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Is my 14-pound Maine Coon mix at a healthy weight for his age?

Updated on September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Cat | Mixed Breed | Male | neutered | 11 months and 13 days old | 13 lbs

Mars is a Maine coon mix and will be a year old on July 22nd this year. He plays and runs and eats and sleeps, all the normal kitty stuff. I weighed him yesterday and he's 14 pounds. I'm not sure if he's too fat but I have him on adult food because I was really worried about his weight gain. Is he healthy?

1 Answer

Most Helpful Answer

Answered By Lauren Celestin, DVM

Veterinarian, Veterinary Dentistry Resident

Published on July 5th, 2017

Hi! Mars is super cute! As I am sure you are aware Maine Coon's are in general large cats. With that said, large does not equate overweight. It's difficult to assess ideal body condition from simply looking, you will need to put your hands on Mars. Ideally, what you want is to be able to see a bit of a wait taper behind his rib cage. You want to be able feel his ribs through a layer of fat. You shouldn't be able to count the ribs and they should also not be buried under so many layers of fat that you cannot feel them at all. Below I have included a link to The Ohio State Veterinary School's webpage with lots of great information on body condition and nutrition. I have personally worked with their board-certified nutritionist who is phenomenal, so the information provided here can't get much better. Hope this information helps you an Mars!

https://vet.osu.edu/vmc/companion/our-services/nutrition-support-service/body-condition-muscle-condition-score-charts

1Pet Parents found this answer helpful

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