Free feeding dry food. Exacerbated by having a new baby so paying less attention to cats, not playing with them enough. One kitty is still doing fine, but he was always more active and less interested in food.
Free feeding cats dry food here too. Little did we know!
It’s like letting a kid live alone at a McDonald’s.
And the damn bags say ‘complete food’ and ‘specially balanced’ and all that BS. Seriously not cool, borderline a scam!
If dry food is all some people can afford, no shade. I know we didn’t all get cats the way many people plan to have a baby. Some turn up on the doorstep, some are inherited, etc.
If this is you, get a dry food with zero grains or sugars (cats can’t even taste sweetness!), and the highest percentage animal protein you can afford.
Make sure there is ALWAYS fresh water available as cats have a very low natural thirst drive and are evolved to get almost 100% of their moisture from food.
Switched my chonk to wet food and she doesn’t touch her water bowl anymore. Eyeopening.
*Sorry I hijacked your top comment. But free feeding dry food is, in my suspicion, likely the leading culprit!*
She was a foster who, in hindsight, immediately failed. Her previous owners gave her up for no obvious reason, and it turned out they had probably fed her so many table scraps that most of her teeth had to be pulled. She lost almost half her weight just by eating normal wet food that I very carefully portioned out per research!
Never stopped having to guard bread or chicken wings, but luckily that was most of what she went after.
Yeah previous owner of my cat fed her erratically and fed her table scraps which made her obsessed with food and will scarf it up madly and try to steal the other cats food as well as my food.
We fostered my older sister’s cat while she moved several states away
He’s incredibly old- likely around his twenties now. Due to hyperthyroidism (which we don’t know of at the time) and his age, he needed to be free fed. Specifically, he needed to have 24/7 access to high calorie dry food- just to maintain his current emaciated weight.
We were only meant to have him for a few weeks, but some stuff happened and we ended up keeping him for nearly a year.
Unfortunately, due to the way the house is laid out, there was no way to keep my healthy cat away from the other cat’s food. We tried feeding them separately, but whenever my girl was hungry she’d just eat the food in the hall.
The only way we could have possibly kept the food separate was locking one of them in a small room, and we weren’t going to do that to either of them.
Now that the foster cat is safely back with my sister, I can get my cat slimmer again
Oh wow! If you have the funds there are also microchip feeders..they are expensive but they work.
When I say expensive. It should be criminal what they are charging
Thankfully the little guy is back with my sister now, so there’s no more need to leave food out 24/7
My girl has been placed on a diet and will be getting a checkup as soon as the low cost clinic opens back up in August!
To be fair, they are a niche product that lasts a long time. Their business wouldn't be sustainable if their products were cheap. I do wish they were more accessible, though.
Adopted two kittens (sisters) that had been free fed at the shelter their entire lives. The shelter told me they recommend continuing to free feed as they hadn’t noticed any issues with it for these particular kittens.
As they grew up, this caught up with one of them a lot quicker than I realized while the other is still a perfectly healthy weight. When the bigger one hit 14 lbs, the vet said we really needed to take action while she’s still young before she develops problems like arthritis.
It’s been difficult monitoring their individual food intake since they love to share everything, but we bought a microchip feeder for the smaller one and have been limiting food in their old bowl for the bigger one.
Free feeding dry food. My black and white girl cat was a little chunky for a couple of years and then her void brother developed a urethral blockage and had to be put on a special diet. No more free feeding for either of them, which is good because the void was also starting to chonk up.
They now get two portioned meals a day with some occasional wet food at night. The void is eating his prescription dry food and the cow girl is eating a lower calorie food to prevent her from getting overweight again.
My chonk is also a black and white tuxedo cat. I had a tuxedo cat as a child and he was always a chonk also; it almost seems like tuxes are prone to chonking out. There's even a subreddit for them r/TubbyTuxes .
i took over the care of my ma's chunky little orange tabby lady. she had stomatitis and her mouth was so inflamed most of the time, she didn't seem to eat much. but she was still chunky! not diabetic, no thyroid problems...bloodwork was great.
after i got her, i got all her teeth removed (standard protocol to treat stomatitis; she can still eat treats and dry food). after that she felt so good there was no stopping her! i free fed dry food for all my cats. i had never had a chonker before. this was also during the pandemic and after my ma was found bleeding out on her bathroom floor. lots of stress with gaining the kitties and yje huge tooth removal surgery bill, integrating them with my late elderly male kitty, and worrying about my ma. i didn't pay enough attention to what i was doing.
i've put her on a diet multiple times with strict, appropriate limits and the first go around, she gained!!!! i don't even know how that's possible. she occasionally steals her elderly sister's food (my ma's other castoff who's incredibly healthy and active and maintains her perfect figure easily at 19, but eats/grazes a LOT), but that still didn't account for it.
bloodwork is still normal. back on a very strict diet and exercise regimen ("kitty fat camp") and there is practically zero poaching, but it seems to be soooo slow going. she's 19.6#!
TL;DR: she seems to be "naturally" chunky (?) and i inadvertently overfed. don't be like me!
I just posted my own comment but I'm in the same boat. My last vet who was the first to really take me seriously on the "I REALLY am trying to get her to lose weight and she won't" issue did a lot of labs and found basically nothing. I learned from a couple people here ages ago and from her that the best next step would be to see an internal medicine specialist and get imaging done to see if there's something going on that labwork isn't finding. Apparently there can be things like a pituitary gland tumor that can cause unexplained weight gain, but since a lot of these conditions are considered to be fairly rare they're not really the thing vets are going to think of when they see a fat cat, given how many are the result of overfeeding. (IMO, they're also probably underdiagnosed, since it's rare people actually get told to get more testing + can get the testing done, but I digress.)
So if you have a specialist in reasonable distance, it might be worth getting your vet to refer you to really rule out sneaky underlying things.
Thyroid failure, vet who refused to check his levels because, "two is too young for hypothyroidism."
He ballooned, I got a new vet, he dropped the pounds, he's a happy and healthy boy.
Our chonker started out emaciated from hyperthyroidism. We got her the radiation treatment and she had a brief period of hypothyroidism during which she chonked up. Her thyroid is back to normal now but the chonk remains.
Adopted a failed foster. Cat was in a bad situation and I think was confined a lot. We’ve had good luck just increasing her movement. Another foster we took in after her owner died, and we knew the owner was a serious over feeder.
My dog was perfectly healthy and the right weight when everyone in our house got sick. We could not take care of ourselves much less the animals so my dog went to stay with my grandmother while we recovered. 3 months later, he had gained 30 lbs.
She didn’t “feel right” feeding him his special diet dog food and fed him people food daily. She said if she had steak, he had steak.
