I Met a Fat Cat Today

I met a fat cat today. He arrived in my consulting room in a mock Burberry carrier.  He was wearing a diamante studded collar and had a black and white dandruff strewn coat.  

As his vet, I was concerned about his size – all 20 lbs of it – but his owner’s main worry was about his fur. She wanted it to be glossier.

When I mentioned his size, she bristled as people often do when their pet’s weight is mentioned. She protested that she only fed him a half a cup of dry food a day.

“And what else?”  I asked as I started to examine him. As I’ve often found with overweight pets, he was delightfully compliant, the model patient.

Then began the list of treats: table scraps, cooked chicken and the occasional  fried fish dinner.

I suggested to her that he was being overfed, getting both a full day’s worth of calories in his cat food and a good portion in “people food”.

“But he is always hungry and he doesn’t move around much. He is an indoor cat and loves watching TV.  I leave it on for him when I go to work, “ she reported. “And if I don’t feed him three times a day he wakes me up at 4am by sitting nearly on my head and meowing.”

We talked about ways to get him more active – moving his food to an upstairs location; playing with him; seeing if he would tolerate a harness and leash for walks; and  trying a laser toy. She nodded but I knew it was an uphill battle.

So I went for the big guns, “How are you going to cope if he develops diabetes ? “ I asked.  She looked genuinely shocked at this prospect. “But I would never be able to give him insulin injections; I feel faint at the sight of a needle,” she replied.

That seemed to have finally got through to her. She loved her cat but it was only the idea of  having to give him insulin injections that actually made her think past his dandruff.

So along with her big guy in his designer carrier, she left the office with a measuring cup for his food and the knowledge that once he was slimmer, he would be able to reach his back to groom himself and the dandruff would get better.

My final words to her were: “ Remember, I’ve never met a cat yet who can open the refrigerator, so it is up to you.” She smiled and said, “Maybe I’ll even enroll him in Weight Watchers with me.”