Grooming an overweight cat: the back, the belly and the rear

A cat washes by twisting: head round to the flank, a hind leg raised to reach the belly, the body curled to clean under the tail. Extra weight blocks all three. VCA's page on seborrhea lists obesity, or joint pain, that leaves a cat unable to groom properly among its secondary causes, and describes affected skin flaking off like dandruff onto the cat's sleeping places. It comes in a dry form and an oily one, and cats often show both at once.

Joints add to it. VCA's page on degenerative joint disease names obesity as a risk factor, because of the chronic, low-grade inflammation fat causes as well as the load on the joints, and lists not wanting to groom and difficulty getting into or out of the litter box among the signs. VCA counts a cat as overweight at 10 to 20 percent above its ideal body weight and obese beyond 20 percent; your vet can tell you where your cat sits.

Home grooming for a heavy cat means doing the parts it can no longer do. Keep sessions short and keep the cat on its feet or lying on its side; a heavy cat turned onto its back is uncomfortable and may be sore. Work from the shoulders backward, so the session starts where the cat still washes itself and ends at the places it cannot reach.

If the rear is soiled every day, the fur there is longer than the cat's current reach, and a sanitary trim solves that faster than any amount of wiping. Keep the weigh-ins going too: VCA recommends monthly weigh-ins during weight loss, and a note of the number each month gives your vet something to work with.

Cornell's Feline Health Center says any feline weight-reduction program should be carried out under a veterinarian's direction, aiming for a gradual loss of perhaps one or two percent of body weight a week. A sudden starvation diet puts a cat at risk of hepatic lipidosis, a serious liver condition, and VCA warns that an obese cat that stops eating is at significant risk of it. International Cat Care's advice is simple: do not restrict food without talking to your veterinary team first.

Your vet sets the target and the diet. VCA notes that simply cutting the volume of the current food is not the right approach, and suggests keeping treats under 10 percent of daily calories; it also says reaching a healthy body condition helps relieve arthritic pain. Cornell suggests moving a favorite resting spot somewhere the cat must climb to reach, and having visitors play instead of handing out treats. In a long Cape Ann winter, when an indoor cat moves less from November to March, those small changes count.