Why is it generally believed that orange cats are fatter than other cats, and is this true or just a stereotype?

Between 1973 and 1977, Evan Jone and Brian J. Horton caught a batch of cats in different areas of Australia to study their diet[1].

One aspect of the study was the relationship between cat weight and fur color, with the units in the table being grams. The number of cats is listed next to the weight unit. “Orange” refers to orange cats, with females on the right and males on the left.

According to the scientists' research, orange male cats are heavier than other colored male cats, but orange female cats are lighter than other colored female cats.

Therefore, according to this inference, it’s not that all orange cats are heavier than other cats, but only that orange male cats are heavier than other colored cats. The term “fat” is not used because the body fat percentage is unknown; being heavy doesn’t necessarily mean fat.

But…

Another issue is that most orange cats are males. Besides the saying “the bigger the orange, the heavier it gets,” there is also a saying “out of ten oranges, nine are males” . This is actually true. If you had paid attention to the numbers in the table, you would have noticed some patterns…

The reason behind this has to do with how orange fur comes about.

Orange cats are orange, of course, because of their genes.

Despite the variety of cat colors, cats' fur normally contains only two types of pigment

“I will just compare the time when I was first adopted and now, the one looking at the camera at my home.

“Our big master and second young master. The big master is an orange tabby, weighing nine kilograms. The second young master is a lynx point, weighing twelve kilograms.

The second young master and the second young miss. The second young miss is the elder sister, weighing three and a half kilograms.

The big young master is an orange tabby, slightly longer in body than the second young master, but weighing eleven kilograms.

The two old masters are Holsteins, weighing ten kilograms.

You see, the plump ones in our home are the masters and young masters. It’s not related to fur color. The common factor is that they have all been neutered. Both old masters were around twelve kilograms in their youth. The peak weight for the two old masters was sixteen kilograms.

Although I know many chubby orange cats, I used to be skeptical of the claim that “big oranges” are common. However, last year, I came across a research report on the relationship between cat fur color and personality traits, which made me think that orange cats might be more prone to obesity, and it seemed to make some sense.

This report was published on the official website of the National Library of Medicine in the United States and conducted by a Mexican research team with a sample of over 200 Mexican cat-owning households. The research team found a certain correlation between cat fur color and cat personality traits. They discovered that:

• Gray cats tend to be shyer, more solitary, and less patient.
• Orange cats are friendlier, more stable, and easier to train.
• Tabby cats are bolder and more active.
• Calico cats are more stubborn.
• Bicolor cats are more patient.

While I believe that each cat is unique, and not all gray cats are necessarily shy, or all orange cats are friendly, if we consider the findings of this research team to be credible in representing certain tendencies in cat personality based on fur color, then perhaps it can also explain why orange cats are more prone to obesity. Think about it, traits like friendliness, stability, and trainability, in other words, a relaxed temperament, may naturally lead to a higher likelihood of weight gain.

So it is possible that orange cats tend to become overweight because many of them have an optimistic and laid-back nature, which means they have good appetites, efficient digestion, and absorption. As the new year approaches, I wish everyone could maintain an optimistic mindset, have a good appetite like the big orange cats, and yet still maintain their physique.

“Simply because of a fashion rule

“Due to the orange color gene being located on the X chromosome, it results in the occurrence of males being very common, so 80% of orange cats are male .

And it appears that male cats, whether in terms of physique, appetite, or their easygoing and plump personality, seem to be more prone to becoming overweight than female cats.

Yes, there is.

The idea that orange cats are more likely to break the kang (a traditional heated bed in Chinese culture) is just an internet meme, don’t take it seriously. Fur color and body weight are not necessarily related.

Yes, it’s true; he is prone to gaining weight, and it happens quietly.

Our orange dog, when he arrived at two months old, had a small head, small face, and a petite body, resembling a running little fluffy potato, incredibly adorable.

Fluffy little cat, I could kiss her a hundred times a day.

Then, at four months old, she entered an awkward phase, like a little monkey.

Her tail was thin, and she didn’t grow the long, fluffy orange fur I had hoped for. Overall, she was a lean and ordinary orange cat.

But you could see that her paws were much bigger than those of a regular cat.

Looking at this slender body, any mother would feel sorry, thinking her child hadn’t eaten enough.

But in reality, at this point, she could eat a lot. When it was just her, she would consume 2 kilograms of cat food per month. After getting our orange dog, the two cats together could eat 5 kilograms of cat food.

The good news is that at six months old, her tail began to take shape, and it was around this time that she started to receive compliments from everyone for being attractive and gained some fans.

Afterward, it was pretty much the same situation, and she didn’t look overweight.

Our orange cat after neutering

At one year and one day old, she went into heat, urinating everywhere, and since she had retained testicles (cryptorchidism), we were concerned about potential health issues in the future, so we had her neutered right away.

After the neutering, she enjoyed eating and drinking for a month, and we noticed her face becoming rounder, and she gained some fat on her belly.

