Feeding your pet to fit the size
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Starving an animal so he or she doesn't grow to his natural size is just plain in cruel
THE MAN I just met stares at the photo I’m showing him of Phantom, the elderly cat who lives on my third floor.
“He’s huge!” the man says surprised. “Is he really an American shorthair?”
Yes, at eight kilos, Phantom is huge, and with his markings, he’s definitely an American shorthair, a breed much larger and heavier than Thai breeds.
This man has just shown me photos of his own cat, who is also an American shorthair. At just four-months old, the kid is absolutely cute, a furball ready for any playtime his owners share with him.
He’s also, the owner tells me, “just” three kilos.
Anyone with any experience with cats will start laughing at this point. A four-month old Thai cat should weigh perhaps two kilos at the most. That American shorthair kid is already on his way to Phantom’s size.
“We don’t want such a big cat,” the man says, looking at Phantom’s photo again. “We’ll just start feeding him less, to keep him small.”
I can think of lots of crueller methods of raising an animal, but starving a pet to keep him small is nevertheless extremely cold-blooded, in my opinion.
You feed your puppy or kitten the proper amount of food to ensure his bones grow strong, his senses develop normally, his body continues healthy. A breed like an American shorthair is meant to be big. If you didn’t want a big cat, you shouldn’t have acquired this breed.
That’s common sense, isn’t it? Assuming that a tiny kitten or puppy will not grow much larger is not very smart, is it?
I’ve been reading about those “teacup puppies”. They’re so cute! They’re also not a breed, weighing less than 1.8 kilos when mature.
Some years ago, I had the opportunity to talk to a woman who said she “bred” teacup poodles and Pomeranians. According to her, it’s easy to produce teacup dogs. Just find a mother who’s already small. Feed her only a little. When she gives birth, feed the puppies less than usual too.
Voila! Teacup pups.
What a disgusting way to make money off people who will buy anything “cute” and don’t think much about how these dogs are produced.
I know some of these dogs survive and live a good life with loving owners. I also know of other teacups who suffer health problems with their bones, kidneys and lungs.
At the other end of the scale, it’s true that Phantom is overweight for his breed. He should weigh around six kilos, not eight.
In my own defence, when Phantom joined us, he was already overweight, but I couldn’t start him on a diet right away because he was under great stress from the changes in his life.
Now that he “owns” his bedroom and knows how to tell me what to do, I think he’s relaxed enough to start reducing his food intake. It should be done slowly. He’s elderly, after all.
Exercise is also difficult. He sleeps much longer than a younger cat would. He’s not interested in playing with toys much. In fact, his major exercise is attacking the other cats. Alas. I don’t allow him to do much of that.
Since he doesn’t have a cat to beat up, I’m constantly looking for other activities to keep him occupied. Slowly, I’m teaching him to swing his arms around when I wave a toy at him. With treatment, his arthritis is much better, and he enjoys jumping up to the bed and down again.
How much to feed your cat or dog depends on breed, size, age and health – not on whether you want him to be smaller or larger than what Nature has arranged.
