Ensuring that your cat maintains a healthy bodyweight is one of the most important responsibilities of a pet parent. Overweight and obese cats are vulnerable to a litany of serious health conditions, ranging from osteoarthritis to diabetes to hormone imbalances. Additionally, cats who’re overweight simply live shorter lives in many cases.
So, while you should do everything possible to help keep your cat fit and trim, you don’t need to feel bad about letting your cat pack on a few extra pounds – it’s an increasingly common problem. According to some estimates, nearly 60% of domestic cats are overweight.
The important thing is that you do something about it.
We’ll try to help below, by sharing a few ways to help your cat shed the extra pounds she’s put on. This will not only give you both more time together, but it also means she’ll feel better during her remaining years.
How Do You Know if Your Cat Is Overweight?
Of course, the first step in helping your cat lose weight is acknowledging the fact that she weighs more than would be ideal. There are three primary ways to do this:
- Ask your vet. This is undoubtedly the best option, as your vet can consider a variety of criteria to determine whether your cat is overweight.
- Consult a cat weight chart. Weight charts provide breed-specific target weights in easy-to-read fashion. But while these are useful tools, they don’t take into account your cat’s height, muscle mass, or bone structure – they only provide a general weight range.
- Determine your cat’s body condition score. By comparing your cat’s silhouette with illustrations of cats of various body compositions, you can get a good idea of whether or not your cat is overweight. However, owners can sometimes have trouble determining their cat’s actual body condition score.
9 Ways to Help Your Cat Lose Weight
Always check in with your vet before implementing a weight-loss plan. It’s important that you know what your cat’s target body weight should be, as well as the number of calories she needs each day. Additionally, you’ll want to know if she’s already suffering from any health problems that require immediate treatment.
But once you’ve received the green light, it’s time to get to work! Try to pick the strategies that will work best for you and your feline friend, and don’t be afraid to combine more than one approach to reach your goals.
1. Stop feeding your cat in ad libitum fashion (“free feeding”).
“Free feeding” – technically called ad libitum feeding — is a popular approach among many owners, as it is a super-convenient method for keeping your feline fed. The problem is, it’s hard to keep track of the amount of food your cat actually eats. The result is that free-fed cats tend to consume more calories than they need to stay healthy.
Instead, feed your cat at distinct mealtimes. And to the extent possible, keep these mealtimes consistent throughout the week. If your schedule makes this difficult, you may want to consider picking up an automatic cat feeder, which will provide access to food on a schedule you set.
2. Switch to a canned diet.
While there are plenty of nutritious cat kibbles on the market, they tend to be high in carbohydrate content and low in protein – a macronutrient mix that can lead to weight gain. But canned cat foods generally have more protein content and fewer carbohydrates than canned foods. This helps keep your cat feeling full for longer and also fuels her body in a healthier manner, which may help her to lose weight over time.
Additionally, canned foods have significantly more water content than dry foods, which will help improve hydration levels and keep your cat’s belly full without adding additional calories.
3. Opt for weight-loss cat food.
Speaking of changing your cat’s food, you can also consider switching to a weight-loss cat food. There are even prescription-only versions your vet may recommend trying.
These types of foods generally include more fiber, less fat, and fewer carbohydrates than standard cat foods, which can help your cat shed a few pounds. Fiber is especially important in this context, as it contributes minimal calories to your cat’s meals, while helping to keep her feeling full. Fiber can also help to reduce blood sugar levels, offering additional health benefits.
4. Provide your cat with more exercise.
Domestic cats – especially those who live entirely indoors – rarely get enough exercise. So, try to increase the amount of activity your cat enjoys each day. You can do this by spending more time playing with your cat (teaser toys are great in this regard) or providing her with solitary toys she can enjoy on her own. You can even consider taking your cat on leashed walks – many cats thoroughly enjoy the chance to get out and see the neighborhood!
As a bonus, exercise will not only help your cat lose weight, but it will also do wonders for her mental health and help keep her muscles in good shape.
5. Use feeding balls or treat toys to offer meals.
Eating food from a bowl is easy for your cat and doesn’t require her to expend much energy. So, you may want to consider making her “work” for her food by offering food inside feeding balls or treat toys. Just don’t be afraid to experiment with different versions of these products until you find one that suits your cat’s problem-solving abilities and play style.
In fact, feeding balls and similar devices not only provide more exercise, but they also help to stimulate your kitty’s mind, which is always a good thing.
6. Encourage more water consumption.
A lot of cats fail to consume enough water, and most should be encouraged to drink more. However, this can be especially important for overweight cats. Not only will the extra water help fill up her belly in calorie-free fashion, but it may also help prevent some of the urinary and kidney problems that occur in overweight cats.
One of the best ways to increase your cat’s interest in drinking water is by using a fountain-style water bowl, which keeps the water moving.
7. Stimulate your cat to explore more.
Cats often become quite lazy when they know where everything is. So, try to move her important resources – such as her litterbox, food bowls, water dishes, and favorite toys – around the house periodically. This will make her explore your home more, which provides extra exercise and mental stimulation.
You can also provide new points of interest from time to time. This includes cat trees, scratching posts, and other types of common cat furniture, as well as “novel” items, like the ultimate cat-attracting device: the cardboard box.
8. Feed your cats separately.
If you have multiple cats, it is imperative that you feed them individually. This will help you to monitor the food intake of each cat, and it will also help ensure that any of your cats who require specialized diets are actually getting the food they need.
It’ll generally be easiest to set up a daily schedule and set aside a dedicated “feeding room” to accomplish this, such as a laundry room, bathroom, or large closet. You may decide to feed one of your cats on the hour, and then feed the next one 20 minutes later, and so on.
9. Cut out the treats.
It’s perfectly natural to want to spoil your cat with tasty treats. This generally isn’t a problem for healthy cats, provided that the treats aren’t too caloric or offered too frequently. But overweight cats should get the vast majority of their calories from real, nutritious food.
If you cannot bear the thought of completely eliminating the treats from your cat’s daily life, talk to your vet about low-calorie treats that will keep her happy without sacrificing her progress. Like weight-loss cat foods, most of these will be heavy on fiber and light on calorie-dense carbs and fat.
Important: Avoid Unreasonably Rapid Weight Loss
While it’s always a good idea to help overweight or obese cats slim down, you want to encourage gradual weight loss.
Talk to your vet about a reasonable weight-loss schedule, but one to two percent of bodyweight per week is generally a good target. Just make sure that you have a scale suitable for your cat (human baby scales work well), and that you track her weight loss in a journal.
Above all else, avoid starvation diets. This kind of severe caloric restriction is not only cruel, but it can cause serious health problems, including potentially fatal liver issues.
In Conclusion
It may be disheartening to realize that your cat is overweight, but it’s usually easy to get things moving in the right direction. Just remember that all cats and owners are individuals, and some of the weight-loss methods discussed above will work better in some situations than others.
One last thing: Be sure to tell anyone helping to care for your cat about your weight-loss attempts and any strategies you’ve put in place – especially if you’re hiring a professional cat sitter to hang with your kitty while you’re traveling. This way, your cat will stay on track and keep shedding pounds while you’re gone.