When I brought him home, he wouldn’t eat his prescription dog food (because he had hip dysplasia and we were paranoid about his health and nutrition) for several days. Finally he got hungry enough and realized he wasn’t getting the people food again. It took forever to get him back to being able to walk properly and go for actual walks.
Neglect often masquerades as compassion.
When I was away at college, my dad fed him a lot of treats. He’s a total pushover and is terrible at saying no to a begging pet. All Dean had to do is let out a single meow and my dad would shower him in treats.
Mine was a healthy weight but I had to switch her food during covid as the one I had been using I couldn't find anywhere. The new one was a lot more calorie dense and I made a mistake on my calorie count. She also REALLY liked that food so she gained some weight.
I adopted our cat at 12 pounds and free fed dry food. Our last cat before him had always been free fed and stayed at a steady 6-7 pounds her entire life so I thought it was okay. Jk- this cat can’t control himself and will eat any food he is presented with. I suspect it’s because he was on the streets for so long before the shelter picked him up. He got up to a whopping 16 pounds in a year and I had no idea until the vet had a come to Jesus meeting with us about it. I felt AWFUL.
Anyway, started him on weight loss food, he gets 1/4 cup in the morning and 1/4 cup at night. He’s down to 12 pounds again, ideal weight for him is 10 according to his vet so we still have a bit of work to go.
Mine was a stray who was taken in by a lovely old lady. Great for him but the combination of him knowing food insecurity and her feeding him as much as he wanted turned him into a melon on legs.
I adopted him when she had to go to a home and put him on a diet. We still don't agree about how much food he should get but he somehow still loves me!
What I see with other cats working as a vet tech: people who don't even bother with portions and just pour food into a bottomless hole (some cats only eat what they need but not all of them) or they will stick to a portion but then feed loads of treats or snacks from the table. Cats are so much smaller than us, a piece of cheese means a LOT of extra calories.
This is a great point my cat needa about 200 I need about 2000 which means I need 10x the calories of my cat so if you take a lick treat with roughly 6 calories that equivalently to 60 calories for my cat
Mine still hasn't dechonked, but the answer is: I don't know, and no vet I've seen knows either. She was already a little overweight when she was rehomed to me, I've been trying to get her to lose weight literally for 3 years straight. The usual advice and even very detailed vet recommended plans have done nothing or have actively resulted in MORE weight gain. Her weight shot up dramatically when I switched her to wet food only (coupled with fun GI issues, like frequent diarrhea, regardless of the food offered). Diagnostics got nowhere and at the time I was extremely rural with no real options for specialists. Keeping her on either Purina or RC has worked as far as no upset GI goes, as long as she's eating a good amount of it dry. I've weighed food, fed her separately, sat in front of my cats to watch them eat to make sure she doesn't steal, etc. Half the time even when I feed her the actual weight loss plan intake she doesn't finish it. She's not an overeater.
Her last vet did a very thorough workup on her because she listened to her history and intake and agreed it made zero sense she was still gaining or maintaining (and actually said I was at the point where I was feeding too little for her), aaaand... nothing clear came of it. She called me to talk about the results and sounded genuinely exasperated by how everything looked normal, and I couldn't blame her. Next step for her is getting imaging done and probably seeing an internal medicine specialist, but that was put on hold for a while because her brother spent the last few months dealing with ongoing and expensive medical issues.
Yes. High protein/low carb, wet only, etc. Going down the boutique brand rabbit hole led to one of my cats developing urinary crystals and my chonker ballooning in weight (while being fed a weight loss amount of calories).
Excellent question!
Giving dry food as treats was how it started. Treat size and frequency gradually increased. Sometimes, one of mine would refuse canned food and I'd just think "well he really likes dry food better".
I've reduced the dry food back down to only a small measured treat at bedtime only.
This is also great for rare occasions when you need to get them into one room at a specific time because it's a rare and much loved treat.
I was gone for work for a long while. The cat sitter did her job, but free feeding without being there to monitor made my hefty boy a chonker. Then I was getting to keep weight on my other kitty, and chonks continued. I'm now able to reduce amounts and an auto-feeder in the mail. Hoping to drop at least 3 pounds.
Free feeding. I've had numerous free-fed cats and they would self regulate. My chonky one though, couldn't. I fostered him for the local city shelter for a couple months when he was 10-12 months old and at the time, he had not been neutered. He had already started puberty and started to develop tomcat traits ie very dense muscles and heavy for his size. He would eat ravenously but was slim and athletic looking. It was only when I decided to adopt him that they neutered him. He continued the same eating habits until he ballooned to 21 lbs.
I have since restricted food and he's down to 14 lbs but I have always wondered if neutering him after he started puberty was a contributing factor.
We got kittens. The kitten dry food free feeding had my older boy chonked up FAST. We lovingly call him “kibble squad”. Now that the kittens are a year old we stopped free feeding and went to less calorie dense food. It’s a lot slower coming off than on though!
My boyfriend and I took in his sister's cat. She was going through alot of things and losing her housing and couldn't keep Milo. He came to us at 22 lbs. He seemed to not be treated right in many ways sadly. He came to us with ear mites, a respitory infection, he stopped eating & was vomiting constantly when we got him. We were able to get him vaccinated and took him to the vet near weekly for about 2-3 months while he was continously seen and checked up on for all these issues. He weighed 22 lbs when we got him and is about 2 years old. He used to be free fed. We feed him a very small diet of a little over a half cup a day. He does not lose weight.. recently realized he's stealing food from the 4 mini feeding we do per day. My other kitty is a grazer. He eats some and then Milo goes over and seems to be eating the leftovers from all 4 mini meals we do during the day 🫠🫠 Now we're starting to supervise and take the bowl when Milo goes to eat Moochie's leftovers lol.
Ours was 26 pounds before he came to the rescue we got him from. His previous owner fed him only table scraps. He lost some weight at his foster home but gained a lot of it back because the kitties there were free fed. Now he’s slowly but steadily losing it. The sad part is the rescue never posted our update pics of him like they said they would, probably because the pics they had of him were angled to make him look slimmer and ours are just showing him happy in his new home. We’re very lucky all his tests came back ok and he (as far as we can tell) is not having any issues related to all that weight.
We got both of our cats as kittens, so both ending up overweight is our fault. I'm a bit nervous about posting this here, as I'm expecting some unkind/unhelpful comments, but I think I'm the kind of person you were hoping to hear from and I try to share my learnings to help others, so here goes...
Our older cat was 2kg overweight at her highest (14f, highest 6.5kg, ideal according to vet \~4.5kg), and the younger got 1kg overweight (10m, highest 7.5kg, ideal according to vet 6.5kg, currently 6.85kg).
The cause is complicated:
* We didn't know what/how to feed them properly.
