Best way to track my cat's weight without a scale?

I feel like I am missing something here. Bella is 6 and asthmatic, so I know breathing changes are a big red flag, but what about weight? She seems the same size to my eyes, but I am worried she is losing muscle mass slowly. Charlie is 2 and healthy, so I just want to keep an eye on him too. How do you all track subtle weight changes at home without a dedicated pet scale? It feels impossible to notice a half pound difference just by looking?

Hi Paul, it is very common to miss small changes just by looking. The most accurate way at home is actually using your bathroom scale. I have a thread about this: DIY cat weighing method with bathroom scale. Basically, weigh yourself, then weigh yourself holding the cat, and subtract. It sounds silly, but it is the most consistent method. For a shy cat, it helps to do it when they are calm.

Oh, I have seen that method mentioned before! But I am worried it might stress Bella out if I try to hold her while standing on the scale. She gets twitchy when I lift her. Does anyone have tips for making that less traumatic? Also, is there a way to check manually without lifting them up?

I am a big believer in raw feeding, which makes weight tracking easier because you control the exact calories, but I know not everyone does that. For manual checks, look at the rib cage and the spine. If you can feel the ribs with light pressure but not see them, that is a good baseline. If you can feel them with no pressure, they are losing weight. I wrote a lot about this in Manual body condition scoring guide. It is more about body composition than just the number on the scale.

I am so sorry to hear about Bella's asthma! I lost Mittens last year and I know how scary it is when you are waiting for signs. For shy cats, I used to just put a towel on the scale and let them walk on it themselves. It was less accurate, but they weren't stressed. I think consistency is key, even if the method is imperfect. Have you tried weighing them when they are asleep? That worked for Shadow when he had CKD.

Weighing them asleep sounds like a great idea, I will try that with Charlie! But I am still worried about Bella. If I do notice a slight drop in weight, how do I know if it is just normal fluctuation or something serious like her heart or lungs? I saw a thread by Dave King about Tracking subtle changes in cats with heart issues and it made me nervous. Is weight loss a common sign of heart trouble even if the breathing is okay?