Obesity rates rise fast, affecting both humans *and* animals. Animals, like people, face trouble from poor eating choices and lack of exercise, like missing walks or playful activities. This leads to many cats getting very overweight quickly.
It is not funny when your cat lies there, reduced in mobility and with increased health risks.
Therefore, you should do your cat and yourself a favor and help him lose the extra pounds. Not only will it be healthier, but also happier.
To reduce your research, we have found for you some of the best cat foods for weight loss. We can not make your cat work out, but we can surely help with the eating habits, and benefit your cat.
We have found out everything that you need to know about the best diet cat foods.
Best food for overweight cats of 2024
Review of best cat foods for weight loss
Here are some of our top picks for the best cat food for overweight cats based on calorie count, taste, flavor, and food values: and to help you, we have categorized some of them according to the needs of your cat. Have a read:
1. Hill's Science Diet Dry Cat Food, Adult, Chicken Recipe
This pack is designed to make your cat lose weight and maintain it in the future. This is both fast and effective.
Within ten weeks, more than seventy percent of cats lost weight after eating this balanced diet of Hill’s Science, after being fed as instructed.
It is made with all-natural ingredients and is free of added color, preservatives, and artificial flavor.
It has only the flavors of real chicken, lamb, salmon; whichever you prefer from the options. If you still aren't convinced, Hill’s Science Diet offers you a 100% money-back guarantee, so you are not risking much if you have your cat try it.
Pros
- Is made with all-natural ingredients.
- Comes with statistics of success as we have read from a whole lot of customer reviews.
- Has antioxidants in it.
- Provides a 100% satisfaction guarantee.
Cons
- The kibble is too large for cats with a dental problem.
- There are statistics of failure too, as some cats reportedly did not lose weight after as much as 3 months.
2. Purina Pro Plan FOCUS Weight Management Adult Dry Cat Food
This pack comes with a specialized formula to provide your cat with complete and balanced nutrition.
Recommended by vets for cat owners with a picky, obese cat, this formula boasts twenty percent less fat content than the predecessors of the brand designed for a similar purpose, and therefore, is quite appreciated in the best dry cat food for the weight loss market.
The pack features 46% protein, which is a great amount to have in your cat food while being affordable. It made using real chicken, and has vitamin E and added Taurine in it.
Pros
- Is budget-friendly.
- Has natural prebiotics in it.
- Is made with high-quality protein.
Cons
- There is no poultry by-product or meal in it.
- Contains fish meal in it.
- Has added wheat in it.
- It has added animal liver flavor in it.
3. Purina Pro Plan Weight Management Wet Cat Food for Adults
It comes in 4 different flavors: namely, a turkey/grain-free blend, a chicken/rice blend, a turkey/rice blend, and a dry variant. Real turkey has been used along with the rice entree of this cat food.
The protein content has been kept such that the muscle remains while the fat melts away. No sacrifices have been made here.
Other than just targeting muscle building and fat reduction, addresses made to fulfilling other nutrient needs of the body make this food special.
Vitamin A, vitamin B12, vitamin E supplement, vitamin D3, and the combination of several useful minerals altogether help in functioning the liver, improve the immune system, better skin and coat, and stronger bones.
Besides being overweight, your cats can have urinary crystals. From the ingredients, we have that it has wheat gluten.
It isn't completely gluten-free but it is much better than the grain-free formulae that are ill-formulated and can help reduce struvite crystals.
Pros
- Ensures better bowel movement in cats.
- Helps the cats reduce weight and increases them in activities.
- Easy to perform transition with since they are very tasty.
Cons
- Contains soy flour.
4. IAMS Proactive Health Indoor Weight and Hairball Care Dry Cat Food
This is one of the best cat foods for overweight indoor cats. IAMS weight control cat food is very well known for its effectiveness.
This formulated keeping in mind how exercise-indifferent indoor cats are.
IAMS has created a specialized formula that will add extra help to your cat's maintenance of ideal weight. It is made using high-quality ingredients and has chicken in it.
The high-quality protein here with the essential amino acids helps the cat to lose weight, but not lean muscle mass. This is the most helpful feature that you will get to help your cat shed the extra pounds.
Besides a weight-loss formula, the cat food also has a blend of fibers that reduce hairball formation in cats. So, this is also the best diet cat food to tackle hairballs.
Pros
- The pack features a specialized formula designed for overweight cats.
- Provides a 100% balanced diet.
- Actually helps to lose weight as promised.
- Helps to prevent hairballs and reduce them in cats.
- Has super-essential amino acids in it.
- Also features real chicken as the main ingredient.
- Is even good for cats not planning to lose weight.
Cons
5. Royal Canin Weight Care Dry Cat Food for Adults
If your fat cat is prone to fattening more and more every day, the weight care formula will help it to keep it in control. Often, the common idea is to reduce the food intake of obese cats to make them slim and active again.
Reducing the quantity of food all of a sudden does harm. Instead of reducing portions or reducing the quantity, this cat food aims to optimize the nutrition given to the cats.
It has 33% less fat than is given to older cats in general. What it also does, is increase the fiber content.
Since the fat is less, you will need to make the cats feel fuller of the stomachs and hence these means are taken. Also, the protein is increased, helping the cats build muscle mass, which is required for a better structure.
To seal the whole idea of nutrition-giving, it is enriched with L-carnitine that increases the metabolism of your cats and helps them lose weight better.
Pros
- Smells better than the old formula of the same food.
- Increased L-carnitine allows easy weight loss even if you feed the same amount of food.
- Cats lost weight to eating this one
Cons
- The new formula didn’t work for some.
