How To Put Your Cat On A Diet

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Cats, especially indoor cats, can be prone to being overweight. And since you don’t take them for walks like you do with a dog, it can be a little more challenging to get them to a healthier weight! Putting your cat on a diet can be tricky and they should not lose the weight too quickly. Be sure to check with your vet first before considering putting your cat on a diet.

My cat Chester was overweight right from almost the time he came home. He was starving when I adopted him from a shelter and gorged himself at every meal to the point he wobbled around his belly when he walked! Unfortunately, this led to him developing feline diabetes later on in his life. Given the health implications of an overweight cat, it is important to try to keep them at a healthy weight.

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Body Condition

The first thing you should do as a cat owner is assess their overall body condition. All of my cats are spayed and neutered so they have a little floppy belly. But this doesn’t necessarily mean they are overweight!

For an ideal body condition score, you should be able to easily feel your cat’s ribs. You should also be able to see their waist behind their ribs when you look at them from above.

If you can’t easily feel their ribs or see their waist, your cat is likely overweight! Check out Royal Canin’s downloadable graphic to more easily compare the body condition of your cat HERE.

Time To Take Action

So all those extra treats and spoiling your cat with food has led to them being overweight. It’s time to take some action! The one thing to highlight here is that it can be dangerous for your cat to lose weight too quickly.

If your cat loses weight too quickly it can lead to fatty liver disease (hepatic lipidosis) which is potentially fatal to your kitty. When cats don’t eat enough their body converts fat into energy. And their livers can’t process this fat efficiently which leads to fat building up in their liver. This leads to the liver functioning even less efficiently.

So a gradual approach to losing weight is the best thing for your cat. Cats weigh much less than we do, so even one pound is a high percentage of their overall body weight! Time to take your kitty to the vet to discuss how much and how quickly your cat should be losing weight to keep them healthy.

Health Problems

As much as it shouldn’t surprise anyone, there are a whole host of health problems that can come with an obese cat. The development of diabetes is one of them. After Chester developed diabetes it led to a total change in routine and food, and included insulin shots twice a day. Which may have been avoided had I paid closer attention to his weight issue over the years. You can read more on feline diabetes HERE.

An overweight cat can also be prone to many more health issues such as skin problems from being unable to groom themselves, GI issues, urinary problems, pancreatitis, lameness and more.

Food

This is a pretty obvious place to look first when attempting to get your pet to take off some weight! Make sure that you are feeding your cat a high quality diet that is high in protein. And try to avoid grains as the first ingredient.

Wet food is a great place to start with your cat. Many cats don’t tend to drink enough water so wet food helps with hydration. According to ASPCA Pet Insurance, the average cat only needs 180-200 calories a day. Be sure to measure out your cat’s food and avoid free feeding. Dry foods can also be high in calories, which is another reason to look to wet food.

Treats can also add to weight gain in cats. Cut back the amount of treats that you are feeding your cat to help limit the calories they are getting in a day.

Exercise

When you have an indoor cat, this can get a little trickier! But there are definitely ways that you can increase the activity level of your cat!

Why not get a laser pointer? I haven’t yet met a cat that didn’t love to play with these! You can get them moving all through the house as they chase the elusive red dot! As well as running them along the floors, I like to point them bit up the wall for a bit of jumping activity. Whiskers will play with this for hours on end!

You can also get more toys to interact with your cat. Mine love the wands that have mice and bees and other objects that jump and move more like real prey! Whiskers tends to just drag these off through the house and hide them though. Plushies like birds that chirp are also a big hit in my house! Just make sure you put it away at night or you’ll never get any sleep! I got one of these for my Mom’s cats and she cursed me for it…

We also have a tall cat tree that my cats will run and jump and play all over! I love seeing Whiskers run and climb right to the top at full speed.

The Right Approach

So if you have an overweight cat, there are definitely ways that you can look to help them lose the excess and improve their overall level of health! Just be sure to consult with your vet to set out the right approach for you and your cat. Now get out there, get some catnip and toys and have some fun doing it!

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