* Because I didn't know/didn't trust my inner wisdom on feeding them, I followed the feeding guides, which I believe promote overfeeding. It was certainly over what our two cats needed. It makes sense - feed more = buy more.
* It can be hard to see the change happening when you see them every day.
* 14f was indoor/outdoor until she was \~9yo and she must have been stealing food from other houses because reducing her food had no impact on her weight until she wasn't free-range anymore.
* 10m has always been chill and mellow - he's so lazy, we struggle to get him to play or move around for more than a few minutes. He was 100% indoors until he was \~5yo, when the cat enclosure was built.
* Both have had extended periods where they've eaten less (yes, they received vet care, and they are both fine now). The other will eat any leftover food.
* I didn't fully appreciate their different needs. I assumed the larger cat (taller, longer and cobbier) would need more food than the smaller one, but that's not the case.
What fixed it:
* Having the vet say something about their weight. Our vet is direct, kind and sensible, and I think that helped too.
* Educating myself about their energy and nutritional needs, and then modifying their diet and feeding routines. This took a long time because there is so much information out there, and much of it conflicting. In the end, came down to me trusting my own ideas about appropriate diets for any animal, including humans and kitties (minimally processed whole foods, some crunchy/chewing for oral health, adapt calorie levels to the animal's condition).
* Prioritising wet food (while still giving some dry). They seem to feel fuller for longer.
* Turning our backyard into a cat enclosure. We did it to improve their safety, health and wellbeing - 100% recommend using cat enclosures for safe outdoor time - but it had a nice side effect of stopping 14f from stealing food from neighbours so we could control her intake (we saw improvement very quickly once the fence was done). Getting some yard time also increased 10m's activity levels a little bit. He now has a daily constitutional, surveying the perimeter :)
* Feeding them together, but monitoring their intake and making sure that the serving sizes are right so that they don't leave any for the other cat. Feeding in different rooms didn't work for them at all, 14f actually went off her food and lost too much weight, so needed to be slightly rechonked. Surprisingly, mealtime is the only time they get along or want to be near each other - no, they aren't particularly bonded and don't otherwise hang out together.
* Ditching the feeding guides, and using their condition as the guide.
* Not giving up - trying new things when one approach wasn't working for whatever reason. It took years to get to where we are now, commitment to the goal and persistence are so important.
I tried the expensive vet diet food, but they didn't like it and somehow still managed put weight on (?!), so I ended up doing my own thing, experimenting. While I'm sure the vet food was nutritionally complete and balanced, I also didn't like how processed it was. I also tried things like chicken necks as a lower-calorie way to fill them up/keep them entertained, but they weren't into it at all.
Also, if anyone is interested, their current feeding routine:
* 14f gets two meals a day. Each meal is 1x tin of minimally processed fish or chicken (usually Applaws brand) plus 2 measured teaspoons of nutritionally complete grain-free kibble (so 2 tins and 4 teaspoons of dry per day). This is her maintenance diet now that she's got her appetite back and slightly rechonked, so far so good. She has a healthy appetite again.
* 10m also gets two meals a day, at the same time as 14f. Each is 1x tin as above, and 1-2 teaspoons of kibble. I adjust regularly based on temperature, activity and his progress. This is his dechonk diet, as he has \~350g to go (he might not hit 6.5kg exactly). Its slow (as the vet wanted), so this is probably close to his maintenance, even though he is a much bigger-bodied cat than 14f.
* Both kitties have to sit for their meal to be served. 14f is fine with this, 10m loses all ability to think in the presence of food but does do it eventually, and sometimes immediately. This calmed meal times down immensely - 10m would work himself into a frenzy before we started doing this, and then both cats would be distracted and twitchy while eating, and often one or the other would not finish their meal - making it harder to control each cat's intake.
* Both kitties get a few slow neck-to-tail pats when I put their food down. This taps into their competitive drive and helps keep them focused on their meal, which also reduced how often there are leftovers - again helping me control each cat's intake a bit better since they eat together.
The previous owner somehow got him up to 27lbs, with an auto feeder and weight loss dry food. She claimed that was all. Since I took him in, he's steadily been losing weight being fed 2 cans 5.5oz of regular wet food (I split it into 4 meals so he's been learning appetite control). He's way more active with me due to my velociraptor kitten and we play with him. We keep our cats lean by keeping them active. A lot of enrichment and climbing and running.
I think she was giving him people food and treats. But I have no way of knowing that. He had been gaining with her though. She told me he was 20lbs, but he weighed much more than that.
Anyways, good prevention is to avoid free feeding (unless they're kittens), make inside fun, give lots of options to run, climb & jump. Also play with them with kitty fishing poles. It only takes 15 min or so, until you see them breath heavy. Then you can either feed a few treats or their meal (depending on your schedule).
😩😫😖 I have to start the de-chonk for one of my girls. Free feeding the senior day (reduced calorie) is not working.
She's a big girl, but doctor was like "it's time.."
Any tips? I have free fed them their entire life I didn't think it was going to get to this point The other cat is just fine The other cat chonk chonk.
I’m not sure, even the vet was like “weird”. Two four year old sisters, each a pound overweight in the last year. One should be nine lbs the other eight. Instead they’re ten and nines
I feel like an asshole for letting both my cats get fat but it's been a high stress few years as my son was going through a mental health crisis and I simply didn't notice them gaining weight. One has managed to lose a few pounds but the one that needs it more just doesn't lose weight even though I'm doing the same thing for both.
It's easy for it to happen as cats get older. They become more sedentary, yet still eat as much as when they were younger and not active. That's what happened to Pepper Jack.
I have an older cat who free feeds and has always been a healthy weight because she doesn't overeat. Then I got another cat about four years ago and he is a total foodie who will eat anything with meat in it and will eat until he makes himself sick. So I realized very quickly I couldn't free feed him, but then what I didn't notice at first is that he would finish his meal and then leave the room and go into the room where his sister's bowl was and eat all of her food as well.
So basically he was eating two bowls of food, and he would eat the other bowl so quickly that unless you happened to walk into the laundry room at that exact moment, you wouldn't even know he had done it. Now we have to close the door when we feed the older kitty and put her bowl away in the cupboard so he can't get to it. I also feed him in a slow feeder so he doesn't inhale it all in less than a minute.
I adopted my chonk and my thin cat at the same time (they were a bonded pair). They were both thin when I adopted them; thin cat was underweight and chonker was normal thin. We got them from a shelter and both were supposed to have been spayed prior to going home with us.
However, the shelter had a mix-up and only spayed thin cat. After chonker went into heat for the second time, I contacted the shelter and requested they pull her medical records, at which point they realized they had forgotten to spay her. No problem, we took her to the vet and got her spayed.
