I’m not the only one who has had this question, am I?

I’ve noticed in the past three years that I’ve taken my cat to the vet, the subject of her weight is always the biggest (and most discussed) one. 

My husband and I brought Pantera (my gorgeous long-haired black cat with green eyes) home in 2014. At that time, she was already two and a half years old. Since that day in March of 2014, we’ve always thought that she had a tummy. She’s just got a round shape to her! In the past four years, her weight has hovered between 12 – 15 pounds. 

I’ve never known her to be 12 pounds or less. I’ve never known her to not be round in shape. We love her anyway!

Our vet, however, has different ideas. In fact, both vets that she’s seen in the past four years have felt that she’s overweight. They’ve actually pulled out BMI charts for cats that are similar to the ones we refer to for us humans. 

Their theory as to why she’s overweight is because we’re feeding her a high-calorie diet in Blue Buffalo. That sounds like the logical explanation, so we agreed that we’d watch her portions. Since we started this almost two years ago, her weight hasn’t changed. She gets one-fourth cup of food in the morning, and again at night, instead of the free-feeding system we’ve had. She’s pretty much hovered at around fourteen or fifteen pounds. She’s not really losing weight or gaining it. 

Playtime seems to be a sporadic thing for her. She’ll play for about five or six minutes at a time and then be over it. That’s really her only form of exercise, but we try.

I know our next vet visit will bring this topic again, and I’m just not sure what to do about it. At this point, I’m thinking she really is just “built bigger” and that’s her normal. She’s otherwise happy and healthy. 

Is it possible that we’re concerned about something we shouldn’t be? Should I just accept that Pantera is built the way she is?

What are your thoughts?