Definitions and Incidence
- Obesity is characterized by excess accumulation of body fat.
- Overweight animals are those who are 10 to 19% greater than their optimal body weight due to fat accumulation.
- Obese animals are those who are greater than 20% above their optimal body weight due to fat accumulation.
- Ideal body composition of cats indicates that they are in optimal condition when they have 15 to 20% body fat.
- It is estimated that approximately 25% to 33% of cats are overweight to grossly obese.
Print off Owner factsheet on obesity 
to give to your client.
Sources
Publications
Refereed papers
- Butterwick R F & Markwell P J (1996) Body composition changes in cats during weight reduction by controlled calorie restriction . Vet Rec . 138, 354-375. PubMed
- Center S A, Harte J, Watrous D, Reynolds A. Watson T D G, Markwell P J, Millington P A, Wood P A, Yeager A E & Erb H N (2000) Clinical and metabolic effects of rapid weight loss in obese pet cats and the influence of supplemental oral L-carnitine. J Vet Intern Med. 14 , 598-608. PubMed
- Donoghue S & Scarlett J M (1998) Diet and feline obesity . J Nut. 128 , S2776-S2778. PubMed
- Flynn M F, Hardie E M & Armstrong P J (1996) Effect of ovariohysterectomy on maintenance energy requirements in cats . J Am Vet Med Assoc. 209 , 1572-1581. PubMed
- Zoran DL (2002) The carnivore connection to nutrition in cats. J Am Vet Med Assoc . 221 (11), 1559-1566.
Other sources of information
- Burkholder WJ & Toll PW (2000) Obesity . In: Hand M S, Thatcher C D Remillard R L, Roudebush P. eds. Small Animal Clinical Nutrition . 4th ed. Philadelphia, PA: W. B. Saunders Co. pp 401 - 430.