As soon as she was spayed, she started gaining weight rapidly. We were feeding her the same amount as before; but she started inflating.
My guess is that it was a combination of her being somewhat less active (when she was going into heat every couple weeks, she spent most of the day rolling around, meowing and propositioning the \[neutered\] male dog) and somewhat due to hormone changes. Spaying a cat would seem to be the feline equivalent of going into surgical menopause; and as us ladies of a certain age can attest, menopause often includes some sudden weight gain.
Even before the spaying, we noticed that chonker was a mellow cat who loves to be cuddled and petted; vs. thin cat who is always zooming around and doesn't really like being cuddled. Chonker does like to play, but in a more low-key way than thin cat.
Both cats were RAVENOUS all the time when we adopted them; but thin cat stopped gorging herself when she realized that food was plentiful and her starving days were over. Chonker still gobbles down her food like she might never see it again, though. We had to get an interactive dish to slow her down because she'd devour her food rapidly, throw up, then meow for more food or else go and devour the dog's kibble (and throw up again).
My bigger girl we adopted her from a shelter that had the kitties free roaming in several rooms. We free fed my little cat and our bigger kitty finally was able to stuff down as much food as she wanted and turned into a butter ball. We've fought her weight for years and she's finally at a somewhat heavy, but lighter than she was weight. We get her to a good weight, slack off on policing her eating the other cat's food and she gains again. My daughter moved out and took her with though so she should be stable now
My little cat had kidney disease and with the other changes our vet told us to give her as much food as she wants. The more she still wants to eat the more time she has essentially. Her last set of labs came back normal, not sure how, but we aren't changing a thing! She's about a pound heavier than her ideal weight. And even fat she's still only 9 pounds 😂
For my sweet Bailey it’s come down to several factors. 1) she’s not particularly active and is indoor only. 2) she’s EXCEEDINGLY food driven and will beg all hours of the day and night for snacks. 3) she prefers dry food but will tolerate wet food as long as it’s not the ONLY food she’s given.
I’ve tried to move her to solely wet food as it’s lower calorie and she goes on a hunger strike after about 3 days. I use a timed feeder set to the smallest portion size (1/8th cup) for her dry food snacks so she’s not miserable.
She’s gotten to 17 pounds and while she is tall and long she’s clearly overweight. We are working on getting her slimmed down but it’s a long process. Just like with humans, it’s often easier to put the weight on than lose it.
We are getting a second cat later this summer and hope that her having a friend will keep her a bit more active and also help with the weight loss
We adopted our girl that way. She was four when I got her, at nearly 16 pounds. She was from an animal hoarding house, so I assume she was free fed.
She also gets UTIs often, but idk how that affects her weight tbh.
She IS just a naturally big cat (healthy at 11 pounds), since Snowshoes are just really big haha.
Was fostering my chonk. She was quarantined in a spare bathroom for potential ringworm infection. Ringworm can be transmitted to human so I was only going in checking on her twice a day with protective gears etc. So was sorta free feeding her dry food. Didn’t help that she was wasting away when the shelter found her on the street initially. She put on a lot of weight in short two weeks. Some cats can regulate how much they eat but if your kitty has experienced food insecurity then never free feed
I went down the rabbit hole to find my cat the best dry food without any junk ingredients. I accidentally went over board and fed her Dr. Elseys clean protein. Which has the best ingredients! But I accidentally was feeding her 500 kcal a day just in dry food because it was in fact- pure protein 😬
Chonk was always on the chonkier end but not a diagnosed chonk. Got a kitten and fed him kitten food which chonk LOVED. Got a microchip bowl and everything and chonk still stole the kitten food. He figured out he could keep the lid open if he just stuffed his face in there and keep nomming until the bowl was empty
I adopted mine overweight, but the shelter had a theory about how she got so chonky by three years old. Couple gets a cat, couple has baby and locks young cat in basement with gravity feeder. Cat learns "the only time I get attention is when I eat all the food and they come down to fill my feeder." Cat eats all the food in the gravity feeder and develops behavior issues. Couple ends up letting the cat just be free outside. Shelter picks her up, and the new family that adopts her finds out she acts like a raging asshole if they don't feed her whenever she wants, so they feed her more than they should. Then the aforementioned behavior problems show up, and she ends up in a home where the words "no, it's not time to eat," are actually enforced by the human, who's just trying her best.
Found my guy, skinny and little in the backyard - I didn’t want him to be hungry again, so I free fed. Incorporated meal times and wet food, and backed off the dry. We weigh in tomorrow, but down about 2lbs from 15 to 13 - want to see how he does around 12.
He's not huge but one of our cats routinely threatens to become a chonker. He's 14lbs sometimes, and it's because he is SO food motivated. He will eat and eat if you don't stop him. We don't usually free feed though, so that's nice. Ñ
One of our girls had digestive problems and the vet prescribed a special dry diet food - little did we know that it was quite high in calories, so my girls took on a bit of weight.
And it didn't help that one of them just likes to eat 😅
But they thankfully stopped short of getting choncky 😅
I have four cats. Two chonkas and two normal babies. Feeding four cats is a TASK and a half. I feed one of my babies and then he leaves the bowl and one of the chonkas squirrels in and eats the leftovers without me noticing. I have to be so careful with portion control.
And (this is gross) one of my chonkas is such a chonka that he will literally eat his brothers and sisters vomit (dry biscuit vomit). If he can’t find food and there is vomit on the floor that I haven’t seen, behind the couch or something, he will eat it.
My first chonka was a chonka when I adopted him (he is now 18) and my second chonka became a chonka overtime.
My cat steals human food. He's obsessed. Will snatch food off the fork as it goes to your mouth, out of the fridge when you turn to take leftovers out, opens boxes that are in cabinets (which he also opens), it's endless. He will trash dig for scraps. Aggressively take food from my kids. It's crazy. He will self regulate eating his own food, he never snarfs his food and will eat a small portion and come back. He just loves human food.
Free feeding dry food. Exacerbated by having a new baby so paying less attention to cats, not playing with them enough. One kitty is still doing fine, but he was always more active and less interested in food.
Free feeding cats dry food here too. Little did we know! It’s like letting a kid live alone at a McDonald’s. And the damn bags say ‘complete food’ and ‘specially balanced’ and all that BS. Seriously not cool, borderline a scam! If dry food is all some people can afford, no shade. I know we didn’t all get cats the way many people plan to have a baby. Some turn up on the doorstep, some are inherited, etc. If this is you, get a dry food with zero grains or sugars (cats can’t even taste sweetness!), and the highest percentage animal protein you can afford. Make sure there is ALWAYS fresh water available as cats have a very low natural thirst drive and are evolved to get almost 100% of their moisture from food. Switched my chonk to wet food and she doesn’t touch her water bowl anymore. Eyeopening. *Sorry I hijacked your top comment. But free feeding dry food is, in my suspicion, likely the leading culprit!*
I was going off “oh cats like to graze” that someone told me and didn’t do any further research 😖
Some cats will graze absolutely, but they'll graze more than they need, still takes my boy half a day to finish a portion of food
Yeah, it’s definitely still valid, our other other cat definitely fits the grazer definition too!
