How To Make Cat Lose Weight? Best Guide For You!

Do your cats are getting fatty day by day? Or they already become one? If you are searching for the answers or solutions for this problem, we did some research and experience in this sector. We will share our knowledge with you about this matter to help you a little.

So, How to Make Cat Lose Weight? Depending on several aspects and the current situation of your cat, you can put your cat into some exercise by walking, playing, and climbing. Additionally, you can offer new low-fat and low calories food by discussing with a professional, and using canned food also a great way to make your cat lose weight.

We will be discussing the matter in detail, what, and how you can do it step by step. If you are interested, keep following us to the end.

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Is My Cat Overweight?

There is no particular chart you can find online is justified. Instead, professional vets use a Body Condition Score (BCS) by visually grading pets.

So, what is body condition score, in short: BCS?

BCS is a subjective rating method use to standardize of an animal weight’s level. Pets and animals are scored from 1 to 9, and 5 from 9 considered as an ideal/perfect body weight for a pet or animal.

If your cat has a visible spine, hip bones, and ribs, it would be calling a thin cat by giving 1/9 BCS. However, an obese cat has a layer of fat on her ribs and other body parts, and a dissented abdomen, which BCS score will be 9/9.

Consequently, an ideal cat body of 5/9, you can easily feel her ribs and abdomen will be tucked up when observed from a different side.

Now you should have some idea whether your cat is overweight or not!

Why Should Your Cat Lose Weight?

Why losing your cat’s excess weight is necessary! Excess body weight can put your cat at risk of some critical medical condition. There could be any problem which can lead from obesity. Depending on various conditions, your cat may face:

• Heart disease
• Type 2 diabetes – a cat with excess weight has three times more likely to have this disease than average cat weight.
• Osteoarthritis (arthritis)
• High blood pressure
• Frequency of joint injuries
• Cancer (especially intra-abdominal cancers)

So. As you can see, there are lots of reasons why keeping your cat’s shape is essential. Also, overweight live shorter than ideal weight cats.

How To Help A Cat To Lose Weight?

Cat’s diet, exercise, and monitoring differ from one to another. Most guidelines fall under these three steps:

• Do Some Cat Exercise
• Keep Track of Your Cats Weight Loss Goal
• Provide a New Diet by consulting a Veterinarian

To find an answer to your question: How to Make Cat lose Weight, you have to follow these three steps and sub-steps accordingly. Though it’s a researched-based guideline, it’s best you should consult with a professional vet before doing anything mentioned here. 

1. Run Your Cat Into Some Exercise:

The best option to make your cat lose weight is getting the cat into some activities.

So, how can I get my lazy cat to lose weight by exercising?

Start playing with your cats more frequently, at least once or twice a day. Initiate a play that needs movements for a long time, may use some breaks, and start playing again. Provide some treats after finishing her play, which will motivate her to do the exercise and sport. Chase your cat around the house or let them catch you is a good exercise for both of you.

Giving her new toys to play with is another trick to get your cat into more exercise. Believe it or not, some cats love to walk on a leash with you around a park. Some indoor cats are not used to do this, but you have to try it at home first, then start going outside when she is comfortable with this method.

Give some climbing and scratching equipment in your cat’s space. It will encourage her to do some climbing and moving by herself. Most people think their cats don’t climb. The majority don’t have the opportunity to do the climbing. It’s better to have sit or resting areas on those posts or equipment. Keeping her favorite toys in the different sections will also encourage her movements.

Creating or buying some interactive toys for the cat is another way to put into some exercise. Toilet paper rolls, boxes, and books can be used for this purpose.

There are some toys that can store food, and they can have them after moving to particular places. So, these types of toys will increase your cat’s exercise in a creative way.

Put the food in different locations of the house. So, the cat has to move from one place to another to reach their food. Also, use high sites where she has to climb to eat. In the beginning, they won’t be much interested. But make sure they get used to this. It will be good exercise for them.  They will start moving frequently from one place to another.  

2. Pick Up A Weight Loss Goal and Keeping It Up:

Before starting your cat’s weight loss plan, you need to identify the current weight and set a goal to achieve. 

Also, make weekly or monthly goals to keep a better track of your cat’s weight loss program.

Try to check your cat weight every day. Also, use the same/particular scale every time to identify the difference correctly.

Use a written log or an online doc file to keep the wight record. It’ll be easy to track the cat’s weight loss development and progress. Besides, any unusual changes will be easy to notify. Some times there could be a sudden drop in weight, contact with the vet immediately. Consequently, you can check which diets work better with your cat’s weight loss. It will be helpful in the future. Here, you will identify the perfect diet for your kitty from the written data log.

Make sure your cat has the ideal calorie intake. Because if your cat isn’t losing weight, you should consider changing the diet accordingly.

You can also take pictures before and after diet, that will tell you how much it’s changing throughout the time.

Visit the vet regularly for the body checkup of your cat. The vet should be a part of your diet changing activity. Any unusual changes should be notified immediately.

Take on a long-term exercise and diet plan for your pet. After achieving the right weight, you should adopt a diet which will help her to maintain the perfect weight.

If your cat is gaining 3% of her weight in a single week, or gaining weight two weeks consistently, it may indicate she is going back to her former self.

3. Adjust Your Cat’s Diet:

The best possible way of -how to make a cat lose weight is adopting the proper diet according to the vet’s suggestion.

There is no single uniform plan of diet for cats. Instead, it varies from one to another.

First of all, visit a vet before changing anything. Your vet will take the physical exam of your cat and then provide a diet plan accordingly. There could be a disease that is causing your cat’s overweight. The cat could also lose weight because of a disease. So, it’s essential to visit a vet before doing anything, and follow their instruction properly is the right thing to do.

