Today, I picked up the cat. He was screaming about wanting food and I wanted him to shut up. Since he doesn't typically scream in my face, carrying him to the food bowl seemed ideal. I guess I hadn't done that in awhile... most of the time, he just jumps into my lap. Don't think he's affectionate; he jumps into my lap and then he attempts to kill my arms.
And when I picked up the cat I maybe went "Oof." because, as it turns out, the cat has become rather cumbersome. Please note my red face from the strain:
And so we marched off to the scale, because surely the cat has not always been this heavy. He's a big cat, but here lately people have been commenting that perhaps he's gotten a little overweight.
So, off we marched to the scale. Me plus cat = the biggest number I think I've ever been a part of on a scale. I set down the cat.
I repeated this process a short time later. Now, he was pretty well filled out at sixteen pounds. The vet actually said "I wouldn't want to see him gain any weight" when I asked if maybe he wasn't a little bit heavy. When he weighed sixteen pounds.
Apparently, if the scale is to be believed, the cat weighs twenty-two pounds. That's ten kilograms if you're metric.
I scooped the cat back up ("oof") and carted him in to the room where Steady was sitting. I gave him the number. The reply: "Look at him! He's as big as you are." "No he's not, is he?" "If you remove your limbs; he is."
And I suppose he is actually almost as big as I am.
My back hurts from the strain of carrying the cat around. I did some research recently and discovered (written on the side of the bag) that my cat is... okay, what I thought he weighed was already more than the chart on the side of the bag went up to... but I extrapolated that he's been eating maybe 1 1/2 to 2 times what he's supposed to. That's after changing him to "indoor" (diet) cat food.
He's still cute. And also, he screams when he's hungry. And then he tries to kill me.
But we don't want diabetes or bad hygeine or whatever else happens to cats when they live their lives in obesity. He'll be four next week. It's time for him to go on a diet.
Previously, anyone who noticed that the cat's bowl was empty filled it back up. We've changed to a smaller bowl and I am now in charge of filling it twice daily. The cat is on a diet. I am confident that this will be very unpleasant for all parties involved.
For point of reference, here's what the cat looked like about a year ago and today. I tried to use the same props for a sense of scale. Oddly enough, it was not possible to get the cat to pose exactly the same way. I actually had to offer up my leg for attacking (by setting it within his reach and sight) to get him to hold still for the picture:
