Understanding your Cat's Body Condition

While some pet owners think a fat cat is a healthy cat, there are easy ways to find out if your cat has the ideal body condition. Allowing her to get heavy can have a major impact on her health, mobility and lifespan. Use the following tips to better understand your cat’s body condition and determine if your cat is too thin, ideal or too heavy.

Too Thin

1. Ribs visible on shorthaired cats; no palpable fat; severe abdominal tuck; lumbar vertebrae and wings of ilia easily palpated.

2. Ribs easily visible on shorthaired cats; lumbar vertebrae obvious with minimal muscle mass; pronounced abdominal tuck; no palpable fat.

3. Ribs easily palpable with minimal fat covering; lumbar vertebrae obvious; obvious waist behind ribs; minimal abdominal fat.

4. Ribs palpable with minimal fat covering; noticeable waist behind ribs; slight abdominal tuck; abdominal fat pad absent.

Ideal

5. Well-proportioned; observe waist behind ribs; ribs palpable with slight fat covering; abdominal fat pad minimal.

Too Heavy

6. Ribs palpable with slight excess fat covering; waist and abdominal fat pad distinguishable but not obvious; abdominal tuck absent.

7. Ribs not easily palpated with moderate fat covering; waist poorly discernible; obvious rounding of abdomen; moderate abdominal fat pad.

8. Ribs not palpable with excess fat covering; waist absent; obvious rounding of abdomen with prominent abdominal fat pad; fat deposits present over lumbar area.

9. Ribs not palpable under heavy fat cover; heavy fat deposits over lumbar area, face and limbs; distention of abdomen with no waist; extensive abdominal fat deposits.

Again, with thanks to Purina and purina.com for providing this nice chart to help us evaluate our cats' body condition.

Enjoy your pets!

Purina's dog weight chart

chart and information courtesy of Ralston Purina

Evaluating your dog's weight How skinny is "pretty skinny"?  How heavy is "not as thin as he should be"?  The Purina body condition system provides a uniform way to describe a pet's weight, from "emaciated" to "grossly obese" EMACIATED Ribs, lumbar vertebrae, pelvic bones and all bony prominences evident form a distance.   No discernable body fat.  Obvious loss of muscle mass. VERY THIN Ribs, lumbar vertebrae and pelvic bones easily visible.  No palpable fat.  Some evidence of other bony prominence.  Minimal loss of muscle mass THIN Ribs easily palpated and may be visible with no palpable fat.  Tops of lumbar vertebrae visible.  Pelvic bones becoming prominent.  Obvious waist and abdominal tuck UNDERWEIGHT Ribs easily palpable, with minimal fat covering.  Waist easily noted, viewed form above.  Abdominal tuck evident. IDEAL Ribs palpable without excess fat covering.  Waist observed behind ribs when viewed from above.  Abdomen tucked when viewed from the side. OVERWEIGHT  Ribs palpable with slight excess fat covering.  Waist is discernable viewed from above but is not prominent.  Abdominal tuck apparent. HEAVY Ribs palpable with difficulty, heavy fat cover.  Noticeable fat deposits over lumbar area and base of tail. Waist absent or barely visible.  Abdominal tuck may be absent. OBESE  Ribs not palpable under heavy fat cover, or palpable only with significant pressure.   Heavy fat deposits over lumbar area and base of tail.  Waist absent.  No abdominal tuck.  Obvious abdominal distension may be present.  GROSSLY OBESE  Here you go- a great tool to help you decide where your dog falls in the weight catagories. Kudos to Purina for making this available!

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