Fat Cat. Fat Moma

An Analysis of the Origins of Fat in Four Parts

This post continues my discussion of the following questions from previous posts in this series. I introduced the prompt of investigating my impact on my cat Cassie’s weight through discussing three different questions:

• Is Being Large the result of personal choices regarding food and exercise and/or lack of will power?
• Is Being Large influenced by our Environment and Socialization?
• Is Being Large Hereditary and therefore a simple genetic characteristic?
So…what’s next?

Part 3: Is Being Fat A Question of Socialization and Environmental Influences?

In the last post I addressed the issue of choice and the contradictory assumptions about food choices for large sized people and thin people. In this post I will address a common assumption about weight—you learn what you’re taught and what you live!

The Trials and Tribulations of a House Cat

In order to talk about the socialization of my Fat Cat, I need to give you a little background…

So… I got two of my cats (Cassie–the “fat one,” and Chester—the “muscular one”) as kittens from a local pet shelter. I got Connie—the “thin one”, from a private home– straight from the teat of her cat mama. In my last post I talked about the differences in their eating habits. In short—Cassie gobbles quickly and looks for more, Connie gobbles slowly and looks for more (but Cassie has usually eaten up all of the extras) and Chester gobbles only what he wants and then back away from the dish. So, why such a difference in their eating habits? I didn’t train them to eat the way each of them do—at least, I don’t think I did.

Cassie started a little timid about eating; I think that was due to the fact that I used to have another cat–the “queen of the house” Lovey. Everyone had to be careful about eating around her, being she did not like others eating too close. So, often Chester and Cassie had to wait until she was finished with her food in order to eat theirs. Lovely died of old age two years ago, and then Cassie was the primary indoor feeder, being that Chester as an outdoor cat ate only in the morning and in the evening when he returned home. When I adopted Connie about a year later, the pecking order had already been established.

So what might account for the difference in Cassie’s girth at nearly 14 lbs? Maybe it’s because we have an automatic feeder so food is available at all times. Being two busy people, my husband and I like to know that we don’t have to worry about feeding or forgetting to feed the cats. He brought the automatic feeder from his house when we married which was also used to feed the before mentioned deceased cat Queen Lovey.

Lovey was also quite plump, but she was a fluffy variety of cat, similar to Cassie. I was always amazed at the way she would look when my husband would have her shaved to resemble a lion. Every summer she would become a tiny timid looking version of her previously massive intimidating stature. So similar to Lovey, maybe it was the combination of being an indoor cat and having an automatic feeder that was responsible for making my Cassie fluffier than the average cat.

But if that was the case, why wasn’t Connie fat too? She was living in the same environment as Cassie, accustomed to limited and controlled outdoor activity (they are only allowed out on the porch when I am home), regular feeding from the automatic feeder, and just Cassie to play with for stimulation—and they play together a lot. So once again, why isn’t Connie fat?

Fat Kid/Thin Kid

art by Svetlana Petrova

This is a question I have been asking for awhile about fatness and humans. In a family household why is it that some children are fat and others are not? If they are raised in the same environment, under the same conditions, what accounts for the difference in body size? I know the response many may have is: because the thin children run, jump for exercise and exhibit will power when eating. Fat children don’t. But can it be explained away that easily?

If children are living in the same home, in most cases they are exposed to the same foods, eating habit models and home culture movement routines. The family likes to play baseball together, or they sit and watch TV as a home culture– the children receive that modeling. The family likes to eat more “healthy” foods, or they may tend to eat a lot of take out or fast food as a family– the children receive that modeling.

My point is that from an early age they are all being exposed to the same cultural stimulus if they live in the same home. In some cases the large child may eat a bit more, which to some, might explain why they are larger. But, if anyone has been around kids of a certain age, you notice that, if given the choice, they all would stuff their faces with candy, popsicles and nachos. So, why do some kids stay thin and others stay fat from the same decadent eating behavior?

In terms of movement, I know people would say that the reason there is an “obesity epidemic in children” is due to the fact that children don’t get outside and play as much anymore. To an extent there may be some merit in blaming our overall cultural lack of movement and increased sedentary lifestyle (Anissa says, as she has been sitting typing at a computer for over two hours now) adding to our increased weight and waistline girth as a society.

But, I do see big kids being active. They’re playing softball, on sports teams, dancing, walking and running down the street–generally making a lot of noise with their friends, just like any other kid. Do some sit in the house and participate in very little exercise? Sure! So do some thin kids. Some kids—regardless of their size– would just rather sit in the house with a good book, playing videos or watching TV. In moderation, I don’t think there is anything wrong with these quiet activities. Sometimes, I think we need to teach our kids to be more comfortable with being alone with their thoughts, being solitary and reflective in addition to being active and playful with others is a good thing. Maybe then they wouldn’t be so dependent on the opinions of others, as the current social media bullying scene has proven to be the case. But, I digress (which is so easy to do on social media!).

Little Fat Black Girl

I have always been a chubby little girl—hence the title: little fat black girl. Yet, I don’t remember eating any differently than my cousins and aunties whose behavior I mirrored. I often spent summers at my grandma’s in Nebraska. We would swim every day, take long walks, get into trouble for picking apricots from the neighbor’s tree, and stay out (in the old days unsupervised) until late at night. We would come home and eat whatever my grandma had prepared—usually stuffed with cheese or gravy or some other sumptuous texture that I have come to associate with comfort. But, even at that time, many of my family was smaller than me. Even though I have seen pictures of myself as a thin little fat black girl of about 6 or 7, I don’t actually remember ever being thin. This body has always been my casing. Nobody did it to me, and I don’t feel wronged. This is my body—it may be smaller at times, and it may be larger at other times, but it is mine.

Back to the issue of cats and fat…
Cassie is the same, I don’t think I did anything to her, nor she did anything to herself. She just is. Similar to the human mystery of body differences for children in the same family, I can’t think of anything that I’m doing to contribute the fatness of my Cassie Cat, that I’m not doing in the same way to my Connie Cat. I think the answer is that they are just different cats, and react differently to the same stimuli–just like humans.

Maybe she was born that way.