6. Royal Canin Ultra Light Canned Cat Food
High-calorie intake is necessarily forbidden for indoor cats who hardly move. This one from Royal Canin has less than 15% of the calories which are given to normal, healthy, and slim cats.
By no means should you think that it is less in nutrition! It has protein in it, balanced enough to help your cat build and retain muscle under the thick layers of fat.
This is one step to let them have an active lifestyle. The better the muscle mass, the more movement, and the load becomes easier for them, and the stronger they become than being just a fat blob that lies around all day.
It has the same L-carnitine we previously discussed that helps to reduce weight by increasing the metabolism of obese cats. The wet food features thin slices of food sogged in gravy so that the cats don’t have to taste a wet mess but can enjoy their food by chewing and slurping.
The necessary water that comes with wet food also helps by increasing their water intake for the day, blessing the tiny kidneys as they do the same.
Pros
- Improves the shine of the coat.
- Helps cats to lose weight with a lesser calorie count.
Cons
- Some cats find the texture off.
7. Blue Buffalo Weight Control Natural Adult Dry Cat Food
The Blue Buffalo weight control cat food is a tried and tested one in terms of cat weight management. Containing 30% protein and just 9% fat provides an optimum balance of calories and proteins, without any added fat to the already worse condition of your cat.
The best thing is that no by-products or meals are used in their products. We have shown you so far how companies add by-products to their food to increase the protein content, but it is actually very harmful to the overall weight of your cat and its well-being.
From the different customer reviews that we have read, we have seen that Blue Buffalo does actually do what they promise, and help your cat lose weight.
For owners who have a picky eater, you can mix it up with some more caloric food and make it more enticing to your feline.
Pros
- It is made with wholesome ingredients like chicken and vegetables.
- Has no “meat meals” in it.
- Is extremely tasty and nutritious at the same time, a pair-up which many diet cat foods lack.
Cons
- Cats who can not have, or are allergic to gluten may throw up from this as it has whole grains.
- The packaging is weak and it often tears.
- The protein content could be increased more.
8. Nutro Max Indoor Cat Adult Dry Cat Food
This is what we think is the best dry cat food for weight loss. This is a very reasonable pick if you are on a budget while providing your cat with quality food.
It is highly packed with omega 3 and omega 6 fatty acids and has 30% protein in it, which is acceptable enough to feed your cats.
A lot of health benefits you can provide your cat in 370 kcal per cup, which is quite reasonable. What is more, it is even safe for human consumption, since it does not contain “meals” which are meat by-products.
Pros
- Is a very cheap option.
- The quality is not compromised.
- It can replace expensive cat foods in terms of taste.
Cons
- It has the protein percentage a little bit less than is desired in cat foods.
- The more expensive diet cat foods come with more quality. Although quality isn’t compromised here it can always be better.
9. Blue Buffalo Wilderness High-Protein Grain Free, Natural Adult Weight Control Dry Cat Food
This pack is a mixture of high-quality protein and yummy deboned chicken for cats who want to lose weight but not to compromise the taste.
It also contains Taurine and other essential nutrients that make sure that your cat is doing all good with the food value as it loses the extra weight.
The instruction from the manufacturer is such that you need to ease your cat into the diet food.
One of the ways you can do it is by mixing three-fourth of its current food with one-fourth of this diet food, and increasing the proportion as time passes. This transition is pretty seamless for your cat to understand.
Pros
- Has added Taurine in it.
- Is grain-free.
- It comes with instructions that help you to feed your cat properly.
Cons
- Some cats have shown an allergic reaction to the food.
10. Natural Balance Fat Cats Dry Cat Formula
This may not be one of the most well-known brands that cat owners have heard of, but they are the ones who provide you with a high-quality, low-calorie diet cat food that can help obese cats solve their problems.
With only 305 kcal per cup, it is an option that sacrifices the calories and loads up on the nutrition.
It contains as much as 35% protein and has trace Taurine too. Compared to well-established brands, this is a good (and compared to some, better) option for cat parents to spend their money on.
One of the best things about food is that it is free of grains. The best thing is probably that it works while being friendly on the wallet.
Pros
- Is not too expensive.
- Has better nutrition than most known brands.
- Has a low-calorie content.
- There are lower complex carbs added to this diet cat foods to reduce protein levels and glue kibbles together.
Cons
- Is too powdery compared to other cat foods. Owners complain that meal dust forms when the pellets rub together due to friction, so they have to sift the dust frequently to remove the dust particles.
Besides the dry cat foods, there is a set of best-wet cat foods for weight loss, but we want your cat to exercise the jaw muscles too, so we will discuss them another time.
How to Help Your CAT Lose Weight! (Video)
Conclusion
After all these, you should be successful to help your cat reach a healthy weight goal and have him maintain it through a balanced diet and exercise.
After it has reached its goal, do not get it back to the original diet and start treating him to a lot of tasty for all the hard work it has done to achieve the goal.
Slowly increase the calories and food intake required to maintain a healthy weight. You can’t still start free feeding, but still, follow the instructions on how to feed your cat from the labels on your cat food packet.
You can also follow our formula to find out the right calorie count for your cat easily if you know the current weight.
Just make sure your favorite feline friend is not gaining any weight sooner or later!
Once you have decided on the best cat food for weight loss, don’t forget to check out our The Best Cat Food for Sensitive Stomach article.
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I need recipes
My chubby boy loves chicken
And tuna
Gravy portion
Loves dry food but I cut that out completely
I love these recipes:
https://cats.lovetoknow.com/Homemade_Cat_Food_Recipe
Other than that, I use for my 2 cats the Blue Buffalo Weight Control for Adult Cats.