It’s well known that cats don’t need to keep putting on weight once they transition from kittens to adults at about one year of age, but data on 19 million cats published in the Journal of the American Veterinary Association reveal that pet cats tend to keep putting on weight until they are about 8 years old. It doesn’t mean that cats necessarily become overweight as they head towards middle age, but many certainly do, and excess pounds are a concern for our feline pets, as they can contribute to such ills as diabetes, arthritis, and cancer.
Perhaps most startling in this piece of research: more than half the cats whose records were examined had only one weight measurement on file, suggesting that owners are not taking their pets to the vet for wellness checks often enough, or perhaps that healthy weight is not always adequately emphasized at veterinary visits.
