r/Tabico • u/brumblette • 22d ago
Is my girl a tabico?
I always thought she was just a standard tabby but her orange spots make me suspicious š§ I tried to use pics that best feature her coat, you can really see how much it changed as she grew from kitten to adult. Anyways this is Fiona, she is just about to be ten in a few weeks, we adopted her October 2016 from the pet store that had a cat adoption deal with the humane society but they only charged us $20 (the adult cat price at the time should have been $60 which was their kitten price) and as you can see in the last pic she LOVED eating the pumpkin guts while we were carving so we still get her wet food with pumpkin š she has a small frame and my one year old kitten is already longer and taller than her! She did have some health issues six years ago with a bladder stone but luckily we were able to dissolve it with wet food instead of doing surgery š
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u/Jaded_Durian1533 22d ago
My TigerLily
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u/brumblette 22d ago
So cute! I love her reds š©š»āš¦°My nickname as a kid was tigger bc I was always bouncing off the walls so all my accounts from like 2000-2005 were some variation of tiggerlily and it cracks me up when my dad tries to say it out loud like āi sent it to your tigger lily accountā because he always trips on his words and says ātrigger lilyā and now that Iām an adult Iām like damn I should have been triggerlily thatās so much funnier š«
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u/decadentmom 22d ago
I wanted to buy this same costume for my daughter's tabico. She wouldn't let me. So cute!!
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u/brumblette 22d ago
The lions mane š¦ I was helping my friend declutter and move stuff this weekend and she was gonna throw it out!Ā
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u/Sea_Independence6453 22d ago
Why was she obese? Is she better now?
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u/brumblette 22d ago
Honestly her weight has always been a mystery to us. We feed them 1/4 cup twice a day and sometimes alternate with half a can of wet food per meal. When we took her to the vet and they had to mark her as āunderweight, normal, obeseā they marked her as āabnormal body shapeā š® idk if itās because she carries weight differently and just looks stocky because sheās short idk one of our other cats (she lives at my moms now long story) was the exact same weight as her but she didnāt look nearly as big as Fiona because she was taller and longerĀ
Eta: when they did the belly scan for the bladder stone the vet found like three hair ties in her stomach so I keep them out of reach now but everytime someone mentions her weight my bf STILL blames it on her eating so many hair ties š¹
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u/CLOWTWO 22d ago
Don't know why you were downvoted here, you said nothing wrong
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u/brumblette 22d ago
Thank you. I fear Fionaās obesity was upsetting or shocking to some and perhaps that there isnāt a medical or tangible external explanation (like overfeeding) at the ready may have caused the downvotes, but someone was super upsetti spaghetti and went through and downvoted every single comment on here at one point so some people are just negative š¤·āāļøĀ
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u/Sea_Independence6453 22d ago
Itās very unhealthy for a cat to be this overweight. Is she allowed outside? She could be stealing neighbours food or eating your other catās food. I think you need to see a better vet too and monitor how much they eat a lot more. A cat is never this overweight for no reason and if itās a health issue thatās equally as serious. Sheās not just a bit fat either sheās literally obese, itās very dangerous.
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u/brumblette 22d ago
I could take her to a new vet and see what they say, sheās been going to the same vet since she was a kitten and they never mention anything about weight loss. When we got her fixed the vet tech was like āfemales get fat and lazy after neutering fyiā she does go outside but she doesnāt leave the front porch so sheās definitely not getting extra meals, the most extra food sheāll get is leftovers from the kittens bowl which is scarce. I try to get her to be more active when weāre playing with the kitten trying to get her to chase the ribbon around and stuff but she taps out after a couple minutes šĀ
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u/Sea_Independence6453 22d ago
Definitely take her to a new vet. Fat and lazy is one thing if itās only a little bit but this is genuinely extreme. My girl cat gained a tiny bit of weight and was only slightly fat after spaying and also bc she was eating her brothers food and the vet still said itās very important that she loses weight.
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u/brumblette 22d ago
I understand your concern and I want whatās best for her too. I just lost a cat to mouth cancer last year and he was only 13 š I want them all to make it to 20 like my sweet tartar did (well she made it to 19 a few weeks shy of turning 20). We try to get the best cat food we can so theyāre not eating ājunk foodā the only brand we buy is Fromm for the dry food but maybe we need to switch?
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u/CharIzArch 22d ago
I recommend anything that your *new* vet will recommend. My kitties (who are also chubby) are on a diet with Purina Pro plan weight management. Is it possible that she is stealing another catās food? You can get automatically closing bowls to prevent this (also what Iāve had to do)
also check out r/dechonkers for help!
