or a month. So, it is still accurate for any weight gains or losses. In my case, I was checking an elderly cat who wasn't eating well. So, it helped me to see if he was keeping steady, gaining any, or losing again. If you are trying to detect small changes, a human scale is useless. And doing the weigh yourself routine with the cat is worse than useless. You could end up with a weight that is a pound too high or a pound too low. A huge range that won't help when weighing a cat. |
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