How to Put Your Cat on a Diet?

According to the Association for Pet Obesity Prevention, 60 percent of the cat population is considered overweight or obese. Overweight cats move slowly, experience hard time when grooming themselves, and are more prone to developing serious health conditions.

Diabetes, heart disease, hypertension, bladder stones, urinary infections, and even cancers are just some of the ailments that may affect your overweight cat. To avoid the worst-case scenario, you need to help your cat lose her weight. Veterinarians from Eastshore Vet, the best doggy day care agency in Branford, explain how to put your cat on a diet in this article.

How to Put Your Cat on a Diet?

Reduce the Amount of Food

This step is the obvious one. The first step to help your cat lose weight is to hold strictly to recommended quantities given on food packaging. Have in mind that a neutered cat needs 20 percent fewer calories than a cat who didn’t go to a neutering procedure. You might want to measure the quantity of food for that day and divide it into two or three meals.‍

Structure Her Meals

If your cat has learned to eat whenever she wants, it is essential to structure her meals. You might want to establish a strict schedule for her three meals that suits the best her instincts. When deciding about her mealtimes, have in mind that cats in the wild hunt and eat at dawn and dusk. To help your cat adapt easily to a new regime, organize her meals following her natural rhythm.

‍Change a Diet for Your Cat

Veterinarians recommend switching to a food that contains more protein and fewer fats. Moreover, they advise avoiding food that contains too many carbohydrates. According to them, cats are carnivores and their essential food is meat. Therefore, reduce dry food in favor of wet food.

‍Encourage Her to Exercise

Like humans, cats need to move, run, and exercise in order to stay healthy. Be patient at first, because it wouldn’t be easy to encourage your overweight cat to exercise. Surround her with interactive toys, cardboard boxes, feathers, rustling bags, and other captivating toys that will help her move.

‍Let Your Cat Hunt Her Food

One of the best ways to let your cat exercise is to help her hunt. You may want to provide her with a food toy that will help your cat chasing an object in order to eat. Not only that she will feel rewarded after each chase, but she will become satiated with fewer amounts of food. Chasing a feeding ball will help your cat eat slowly and take enough time to digest food before the next bite.