Originally, we thought we should control her weight at this point, but we were told it was too late.

You think she was saving up fat when she was skinny, but when you realize she’s getting chubby, it’s already too late.

Her current weight is a reflection of the cat food she consumed two or three months ago. Moreover, she has large paws and a big frame. She’s still growing and hasn’t stopped developing; we can’t cut off her protein.

You really have no idea how difficult it is to control the weight of an orange cat if you’re a cat owner.

With two cats at home, if we give them less cat food, our orange cat will eat her fill, while the cream cat goes hungry.

We can only wage a guerrilla war. When the cream cat asks for food, we feed her. The orange dog gets a fixed amount of cat food every day.

But we can’t achieve it. The orange dog sticks to me all day, asking for food. When the cream cat eats, he doesn’t make a fuss; he just watches you with expectant eyes.

Every time we feed the orange cat, she’ll rub against you, stand up and pat you, just to get one more bite.

She even pushed me to get the cat food once, and she ran so fast that she accidentally bumped into me. After the bump, she seemed a little stunned and paused for a moment. Well, she directly tripped me.

Now our orange cat is four years old, and for us, if her weight doesn’t increase, it’s considered a successful diet.

From my own experience and the experiences of friends who also raise orange cats, I can tell you that orange cats are indeed very, very prone to gaining weight!

What essential items are worth recommending for raising cats on a budget?

Yes, there are some.

In my household, there is one orange cat that is not overweight, and the reason is… it’s a picky eater.

To what extent is it picky?

Beef is just a few bites before it walks away, it won’t eat duck, it’s tired of chicken, it eats fish depending on its mood, and it loves chicken liver but can’t eat too much.

There must be freeze-dried food in its cat food, otherwise, it becomes aggressive after a few bites—yes, aggressive.

Once, I ran out of freeze-dried food, and the new one hadn’t arrived yet. This little guy growled at me all day (he would start growling whenever he saw me), and only forgave me in the evening.

Now, it’s one year old and weighs only seven pounds.

But its other two brothers, one has already crossed the ten-pound mark, and the other is not far behind.

All three are orange cats, but it’s a faux orange.

Attached is a photo.

How should I put it, it’s not exactly fat, but it’s muscular.

Even the heated bed can’t accommodate its long legs.

There’s really not enough space for it to stretch out; it takes up all the room.

If I don’t give it freeze-dried food, it stares at me. It can stare all night.

In the summer, my cat naturally becomes more active and loses weight, its belly even droops.

But as soon as winter comes and it gets too cold to go outside and play, it turns into a round ball again.

I truly envy its weight loss magic.

My orange cat is not overweight. He’s neutered, ten months old, and a picky eater. He only eats a particular brand of cat food, doesn’t like canned food, refuses human food, doesn’t drink milk, just water.

[Link to a video: https://www.zhihu.com/video/987795620370935808]

Yes, my cat is not overweight. While the Storm slimmed down, the black cat at home ended up becoming a black pig.

[Link to a video: https://www.zhihu.com/video/988468648993857536]

Experience the round physique of the black cat and the agile leaps of the orange cat.

Let me put it this way, yesterday I took my big dog to the vet.

In the morning, he would go to the litter box for a few seconds every ten minutes, and in the afternoon, I noticed a bit of blood in his urine. I panicked and rushed him to the hospital.

At first, I thought it might be urinary blockage, but the doctor said we needed an ultrasound and shaved his belly for it.

Guess what? The doctor looked at him for about three or four minutes, probed around with a wand, and then said, “Why is there no urine in the bladder?”

Then he explained that my cat is too overweight, and the images aren’t very clear.

We couldn’t perform the ultrasound due to the lack of urine, so they did a blood test for biochemistry and a complete blood count.

I spent over 700 yuan, but we couldn’t find the cause of the symptoms. My big dog is only 5.8kg, and I don’t think he’s really that overweight.

Orange color is mostly associated with male cats, and most male cats tend to be heavier than female cats.

Orange color appears to make them look bulkier.

https://www.zhihu.com/video/987976059517739008

2 years old, not overweight. Only fed dry cat food, no canned food or snacks.

Four Happiness, the stray cat in our community.

The orange cat is the big brother, one cake,

The tortoiseshell cat is the little sister, three cakes,

They were born on the Dragon Boat Festival, together they nursed, ate, sneaked food, and played together,

Now they are six months old, the big brother weighs over 8 kilograms, and the little sister weighs 6 kilograms.

There is no situation where either of them steals food. They each have their own portion.

For my breakfast today, which was dumpling wrappers, the filling was all taken by them. If I don’t give it, they’ll scrape the bowl, grab my hand, and lick my fingers. They stare at it from left to right and don’t let go of any bite.

Park stray little orange, super good personality, not very fat, but not thin either.

I don’t know if this statement is correct, but orange cats do tend to gain weight easily. However, I don’t know if there are any methods to help a big orange cat lose weight. Are there any methods for successfully helping a chubby orange cat lose weight? Please provide me with a bunch of them.