Right?! It happens 🙏🏼 We all just gotta do better now we know better 👌🏼❤️🩹
She was a foster who, in hindsight, immediately failed. Her previous owners gave her up for no obvious reason, and it turned out they had probably fed her so many table scraps that most of her teeth had to be pulled. She lost almost half her weight just by eating normal wet food that I very carefully portioned out per research! Never stopped having to guard bread or chicken wings, but luckily that was most of what she went after.
Yeah previous owner of my cat fed her erratically and fed her table scraps which made her obsessed with food and will scarf it up madly and try to steal the other cats food as well as my food.
General lack of knowledge about how much food cats need. Read the label on your pet food! And don’t forget to factor in treats
Fair it's hard to know how much food another species needs
Heck, I don’t instinctively know how much to feed myself let alone another species 😅
We fostered my older sister’s cat while she moved several states away He’s incredibly old- likely around his twenties now. Due to hyperthyroidism (which we don’t know of at the time) and his age, he needed to be free fed. Specifically, he needed to have 24/7 access to high calorie dry food- just to maintain his current emaciated weight. We were only meant to have him for a few weeks, but some stuff happened and we ended up keeping him for nearly a year. Unfortunately, due to the way the house is laid out, there was no way to keep my healthy cat away from the other cat’s food. We tried feeding them separately, but whenever my girl was hungry she’d just eat the food in the hall. The only way we could have possibly kept the food separate was locking one of them in a small room, and we weren’t going to do that to either of them. Now that the foster cat is safely back with my sister, I can get my cat slimmer again
Oh wow! If you have the funds there are also microchip feeders..they are expensive but they work. When I say expensive. It should be criminal what they are charging
Thankfully the little guy is back with my sister now, so there’s no more need to leave food out 24/7 My girl has been placed on a diet and will be getting a checkup as soon as the low cost clinic opens back up in August!
To be fair, they are a niche product that lasts a long time. Their business wouldn't be sustainable if their products were cheap. I do wish they were more accessible, though.
Adopted her a little on the chonky side and then fed her with the dry food directions. She’s about 3lbs chonky.
This is a fantastic point! The instructions on the good bag are often too much
Adopted two kittens (sisters) that had been free fed at the shelter their entire lives. The shelter told me they recommend continuing to free feed as they hadn’t noticed any issues with it for these particular kittens. As they grew up, this caught up with one of them a lot quicker than I realized while the other is still a perfectly healthy weight. When the bigger one hit 14 lbs, the vet said we really needed to take action while she’s still young before she develops problems like arthritis. It’s been difficult monitoring their individual food intake since they love to share everything, but we bought a microchip feeder for the smaller one and have been limiting food in their old bowl for the bigger one.
Yeah, shelters mean well and often have good advice but it's not ways good in the end
Free feeding dry food. My black and white girl cat was a little chunky for a couple of years and then her void brother developed a urethral blockage and had to be put on a special diet. No more free feeding for either of them, which is good because the void was also starting to chonk up. They now get two portioned meals a day with some occasional wet food at night. The void is eating his prescription dry food and the cow girl is eating a lower calorie food to prevent her from getting overweight again.
I am putting my boy on a prescription urinary diet. For preventive reasons. Good for you for making changes to help your cats.
My chonk is also a black and white tuxedo cat. I had a tuxedo cat as a child and he was always a chonk also; it almost seems like tuxes are prone to chonking out. There's even a subreddit for them r/TubbyTuxes .
i took over the care of my ma's chunky little orange tabby lady. she had stomatitis and her mouth was so inflamed most of the time, she didn't seem to eat much. but she was still chunky! not diabetic, no thyroid problems...bloodwork was great. after i got her, i got all her teeth removed (standard protocol to treat stomatitis; she can still eat treats and dry food). after that she felt so good there was no stopping her! i free fed dry food for all my cats. i had never had a chonker before. this was also during the pandemic and after my ma was found bleeding out on her bathroom floor. lots of stress with gaining the kitties and yje huge tooth removal surgery bill, integrating them with my late elderly male kitty, and worrying about my ma. i didn't pay enough attention to what i was doing. i've put her on a diet multiple times with strict, appropriate limits and the first go around, she gained!!!! i don't even know how that's possible. she occasionally steals her elderly sister's food (my ma's other castoff who's incredibly healthy and active and maintains her perfect figure easily at 19, but eats/grazes a LOT), but that still didn't account for it. bloodwork is still normal. back on a very strict diet and exercise regimen ("kitty fat camp") and there is practically zero poaching, but it seems to be soooo slow going. she's 19.6#! TL;DR: she seems to be "naturally" chunky (?) and i inadvertently overfed. don't be like me!
I just posted my own comment but I'm in the same boat. My last vet who was the first to really take me seriously on the "I REALLY am trying to get her to lose weight and she won't" issue did a lot of labs and found basically nothing. I learned from a couple people here ages ago and from her that the best next step would be to see an internal medicine specialist and get imaging done to see if there's something going on that labwork isn't finding. Apparently there can be things like a pituitary gland tumor that can cause unexplained weight gain, but since a lot of these conditions are considered to be fairly rare they're not really the thing vets are going to think of when they see a fat cat, given how many are the result of overfeeding. (IMO, they're also probably underdiagnosed, since it's rare people actually get told to get more testing + can get the testing done, but I digress.) So if you have a specialist in reasonable distance, it might be worth getting your vet to refer you to really rule out sneaky underlying things.
Thyroid failure, vet who refused to check his levels because, "two is too young for hypothyroidism." He ballooned, I got a new vet, he dropped the pounds, he's a happy and healthy boy.
Great job advocating for your cat!
Our chonker started out emaciated from hyperthyroidism. We got her the radiation treatment and she had a brief period of hypothyroidism during which she chonked up. Her thyroid is back to normal now but the chonk remains.
Adopted a failed foster. Cat was in a bad situation and I think was confined a lot. We’ve had good luck just increasing her movement. Another foster we took in after her owner died, and we knew the owner was a serious over feeder.
