Once cats are fully grown, they should maintain a stable weight. An annual weight check is important to recognise any inappropriate weight loss or gain. Being overweight can cause health issues. However, abnormal loss of weight is also a concern as this can be an early sign of disease that needs investigation. Some active outdoor cats will lose weight during the spring and summer and put it on again during the more sedentary autumn and winter months, and this pattern will become obvious over the years.
A body condition score enables interpretation of your cat’s weight in context of its body size. A 1-9 scale is used, cats that score 1-3 are underweight, cats that score 4-5 are a healthy weight, cats that score 6-7 are overweight and cats that score 8-9 are obese.