How do I get my cat to lose weight even though he is on a high protein low fat lite cat food?

Question

We have him on Evo Lite cat food which seems to be helping a little but he is still overweight. This is the only food we are feeding him right now.

Answer 1

I don't know what the contents of Evo Lite are. Innova is usually a very good food.

Some canned food would be good too. Natural Balance doesn't seem to have a lot of carbohydrate in it.

So far I have found Nature's Logic to have the highest protein content. It is very expensive at $2.60 a lb. It has duck meal, millet, chicken meal and salmon meal in it. Even if you don't feed that every month it would be a good choice to alternate with the Evo. It is good for cats to have more than one protein source for their food. They shouldn't be eating only chicken all their lives.

To switch dry foods click on my name at the icon for a "recipe" for success. Only one of my cats eats only dry food and I rotate around about three different kinds. She is always eager to try what is in the newly opened bag.

Answer 2

cut the portion sizes by about 1/4 per day. Cats should only need to be fed about 1/3 of a cup twice daily...To get him to exercise alittle more try throwing a treat down the stairs while he is at the top of them. Make sure he is really interested in the treat. Also, keep him on an all dry diet. Wet food sticks to their teeth more and usually carries alot more calories. In turn making your cat fatter and his teeth gross. Cats are very hard to make lose weight. Oh another trick is to put the food down in the morning for ONLY 30 mins. If he doesn't eat it all then pick it up and try again at night. Only give 1/3 of a cup each serving. Do the same thing at night. If he doesn't eat it at all don't panic. Cats are stubborn and will eat when they are hungery enough.

P.S We don't recommend switching the cats food every month or so because a lot of cats tend to get picky and stop eating if they aren't fed a food they like anymore. One food is good enough.

Goodluck!

Answer 3

Yes. That is the advice I followed to get Poppy to lose weight. But are you talking about dry or canned Evo? You should know that dry Evo is rather high in calories. Even if it is closer to being species appropriate than any other dry food, it wouldn't be my first choice of what to feed for weight loss. First of all, I'd use canned food. It'll be much easier to get a cat to lose weight eating that, plus it's just much healthier for them. If I were going to try to diet a cat feeding dry food (which of course I wouldn't), I wouldn't use Evo. Or at least I'd feed that sparingly in addition to another food that has less calories, like Core or Instincts. Now you might think that this negates the theory, but it really doesn't. Calories do still matter! You just need to find a balance. Plus I think "high-fat" is somewhat misleading. By this they don't necessarily means tons of fat. The impression I've gotten is that it really just means not low fat. LOL - I know I'm not saying this very well. So you wouldn't want the same percentage of fat as protein, but you'll want more fat in the diet than a human would want in theirs. Does that makes sense? I wish I could explain that better.....but bottom line is that yes, this is the RIGHT thing to do. (But I still recommend canned over dry for weight loss).

Answer 4

You want to make sure that you are feeding him the correct amount. Ask your vet to formulate a weight loss diet. They can use your cats weight and the percent of body mass that can be safely lost each week and calculate the number of calories your pet needs each day. Also, divide the calories into multiple feedings throughout the day. And just like a person the key to losing weight is decreasing caloric intake and burning more calories through exercise. So make sure you play with your kitty a few times a day. Get them to chase a laser pointer or put one of those bungee toys on the door frame. My cat goes nuts over that! Good luck. Don't give up. Weight loss is hard for animals too.

Answer 5

It's almost impossible to get a fat kitty to slim down. Their metabolisms adjust so that they don't lose weight. This is pretty common.
Good Luck

Answer 6

I would suggest you get active with your cat. It's the best thing to do. My cat actually runs a tredmill. She loves it & I have no idea why.

Also, I wanted to say that Mickey's answer was very adorable.

Answer 7

Cut the portions and try to make him more active. It is hard, I have a male that is porky and I am doing the same thing. His sister is a lightweight at 7 pounds but he weighs 12 pounds.

Answer 8

Proteins takes more time to digest than carbs so eating protein will make you feel full for longer

Answer 9

I play string with mine. I also take the cat outside on a leash when it is nice weather. The extra fur makes the cat seem heavier too.

Answer 10

make sure you check food labels and avoid anything with more than 4 grams of sugar especially high fructose corn syrup per serving