How can I get my cat to lose weight?

[Canwegetanothercat]

Has anyone managed to bring their weights cat down when the cat just constantly acts as if they’ve never been fed?

we had a vet visit yesterday, all good but I need to bring girl cats weight down. I’ve tried ignoring her when she’s crying for more food when she only just had some two hours prior, but it’s too annoying to ignore, it’s just constant and she doesn’t stop unless I give in. She ends up having about 3 or 4 pouches of wet food a day. No dry. No treats. Is there anything low calorie that I can swap with? Any tips welcome!

You need to actually ignore her, no matter how annoying it is. You can't just feed her to shut her up. Time to get tough.

That seems like a lot. Is there any reason you aren't giving her any dry food? That can be left down so she can snack on it. Also are the pouches cheap food or a high meat / no cereal brand?

You could try fat shaming 🤣.

But being serious - any way to increase exercise for her? Does she go outside?

What happens when you are out for the day? One reason we give dry is that we are all out all day on weekdays so it is there if they get peckish

How active is she? Does she have plenty of safe outside access, does she play inside- you could try playing lots with her. Then I guess it is getting into a routine w9th her feeding so she doesn't keep asking (I know what it is like with a chatty.cat! Luckily mine is incredibly active as she is our pest control so she can have as much food as she asks for)
Maybe try dry food like others have suggested? Remember plenty of water.if uou do that though

So right now she is just over 4kg and the feeding guide says for cats this size give 3 to 4 pouches. But she shouldn’t be 4kg she’s only a small cat, she’s overweight. So I need to reduce it but she always acts hungry and it makes me feel bad 😫

How much does your cat weigh and what weight should they be. What did the vet recommend they should be eating daily? Also I would have thought the vet would have recommended a brand. Vets don't recommend wet food.

The reason why she doesn’t get dry food is because I was told by the vet that it is higher in calories and she doesn’t make the bowl last. I could fill the bowl to the top with dry food and she sits and eats it all in one go lol

Well, how about just giving three quarters of a pouch each time as a starter? You could still feed her as frequently but her overall intake would reduce by 25% straightaway…

I have 2 indoor boys that have dropped 1kg each. My DH worked out exactly how many calories they should have per day, we dropped 15% and then worked out how to spread the calories over 3 x meals per day, mix of dry and wet food. They are indoor boys and very lazy so we had to drop to 20% to get the weight off. All food is weighed, if we give treats, we reduce their final meal accordingly, often treats are motivation for play- yes we are militant about it! They even get packed off to the cattery with weighed out food portions! But they just don’t move so they get tubby reallllly quickly!

Both have food anxiety from being strays, which is how the ended up overweight in the first place. The vet said they can have as much courgette as they like as it’s 0 cals but we tried it and actually they hate it and won’t eat it, which I’m pretty sure proves they are not actually hungry! So if they’re being particularly noisy, they get offered courgette!

Are the pouches a complete food? If she is not getting the right nutrients it could be a problem. A mix of dry and wet is always best.

Also, does she go out and get enough exercise. She could just be bored out of her mind.

Our vets recommend wet food for ours. Due to dehydration, cystitis, lack of protein content etc. my boy cat has a mixture of both because he makes his food last throughout the day and is a perfect weight. Girl cat is so greedy and I work from home and it’s very hard to ignore her and concentrate on work.

the vet didn’t actually give any advice on what to feed her or how much. She just said she was a little on the chubby side and could do with bringing her weight down and just told me to keep my eye on it

Yeah I’ve made sure that it is complete food. She doesn’t go outside but that is by choice.. she does venture into the garden but then she hides behind the bush until I open the door and she comes running back inside. She’s not very adventurous lol. But she does lots of zooming around and playing inside

This is the food goblin

Mine get 1/2 a can each in the morning with a smallish bowl of dry food. They have a whole can in the evening each. Cans are 70g. One cat is about 4kg and one about 4.5kg. The 4kg cat looks skinny, the 4.5kg cat looks more barrell like. They are different builds.

They eat exactly the same food, skinny cat slightly more than tubs.

If you are about all day, I would feed little and often, maybe half a can at a time. I'd also introduce some dry food. Hills do a low fat one for tubby cats and it works. Dry food is also essential to help maintain their dental health. If your vet has said otherwise, frankly, I'd find a new vet.

Our old boy was a huge cat 7.5kg and we got a kg off by switching to that. Noting he was half BSH, long, tall and broad. The girl cats are much daintier.

I'd also feed a high quality wet food like Applaws, Blink, Pets at home de luxe, etc. Check the meat/food content and make sure it has a minimum of 60%, preferably 70% chicken or fish. Cats are like humans, high quality protein packed food fills them up. Some are skinny beans and some more prone to stacking weight whilst eating the same. My girls are testament to that.

Thanks so much for this, really helpful. I ordered applaws once but then when it was delivered I saw on the back it was complementary food.. do they do complete wet food? Neither cat was particularly fond of it and a lot of it went in the bin tbh which is a shame because of the price tag

You need to feed her first the weight of cat you want her to be not what she currently is. A 4.5kg cat who I wanted to loose weight I would normal feed 2 pouches a day no more.
People often mistake cats crying for them asking for food, but often they are asking for attention or to be played with. I would add in a least one 20 minute play session a day and I would get her to hunt for her food, move it around the house and maybe consider using puzzle feeders too. Cats who hunt studies have shown that it is at least 10 hunting sessions to 1 successful kill so trying to mimic this.

I do use all wet food in cats with cystitis problems and so not suggesting dry food is not necessarily a bad thing.
Dry food usually not good for teeth ur us that wet food is bad, but in a cat with recurrent sterile cystitis this is a bigger problem for the cat than the potential risk of dental disease from feeding wet food.
Feeding solutions need to be individual for individual cat circumstances.

Thank you, this is a very good idea aboit getting her to hunt for her food. She plays constantly, 24/7.. it seems like she never stops. Constantly running around playing with the other cat. She is only 12 months old so still very energetic and mischievous. But this is good advice, thanks so much

I'm pretty sure the Applaws I buy is complete. There are others too, such as encore, but really important to check the label for the percentage of meat/fish. Make sure it's at least 60%. Try buying a few cans at a time to see if they like it.

Your cat is the image of my tubby one BTW.

Can you substitute some of the wet food for higher quality protein (chicken, fish) so she feels fuller?
Puzzle feeders?
Is she pestering for food because she's bored? I think the giving in because she's annoying has trained you both to give food. Cats are fiendishly persistent but you do have to ignore it. Go to a different room or lure her out and shut the door. We had to do this with DH's old cat because he would just continually mug for food while you were cooking so he used to get shut in the hall. He was a vast chonk so we had to resist.

It’s definitely food she wants because I try other things first. I play with her, I open the back door to see if she wants to go out, I check that her litter is clean etc and she just carries and then once I feed her she stops. I want to ignore her and I try every time but it lasts so long. After about an hour I can’t take it anymore. If I shut her in another room I can still hear her and she scratches on the door so I have to put earphones in but then I feel guilty lol. I wondered at one point if she had worms but she doesn’t. I’m going to get some puzzles and see if there’s any lower calorie, higher protein food out there to keep her fuller for longer. Thank you

I have huge cats (Maine Coons). Two years old, in and outdoors but the big male isn't particularly active. They eat two pouches a day plus maybe a cup of dry each? The male will shove the female out of the way and finish her food, so she eats less. They do regulate their intake - they don't eat til the bowl is empty.
I think you are simply feeding your cat too much, and do you play with her? A few minutes a day with a feathered wand thing and build it up.