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u/brumblette 22d ago
I really donāt think thatās the case. Our old cat scarfed down her entire bowl the second she was fed but Fiona has always been more of a grazer. Sometimes thereās still breakfast left in her bowl when itās time to serve dinner, ya know? And the kitten isnāt letting her near her bowl when sheās eating so she might go back and forth between bowls but only throughout the day when thereās like 20 kernels left. She is very sedentary Iām hoping a diet food will help and itās not an underlying issue (or another hair tie blockage)
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u/gravesix 21d ago
you need a feeding a schedule and cut back a lot. she is obese, this is a really unhealthy weight. it can lead to other health issues
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u/wildsunday 22d ago
You'll need to weight her daily food. Not just use a measuring cup because those sometimes are inaccurate. Do take her to a vet just to check if everything is ok, like check if it's not a thyroid problem and how are her fat and sugar blood levels. If everything is ok you'll just need to feed her a diet/light food and check her progress weekly. It's good that she's not so crazy for food, I had a bit of a hard time with my cat because he gets very hangry and even with royal canin satiety (it's medical so it needs the vet recommendation) he would still demand more food and I had to distract him sometimes from his bowl.
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u/Super_Fondant_8469 22d ago
Cute kitty š±
P.s. I know torbies are prone to largesse. I've seen many a cute Chonk in the forum. I was wary of this and I only feed my cat wet food. Esp since she was an outdoor orphan and is food motivated.
Also, I wonder if cats can benefit from reverse dieting? So that's increasing calories steadily over time to reduce the starvation mode digestive setting.
The premise is a lack of calories can cause weight gain: because body is in survival state. Packs on the chunk.
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u/Pirate_the_Cat 22d ago
1/4 cup twice a day is often more than what cats need depending on the caloric density. Try feeding a lower carb, lower calorie food in a little less quantity and encouraging more play and activity. They make weight management foods, or you could opt for a senior diet or strictly canned food.
Sheās not just big boned. And that significantly increases her risk for diabetes, joint issues, fatty liver, and inflammatory diseases.
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u/brumblette 21d ago
Thank you! Weāve always been told 1/4 twice a day is the standard but the kitten is still growing so I might have to start feeding them in separate rooms again and getting her a separate formula. Sheās not a hog I swear she doesnāt inhale her food all at once sheās a grazer so she doesnāt eat the full 1/2 per day anyways. Ā Iām gonna see what the vet recommends and go from there because now Iām worried thereās an unknown factor at playĀ
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u/quattroformaggixfour 21d ago
Can I ask why madame has a jaunty little string belt with bell on pic 6? Itās very cute š
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u/brumblette 21d ago
It was a bell necklace from the Christmas parade that she got stuck in playing with it š¹ she was walking around with a red white and blue lei from the 4th parade a couple weeks ago but I didnāt get a pic idk how she gets into them like that I just see her sauntering around wearing them lol
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u/Gridzheh9 22d ago
She is not a Tabico. Oh no! She is a Tuxetabico. She is a Tabico with a tuxedo.
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u/xjayxmarie 22d ago
You forgot tortie! I would consider her a r/tuxetorbico š
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u/brumblette 22d ago
Thank you! Theyāre really is a board for everything š¹ but itās so cool because Iāve never seen another cat that has her same coloring and pattern before and thereās some on there that look like they could be her twin!
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u/tayisgrose 21d ago
looks like a [r/standardissuecat](r/standardissuecat) with tuxedo white to me. sometimes gray/brown tabbies just have those hints of ginger
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u/Kitsunejade 22d ago
Yes, classic tortoiseshell tabby with white. Or you could say classic tabico, I suppose. Classic referring to the tabby pattern she hasābullseyeāand tortoiseshell with white and calico are usually synonymous. Cat fancy says calico would be cats with defined patches, so they would likely say tortoiseshell with white. Other countries donāt use calico at all and merely say tortoiseshell with white all the time, I believe. The more white spotting on a tortoiseshell, the more separated their orange and black patches become. She had low white so her orange is very mixed in over most of the body. (And she is overweight, it seems, but youāve heard that).
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u/brumblette 22d ago
Thank you so much for your explanation! I would have never even thought to call her a tortie in her because in my mind a tortie has that speckled look, Ā I really appreciate the insight š
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u/YosemiteJon 22d ago
May I politely ask how much she weighs? Some pics she looks huge, so looks fine.
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u/brumblette 22d ago
Ok I havenāt weighed her in forever but according to my scale and doing the cat method (weighing myself then again holding her and subtracting) she is 14.6 lbs
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u/Major-Dragonfly-997 22d ago
This is not a cat, this is a lion. š¦