Weighing Your Cat

It’s important to weigh your cat at least weekly to know if you are feeding enough. Each cat’s caloric requirement is different so you cannot rely solely on feeding guides. The typical bath scale is not very accurate because you will want to weigh to the ounce or 1/10th of an pound. Weighing this accuractly gives you an early indicator if things are going in the right direction. There is a huge difference between 6.8 pounds and 6.2 pounds when you are trying to get weight on your kitty.

Postal Scales
Some people use postal scales and weigh to the ounce. The weighing platform is small, so you will need to sit your cat in a box or carrier while weighing. The scale has a feature called “Tare Weight” that can automatically subtract the weight of the container so be sure to read your manual.

Shipping Scales
I bought the same kind of scale that my vet uses so that I could compare “apples to apples.” We were visiting the vet almost weekly for awhile, so this was the choice I made. Note: It is NOT necessary to have the same kind of scale that your vet uses. Just weigh your cat regularly on your scale to know how you are doing. The scale I bought is a Pelouze 150-Lb Digital Shipping Scale. It’s accuracy is 0.2 of a pound. As you see, not as accurate as the postal scale, but is has a larger weighing surface. The weighing platform is 12 inches x 12.5 inches.

Baby Scales
Chachibi & Midori in Japan write “I just would like to send you a small information on the scale we use. It is Tanita baby scale. The minimum gauge is 5g. There are different gauge types, too. The size of baby scale tray is just for cats, I think.”

http://www.tanita.com/en/1584/

Disclaimer: Kathy Fatheree is not at all a medical expert. Contents of this web site are a collection of Kathy’s assist feeding experiences as well as the experiences of other cat owners who have assist fed their cats. While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the information, Kathy Fatheree or anyone associated with this web site cannot be held responsible for anything that may happen as a result of using the information on this site.