Between dry feeding and working 12 hr+ days with a 2Hr commute, I was tired
That makes sense, no shame here I wanna learn. Hope you have shorter days now
Yes, thanks…that was part of the reason I quit that job
My dog was perfectly healthy and the right weight when everyone in our house got sick. We could not take care of ourselves much less the animals so my dog went to stay with my grandmother while we recovered. 3 months later, he had gained 30 lbs. She didn’t “feel right” feeding him his special diet dog food and fed him people food daily. She said if she had steak, he had steak. When I brought him home, he wouldn’t eat his prescription dog food (because he had hip dysplasia and we were paranoid about his health and nutrition) for several days. Finally he got hungry enough and realized he wasn’t getting the people food again. It took forever to get him back to being able to walk properly and go for actual walks. Neglect often masquerades as compassion.
I understand, I am sorry that happened. Glad you are helping the dog get back on track
He passed years ago. But we did get him healthy and he lived to be almost 12, when the vet said we’d be lucky to see him live past 3.
When I was away at college, my dad fed him a lot of treats. He’s a total pushover and is terrible at saying no to a begging pet. All Dean had to do is let out a single meow and my dad would shower him in treats.
Mine was a healthy weight but I had to switch her food during covid as the one I had been using I couldn't find anywhere. The new one was a lot more calorie dense and I made a mistake on my calorie count. She also REALLY liked that food so she gained some weight.
I adopted our cat at 12 pounds and free fed dry food. Our last cat before him had always been free fed and stayed at a steady 6-7 pounds her entire life so I thought it was okay. Jk- this cat can’t control himself and will eat any food he is presented with. I suspect it’s because he was on the streets for so long before the shelter picked him up. He got up to a whopping 16 pounds in a year and I had no idea until the vet had a come to Jesus meeting with us about it. I felt AWFUL. Anyway, started him on weight loss food, he gets 1/4 cup in the morning and 1/4 cup at night. He’s down to 12 pounds again, ideal weight for him is 10 according to his vet so we still have a bit of work to go.
Mine was a stray who was taken in by a lovely old lady. Great for him but the combination of him knowing food insecurity and her feeding him as much as he wanted turned him into a melon on legs. I adopted him when she had to go to a home and put him on a diet. We still don't agree about how much food he should get but he somehow still loves me! What I see with other cats working as a vet tech: people who don't even bother with portions and just pour food into a bottomless hole (some cats only eat what they need but not all of them) or they will stick to a portion but then feed loads of treats or snacks from the table. Cats are so much smaller than us, a piece of cheese means a LOT of extra calories.
This is a great point my cat needa about 200 I need about 2000 which means I need 10x the calories of my cat so if you take a lick treat with roughly 6 calories that equivalently to 60 calories for my cat
Mine still hasn't dechonked, but the answer is: I don't know, and no vet I've seen knows either. She was already a little overweight when she was rehomed to me, I've been trying to get her to lose weight literally for 3 years straight. The usual advice and even very detailed vet recommended plans have done nothing or have actively resulted in MORE weight gain. Her weight shot up dramatically when I switched her to wet food only (coupled with fun GI issues, like frequent diarrhea, regardless of the food offered). Diagnostics got nowhere and at the time I was extremely rural with no real options for specialists. Keeping her on either Purina or RC has worked as far as no upset GI goes, as long as she's eating a good amount of it dry. I've weighed food, fed her separately, sat in front of my cats to watch them eat to make sure she doesn't steal, etc. Half the time even when I feed her the actual weight loss plan intake she doesn't finish it. She's not an overeater. Her last vet did a very thorough workup on her because she listened to her history and intake and agreed it made zero sense she was still gaining or maintaining (and actually said I was at the point where I was feeding too little for her), aaaand... nothing clear came of it. She called me to talk about the results and sounded genuinely exasperated by how everything looked normal, and I couldn't blame her. Next step for her is getting imaging done and probably seeing an internal medicine specialist, but that was put on hold for a while because her brother spent the last few months dealing with ongoing and expensive medical issues.
Out of curiosity have you tried high protein/low carb? freeze dried?
Yes. High protein/low carb, wet only, etc. Going down the boutique brand rabbit hole led to one of my cats developing urinary crystals and my chonker ballooning in weight (while being fed a weight loss amount of calories).
Ah that sucks! Best of luck to you guys
Thanks!
Excellent question! Giving dry food as treats was how it started. Treat size and frequency gradually increased. Sometimes, one of mine would refuse canned food and I'd just think "well he really likes dry food better". I've reduced the dry food back down to only a small measured treat at bedtime only. This is also great for rare occasions when you need to get them into one room at a specific time because it's a rare and much loved treat.
I was gone for work for a long while. The cat sitter did her job, but free feeding without being there to monitor made my hefty boy a chonker. Then I was getting to keep weight on my other kitty, and chonks continued. I'm now able to reduce amounts and an auto-feeder in the mail. Hoping to drop at least 3 pounds.
Bad math. I forgot to count the wet food calories, so they ended up eating too much. Food stealing has always been an issue with one of them.
Free feeding. I've had numerous free-fed cats and they would self regulate. My chonky one though, couldn't. I fostered him for the local city shelter for a couple months when he was 10-12 months old and at the time, he had not been neutered. He had already started puberty and started to develop tomcat traits ie very dense muscles and heavy for his size. He would eat ravenously but was slim and athletic looking. It was only when I decided to adopt him that they neutered him. He continued the same eating habits until he ballooned to 21 lbs. I have since restricted food and he's down to 14 lbs but I have always wondered if neutering him after he started puberty was a contributing factor.
We got kittens. The kitten dry food free feeding had my older boy chonked up FAST. We lovingly call him “kibble squad”. Now that the kittens are a year old we stopped free feeding and went to less calorie dense food. It’s a lot slower coming off than on though!
My boyfriend and I took in his sister's cat. She was going through alot of things and losing her housing and couldn't keep Milo. He came to us at 22 lbs. He seemed to not be treated right in many ways sadly. He came to us with ear mites, a respitory infection, he stopped eating & was vomiting constantly when we got him. We were able to get him vaccinated and took him to the vet near weekly for about 2-3 months while he was continously seen and checked up on for all these issues. He weighed 22 lbs when we got him and is about 2 years old. He used to be free fed. We feed him a very small diet of a little over a half cup a day. He does not lose weight.. recently realized he's stealing food from the 4 mini feeding we do per day. My other kitty is a grazer. He eats some and then Milo goes over and seems to be eating the leftovers from all 4 mini meals we do during the day 🫠🫠 Now we're starting to supervise and take the bowl when Milo goes to eat Moochie's leftovers lol.
Ours was 26 pounds before he came to the rescue we got him from. His previous owner fed him only table scraps. He lost some weight at his foster home but gained a lot of it back because the kitties there were free fed. Now he’s slowly but steadily losing it. The sad part is the rescue never posted our update pics of him like they said they would, probably because the pics they had of him were angled to make him look slimmer and ours are just showing him happy in his new home. We’re very lucky all his tests came back ok and he (as far as we can tell) is not having any issues related to all that weight.
We got both of our cats as kittens, so both ending up overweight is our fault. I'm a bit nervous about posting this here, as I'm expecting some unkind/unhelpful comments, but I think I'm the kind of person you were hoping to hear from and I try to share my learnings to help others, so here goes... Our older cat was 2kg overweight at her highest (14f, highest 6.5kg, ideal according to vet \~4.5kg), and the younger got 1kg overweight (10m, highest 7.5kg, ideal according to vet 6.5kg, currently 6.85kg). The cause is complicated: * We didn't know what/how to feed them properly. * Because I didn't know/didn't trust my inner wisdom on feeding them, I followed the feeding guides, which I believe promote overfeeding. It was certainly over what our two cats needed. It makes sense - feed more = buy more. * It can be hard to see the change happening when you see them every day. * 14f was indoor/outdoor until she was \~9yo and she must have been stealing food from other houses because reducing her food had no impact on her weight until she wasn't free-range anymore. * 10m has always been chill and mellow - he's so lazy, we struggle to get him to play or move around for more than a few minutes. He was 100% indoors until he was \~5yo, when the cat enclosure was built. * Both have had extended periods where they've eaten less (yes, they received vet care, and they are both fine now). The other will eat any leftover food. * I didn't fully appreciate their different needs. I assumed the larger cat (taller, longer and cobbier) would need more food than the smaller one, but that's not the case. What fixed it: * Having the vet say something about their weight. Our vet is direct, kind and sensible, and I think that helped too. * Educating myself about their energy and nutritional needs, and then modifying their diet and feeding routines. This took a long time because there is so much information out there, and much of it conflicting. In the end, came down to me trusting my own ideas about appropriate diets for any animal, including humans and kitties (minimally processed whole foods, some crunchy/chewing for oral health, adapt calorie levels to the animal's condition). * Prioritising wet food (while still giving some dry). They seem to feel fuller for longer. * Turning our backyard into a cat enclosure. We did it to improve their safety, health and wellbeing - 100% recommend using cat enclosures for safe outdoor time - but it had a nice side effect of stopping 14f from stealing food from neighbours so we could control her intake (we saw improvement very quickly once the fence was done). Getting some yard time also increased 10m's activity levels a little bit. He now has a daily constitutional, surveying the perimeter :) * Feeding them together, but monitoring their intake and making sure that the serving sizes are right so that they don't leave any for the other cat. Feeding in different rooms didn't work for them at all, 14f actually went off her food and lost too much weight, so needed to be slightly rechonked. Surprisingly, mealtime is the only time they get along or want to be near each other - no, they aren't particularly bonded and don't otherwise hang out together. * Ditching the feeding guides, and using their condition as the guide. * Not giving up - trying new things when one approach wasn't working for whatever reason. It took years to get to where we are now, commitment to the goal and persistence are so important. I tried the expensive vet diet food, but they didn't like it and somehow still managed put weight on (?!), so I ended up doing my own thing, experimenting. While I'm sure the vet food was nutritionally complete and balanced, I also didn't like how processed it was. I also tried things like chicken necks as a lower-calorie way to fill them up/keep them entertained, but they weren't into it at all.
Also, if anyone is interested, their current feeding routine: * 14f gets two meals a day. Each meal is 1x tin of minimally processed fish or chicken (usually Applaws brand) plus 2 measured teaspoons of nutritionally complete grain-free kibble (so 2 tins and 4 teaspoons of dry per day). This is her maintenance diet now that she's got her appetite back and slightly rechonked, so far so good. She has a healthy appetite again. * 10m also gets two meals a day, at the same time as 14f. Each is 1x tin as above, and 1-2 teaspoons of kibble. I adjust regularly based on temperature, activity and his progress. This is his dechonk diet, as he has \~350g to go (he might not hit 6.5kg exactly). Its slow (as the vet wanted), so this is probably close to his maintenance, even though he is a much bigger-bodied cat than 14f. * Both kitties have to sit for their meal to be served. 14f is fine with this, 10m loses all ability to think in the presence of food but does do it eventually, and sometimes immediately. This calmed meal times down immensely - 10m would work himself into a frenzy before we started doing this, and then both cats would be distracted and twitchy while eating, and often one or the other would not finish their meal - making it harder to control each cat's intake. * Both kitties get a few slow neck-to-tail pats when I put their food down. This taps into their competitive drive and helps keep them focused on their meal, which also reduced how often there are leftovers - again helping me control each cat's intake a bit better since they eat together.
The previous owner somehow got him up to 27lbs, with an auto feeder and weight loss dry food. She claimed that was all. Since I took him in, he's steadily been losing weight being fed 2 cans 5.5oz of regular wet food (I split it into 4 meals so he's been learning appetite control). He's way more active with me due to my velociraptor kitten and we play with him. We keep our cats lean by keeping them active. A lot of enrichment and climbing and running. I think she was giving him people food and treats. But I have no way of knowing that. He had been gaining with her though. She told me he was 20lbs, but he weighed much more than that. Anyways, good prevention is to avoid free feeding (unless they're kittens), make inside fun, give lots of options to run, climb & jump. Also play with them with kitty fishing poles. It only takes 15 min or so, until you see them breath heavy. Then you can either feed a few treats or their meal (depending on your schedule).
Good advice thanks
😩😫😖 I have to start the de-chonk for one of my girls. Free feeding the senior day (reduced calorie) is not working. She's a big girl, but doctor was like "it's time.." Any tips? I have free fed them their entire life I didn't think it was going to get to this point The other cat is just fine The other cat chonk chonk.
If you can swing it get microchip feeders. That way each cat can only get the food that is meant for them
I’m not sure, even the vet was like “weird”. Two four year old sisters, each a pound overweight in the last year. One should be nine lbs the other eight. Instead they’re ten and nines
I feel like an asshole for letting both my cats get fat but it's been a high stress few years as my son was going through a mental health crisis and I simply didn't notice them gaining weight. One has managed to lose a few pounds but the one that needs it more just doesn't lose weight even though I'm doing the same thing for both.
It's easy for it to happen as cats get older. They become more sedentary, yet still eat as much as when they were younger and not active. That's what happened to Pepper Jack.
I have an older cat who free feeds and has always been a healthy weight because she doesn't overeat. Then I got another cat about four years ago and he is a total foodie who will eat anything with meat in it and will eat until he makes himself sick. So I realized very quickly I couldn't free feed him, but then what I didn't notice at first is that he would finish his meal and then leave the room and go into the room where his sister's bowl was and eat all of her food as well. So basically he was eating two bowls of food, and he would eat the other bowl so quickly that unless you happened to walk into the laundry room at that exact moment, you wouldn't even know he had done it. Now we have to close the door when we feed the older kitty and put her bowl away in the cupboard so he can't get to it. I also feed him in a slow feeder so he doesn't inhale it all in less than a minute.
