French Cats DO Get Fat

The French people are not as thin as you think they are; they're thinner! But, in my time here...3 years so far...I've seen my share of overweight people too. Yes, they do exist! And I see them every day. Only I don't think that it would be appropriate to take pictures of them and blog about it, so instead I chose my favorite subject - cats, les chats. Or to be more specific, fat ones. 

gourmet : someone who appreciates good food

gourmand : also someone who appreciates good food but...doesn't quite know portion control, a ravenous eater

In France, we have kitties who fall into both categories, gourmets and gourmands. And since I am in love with plus-sized kitties, I thought I'd share with you some photos of les chats gourmands. So, here is some evidence that will show that French cats DO get fat.

a show of trust, exposing the fuzzy belly

First up, is TFP (Tiny Fat Princess). TFP, a name that I gave her, is a beautiful, tiny, chubby kitty. She doesn't look tiny in this picture but she's only about the size of a rugby ball....and the shape of one! 

She was abandoned we're told : ( but is now cared for by a few dedicated souls - by Nicole who feeds her twice a day no matter what, by Nicole's association which ensures the spaying and neutering among other things for the homeless cats of our residence, and by my husband and me, who give generous portions of love every time we see her. 

It took over a year of constant coaxing to get her to approach us, and now we can't enter or exit our building without being ambushed by her purring, rubbing and meowing. TFP is an ultra-fluffy - the softest actually - talkative princess who has a squeaky, high-pitched meow, and we absolutely adore her.

The "TFP" and her apple bottom

"Cookie Dough"

I don't know the name of this round little kitty, so I call her Cookie Dough, because she reminds me of Ben & Jerry's Cookie Dough ice cream. Vanilla ice cream, chocolate chips, tan colored cookie dough. She lives in our building and is as sweet as can be. This one, you'll hear her before you see her. For a kitty with a little pinhead, she's a big talker, or rather, she sort of yells. It's the cutest. She's incredibly friendly -- will give you tummy rubbing privileges on the first meet. The picture's a little blurry because I can never keep her still long enough to take a picture! 

weekly board meeting

The two gourmands that I'd like to point out here are the black one, and to the left of her, the grey and white one. Hard to see in this picture, but these two kitties have big, round bellies. I don't know these kitties well, as they're more elusive, but can tell you that they are definitely well fed! I love the grey and white one because he's a huge cat in length and body, has blue eyes and meows like a siamese. Adorable!

a pear shaped, attitude enriched TFP, with her 2 big bowls of dinner

Cats by the Sea

These gorgeous fluffies are eating some dry food that I brought for them. I believe they've all been adopted out since this photo was taken, but at the time, there were about 20 of them, all living amongst the large rocks at the water's edge. Several caring people like myself would go from time to time and offer them food and water, especially for the kittens. The one on the left in this picture is my favorite, and is absolutely beautiful. He is definitely a gourmand.

"Handsome"... it's 5 o'clock and Nicole the food lady is coming!

This sweet, orange boy is as kind, shy, and gentle as they come. Definitely a porker, he clearly looks forward to each meal put out by Nicole. I simply adore him and have spent a lot of time scratching behind his ears and sweet talking to him. I call him Handsome.

After a big meal, napping comes easy

Seaside Kitties

These chubby tabbies fill up on free food. Love for the tummy. This is as close as I could get to them.

And last but not least, by any means.....

Turkey!

Our plus-sized, squishy, soft, pillow-like, grey tabby named Turkey w/her seal pillow

Okay, so Turkey's an American cat and this blog is about French cats. But I thought that since Turkey lives in France, and since she's a major porker, she earned herself a spot in this post. 

First, let me say that we love this cat to pieces but believe it or not, we don't over-feed her. Pfft, yeah right, you're saying. No, really! 

The best diet food that we've found is called Prescription MD, and it's what she ate exclusively back in the States to prepare for the move to France. (She needed to shed some pounds in order to fly with us in the cabin of the plane. We'd never check a cat into cargo.) 

With Prescription MD, available at the Vet's office, she lost an amazing 3 pounds in about 6 months. We'd tried different diet food with the vet before this, and the vet eventually concluded that Turkey has poor genetics. Could this be possible? We knew that humans could inherit bad genes and be prone to weight issues, but a cat? Well, apparently so. 

In France, it came as no surprise that Prescription MD is 3x more expensive than it was in the US. Almost everything is more expensive here when compared to the States. So, sorry Turk, no magic food for you. 

She's been eating French cat food for the past three years and has effortlessly put back on about 2 pounds. : ( Next to un chat gourmand in the dictionnaire should definitely be the above picture. 

Pascal and I have NEVER seen a cat who loves to eat like Turkey. She currently tips the scales at 19 pounds, and so we've had no choice but to order her special diet food over the internet. We can't pay the outrageous price for the Prescription MD, but can at least get her other good quality diet food. 

She's been on a low carb, high protein, high fiber diet for months now. She's lost a little bit of weight but is still a plus-sized grey tabby! I call her my little saucisse (sausage), say "Elle est une grosse vache!" which always draws much laughter (it means - She is a fat cow!)......and I call her my porkpie. We are completely in love with her.

I've met other grey tabbies and guess what? They are all majorly chubby! Maybe it's true, what my husband once said, "Grey tabbies are fat - that's just the way it is."

Feed.me.