Obesity is a common ailment in cats today. In fact, cat food manufacturers have an answer for many problems cats suffer with today. In addition to reduced calorie food, there's tarter control, hairball control, special urinary tract health formulas and even breed-specific formulas. If their food was proper to begin with, they wouldn't need so many different formulas. A wild cat doesn't need tarter control, hairball control or reduced ash rodents.
Wild kittens eat the same type of food as adults do.
Allowing an opportunistic creature like a cat 24-hour access to food will either contribute to the making of a fat cat, a skinny cat or a finicky cat. Rarely does it lead to a cat that remains in optimum condition for any length of time. Finally I placed a telephone call with Anitra Frazier. She was not able to offer me any other solutions, other than to keep trying. She put me in touch with Luke Granville, editor of a natural cat magazine called Tiger Tribe .