Diabetes is the common cause of gaining obesity of your cat. In case if your cat has diabetes, the vet will provide you a nutritional program, which will help your cat to lose weight safely. Sometimes, there could be a need to give insulin injections like a human to your cat too.

Identify the current weight and determine the target weight for your cat. Usually, a domestic cat weighs around 7-11 pounds or 3.18 Kg to 4.99 Kgs depending on different factors. Suppose your cat weighs around 20 pounds; the realistic target weight should be about 16 pounds.  After reaching that level, take a long-time cat’s diet to decrease the weight slowly and stay healthy for the future.

Make a reasonable short goal to achieve the target goal; if you want your cat to reach 16 pounds from 20 pounds, you should aim for around one pound to lose in three months. If that even can show some negative syndrome, discuss with the vet, and change your current diet plan accordingly.

Find out the calorie intake of your cat. (REP) resting energy requirement is the number of calories a cat needs while not doing anything to stay healthy. There is a formula that can give you an idea. But, it’s best to contact a veterinarian to receive a proper guideline for your cats. The formula is Kilocalorie/day= Thirty (Bodyweight in KGs) + Seventy.

So, if your cat’s ideal or perfect weight is around 12 pounds, your cat should have about 230 calories per day. But, if your cat weighs around 10 pounds, she should take around 210 calories per day.

Overfeeding or less feeding both can cause the problem to your cat. So, it’s better to discuss any changes you make with your usual vet. He or she will guide you through the journey of- how to lose your cat’s weight.

Another best way to lose your cat’s weight is to canned food. Canned food is good because you easily track your cat’s total calorie intake in a day. Some cats normally prefer wet food. Canned food also better than dry foods for cats like those who want to nibble food all the time. Consequently, your vet may recommend the perfect canned food brands for your cat according to the cat’s situation. Canned food is considered as best cat food for overweight cats.

Don’t run into a new diet plan immediately. Rather, turn her into a new diet plan slowly, buy mixing up new diet into the current one. And increase the portion of the new diet gradually. So, your cat won’t cause any problem. In a week, you can change the diet entirely. Therefore, change the food slowly. So, your cat won’t notice the change.

Changing the feeding schedule is another great way to help your cat to lose weight. Ignore her begging for food for a few days; she will adjust eventually.

Use different tricks to adapt your cat’s new diet, like adding some tuna, salmon, or ketchup with the food.

If your cat is having less food than usual, then provide some supplementary nutrition to your cat. To remain stay active and healthy, you have to use cat supplements. Talk with your vet about the right one for your cat.

Some cats may have diabetic; the veterinarian will suggest when and how to give insulin to your cat. You should always keep your contact with the vet at this time.

Give low calories treat is another way too: how to make a cat lose weight. Foods like broccoli, green beans, and popped popcorn without salt and butter are low calories food. You can also give her canned or baked food.

No matter what you choose to feed your cat, it’s best to discuss with a veterinarian in details.

Frequently Asked Questions (F. A. Qs)

How can I get my indoor cat to lose weight?

Answer: The easiest ways to make your cat lose weight are-

• Stop too much feeding to your cat: If you keep the food available all the time, it will indeed cause your cats to gain weight. So, don’t free-feed your cat. Give her food according to our previous discussion with the help of a veterinarian.

• Provide Enough Water: Keep the water bowl always fill. If she is wanting to eat something while laying around, she could have some water anytime. So, you don’t have to worry about her hunger. Water can provide some support.

• Use Wet Food: The amount of dry food in her diet list should decrease, and canned or wet food should be sufficient enough to keep the required calorie intake maintained. Also, cats tend to nibble all the time on dry food.

• Cat supplements: Provide some cat food supplements by consulting with a vet. High-quality supplements should be given to her. This will help her to maintain good health with a new diet.

• Play and Exercise: Encourage the cat to do some exercise and playing more with you or your family members. Playing will ultimately provide some exercise. This will help your cat to lose some weight.

• Change the diet Plan: Take on a new diet plan by consulting with your vet. Remember to have enough required calories are in there. Change the diet slowly.

How much should I feed my cat for weight loss?

Answer: The average indoor cat should eat around 20 calories intake for every pound of the cat. But the outdoor cat should eat about 35 calories per pound of weight.

For indoor 8 pounds, cats should have around 160 calories. And outdoor cats should have around 280 calories per day.

If the cat has overweight, you should reduce the calorie intake for 2 pounds, which is at least 40 calories less than the usual. Also, try to follow our given guidelines by consulting a vet.

How to Help A Cat Lose Weight with Multiple Cats?

Answer: This is a little tricky situation. You may come up with a better plan than us by observing your cat’s behavior and food habit. Even though here are some suggestions you can follow-

• Keep the food at some high place where the fatty can’t go easily.
• Feeding the cats separately is another solution to your problem.
• There are also some digital products in which the food station only opens with a specific microchip!
• You can also supervise the feeding time, take the fatty early from the food bowl.

Final Words

There could be a better and easier solution to how to make cat lose weight. However, after reading many blogs and discussing the matter with different people, we found all those somehow the same as those we have mentioned in this article.

Doing some exercise with changing diet, and monitoring are three basic steps of helping a fat cat to lose weight. Other things are just complimentary to these three.

Having excess body weight isn’t good for anyone, neither humans nor animals. To keep your cat healthy and fit, you need to look out for her. So, they don’t become a fatty one.

So, we want to hear from you guys; what is the current weight of your cat? And, is there anyone you consider a fatty?