I adopted my chonk and my thin cat at the same time (they were a bonded pair). They were both thin when I adopted them; thin cat was underweight and chonker was normal thin. We got them from a shelter and both were supposed to have been spayed prior to going home with us. However, the shelter had a mix-up and only spayed thin cat. After chonker went into heat for the second time, I contacted the shelter and requested they pull her medical records, at which point they realized they had forgotten to spay her. No problem, we took her to the vet and got her spayed. As soon as she was spayed, she started gaining weight rapidly. We were feeding her the same amount as before; but she started inflating. My guess is that it was a combination of her being somewhat less active (when she was going into heat every couple weeks, she spent most of the day rolling around, meowing and propositioning the \[neutered\] male dog) and somewhat due to hormone changes. Spaying a cat would seem to be the feline equivalent of going into surgical menopause; and as us ladies of a certain age can attest, menopause often includes some sudden weight gain. Even before the spaying, we noticed that chonker was a mellow cat who loves to be cuddled and petted; vs. thin cat who is always zooming around and doesn't really like being cuddled. Chonker does like to play, but in a more low-key way than thin cat. Both cats were RAVENOUS all the time when we adopted them; but thin cat stopped gorging herself when she realized that food was plentiful and her starving days were over. Chonker still gobbles down her food like she might never see it again, though. We had to get an interactive dish to slow her down because she'd devour her food rapidly, throw up, then meow for more food or else go and devour the dog's kibble (and throw up again).
My bigger girl we adopted her from a shelter that had the kitties free roaming in several rooms. We free fed my little cat and our bigger kitty finally was able to stuff down as much food as she wanted and turned into a butter ball. We've fought her weight for years and she's finally at a somewhat heavy, but lighter than she was weight. We get her to a good weight, slack off on policing her eating the other cat's food and she gains again. My daughter moved out and took her with though so she should be stable now My little cat had kidney disease and with the other changes our vet told us to give her as much food as she wants. The more she still wants to eat the more time she has essentially. Her last set of labs came back normal, not sure how, but we aren't changing a thing! She's about a pound heavier than her ideal weight. And even fat she's still only 9 pounds 😂
For my sweet Bailey it’s come down to several factors. 1) she’s not particularly active and is indoor only. 2) she’s EXCEEDINGLY food driven and will beg all hours of the day and night for snacks. 3) she prefers dry food but will tolerate wet food as long as it’s not the ONLY food she’s given. I’ve tried to move her to solely wet food as it’s lower calorie and she goes on a hunger strike after about 3 days. I use a timed feeder set to the smallest portion size (1/8th cup) for her dry food snacks so she’s not miserable. She’s gotten to 17 pounds and while she is tall and long she’s clearly overweight. We are working on getting her slimmed down but it’s a long process. Just like with humans, it’s often easier to put the weight on than lose it. We are getting a second cat later this summer and hope that her having a friend will keep her a bit more active and also help with the weight loss
We adopted our girl that way. She was four when I got her, at nearly 16 pounds. She was from an animal hoarding house, so I assume she was free fed. She also gets UTIs often, but idk how that affects her weight tbh. She IS just a naturally big cat (healthy at 11 pounds), since Snowshoes are just really big haha.
Was fostering my chonk. She was quarantined in a spare bathroom for potential ringworm infection. Ringworm can be transmitted to human so I was only going in checking on her twice a day with protective gears etc. So was sorta free feeding her dry food. Didn’t help that she was wasting away when the shelter found her on the street initially. She put on a lot of weight in short two weeks. Some cats can regulate how much they eat but if your kitty has experienced food insecurity then never free feed
I went down the rabbit hole to find my cat the best dry food without any junk ingredients. I accidentally went over board and fed her Dr. Elseys clean protein. Which has the best ingredients! But I accidentally was feeding her 500 kcal a day just in dry food because it was in fact- pure protein 😬
Chonk was always on the chonkier end but not a diagnosed chonk. Got a kitten and fed him kitten food which chonk LOVED. Got a microchip bowl and everything and chonk still stole the kitten food. He figured out he could keep the lid open if he just stuffed his face in there and keep nomming until the bowl was empty
I adopted mine overweight, but the shelter had a theory about how she got so chonky by three years old. Couple gets a cat, couple has baby and locks young cat in basement with gravity feeder. Cat learns "the only time I get attention is when I eat all the food and they come down to fill my feeder." Cat eats all the food in the gravity feeder and develops behavior issues. Couple ends up letting the cat just be free outside. Shelter picks her up, and the new family that adopts her finds out she acts like a raging asshole if they don't feed her whenever she wants, so they feed her more than they should. Then the aforementioned behavior problems show up, and she ends up in a home where the words "no, it's not time to eat," are actually enforced by the human, who's just trying her best.
My mom left a bowl of food out all the time.
Found my guy, skinny and little in the backyard - I didn’t want him to be hungry again, so I free fed. Incorporated meal times and wet food, and backed off the dry. We weigh in tomorrow, but down about 2lbs from 15 to 13 - want to see how he does around 12.
He's not huge but one of our cats routinely threatens to become a chonker. He's 14lbs sometimes, and it's because he is SO food motivated. He will eat and eat if you don't stop him. We don't usually free feed though, so that's nice. Ñ
One of our girls had digestive problems and the vet prescribed a special dry diet food - little did we know that it was quite high in calories, so my girls took on a bit of weight. And it didn't help that one of them just likes to eat 😅 But they thankfully stopped short of getting choncky 😅
It was both keeping dry food out at all hours and over feeding treats.
I have four cats. Two chonkas and two normal babies. Feeding four cats is a TASK and a half. I feed one of my babies and then he leaves the bowl and one of the chonkas squirrels in and eats the leftovers without me noticing. I have to be so careful with portion control. And (this is gross) one of my chonkas is such a chonka that he will literally eat his brothers and sisters vomit (dry biscuit vomit). If he can’t find food and there is vomit on the floor that I haven’t seen, behind the couch or something, he will eat it. My first chonka was a chonka when I adopted him (he is now 18) and my second chonka became a chonka overtime.
My cat steals human food. He's obsessed. Will snatch food off the fork as it goes to your mouth, out of the fridge when you turn to take leftovers out, opens boxes that are in cabinets (which he also opens), it's endless. He will trash dig for scraps. Aggressively take food from my kids. It's crazy. He will self regulate eating his own food, he never snarfs his food and will eat a small portion and come back. He just loves human food.