Best Cat Food For Weight Loss In 2023 | Buyer’s Guide & Review

Updated: September 24, 2023 by CanCat Eat

A healthy high protein, low calorie diet is important to maintain a healthy weight for cats. With proper feeding and portion. If you are looking for the Best Balanced Weight loss cat food check out our recommended list by category based on your kitty’s needs. And, our best overall choice for weight loss cat food, is the Blue Buffalo Weight Control food.

If one continues to feed their cat the same food throughout the cat’s life stages from kitten to adult and to senior. Even the lower activity level of an indoor cat may cause the overweight. Have you ever given a thought about it? Now the query – is it the food or lower activity level of your pet?

According to APOP, 60% of cats were classified as overweight.

Cat food contains filters and lots of carbohydrates is not good for cats to maintain a healthy weight.

We recommend a high protein, low-calorie diet cat food with proper portion size. We have found that Blue Buffalo Weight Control food is the best cat food for weight loss. Most of the time changing the routine and feeding habit can benefit your overweight cat and leads to a healthy weight.

We have made a guide and a list of tips that are going to help and maintain your cat’s weight and get them to lose a few pounds. Before going to that, let’s look at what are balanced weight loss cat food.

Our recommended cat food list is based on High protein, low calories low levels of carbohydrates, and balanced fat. This balance will help your cat to get important nutrition without any weight gain.

As we already know carbohydrates are not part of a feline’s diet. They lived in the wild and survived on a high-protein diet.

There are many cat food contains a lot of calories. You need to feed your overweight cat the appropriate portion size. So, do the research well before feeding your cat.

Best Cat Food For Weight Loss

We are going to look close at the benefits of the top-rated weight-loss cat food. We listed them based on your cat’s needs and also listed the portion size to give you an idea of how much you should be feeding. Our recommended list of best cat foods for overweight cats that are guaranteed to help your cat lose weight in a healthy way and maintain it.

BLUE Wilderness High Protein Cat Food

Blue Wilderness dry cat food is loved by our two cats. This is one of the foods we recommend using for weight control. This food will start showing the result as many of the reviews said also with my personal experience. You can read the review from the above button.

Why does blue weight control cat food stand out so well?

This food is made with high-quality protein-rich debone chickens and it is gain-free and contains no by-products. This makes it one of the best diet cat food for cats who needs to lose some pound. It has taurine and another essential vitamin to provide health benefits that your cat is going to need.

Blue Wilderness support healthy digestion with probiotics and also help to maintain an ideal as their formula is made with balanced calorie from protein and fat.

It has all the essentials like omegas, antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals to benefit your cat’s health (healthy immune system and urinary health).

Blue Wilderness recommends a gradual transition to this food. So, start with 25% of Blue dry food with old diet food and gradually increase the portion size over 14 days.

This food has an impression balanced of calorie, protein, fat, and carbohydrate which is best for an overweight cat. Also, contain calories under 400 kcal (396kcal/cup)

BLUE Freedom Grain Free Cat Food

We have another Blue Buffalo Food on our list. We have already reviewed and talked about this grain dry cat food. Here, we are looking at the benefits you can get from this food which is going to help your cat to lose weight.

It is an excellent cat food for weight loss. This weight-loss cat food contains well-balanced protein (32%) and fat (14%). It contains 391 kcal/cup which is a little higher than average for some of the weight loss cat food in our list.

It also contains all the balanced nutrition your cat going to need to maintain a healthy weight and lifestyle.

We like Blue Buffalo because, their cat food contains real high-quality ingredients and is filled with important nutrients, and there is no difference.

It is made with prebiotic fiber and probiotics to maintain a healthy weight while losing weight. Natural fiber and high-quality protein are going to help your cat to stay an ideal weight.

This food has all the important nutrients like omega, and taurine to provide all health benefits to your cat. And, it contains no grain, no meat by-products, artificial coloring, or preservatives.

Another thing we like about Blue Buffalo, they provide different formulas that are designed for your cat’s needs. You can take a look by clicking on the button above.

Nature Balance Fat Cats with Chicken Dry Cat Food

Nature Balance Fat Cat is one of our favorite cats when it comes to weight loss. This may not be the most popular brand. Their packing may look old, but it does the job very well. It is a high protein and balanced fat cat food contains 320kcal/cup calories.

The calorie content in the food is compared to be lower than the average weight loss cat food in our list.

Low-calorie and high-protein food are important to lose weight. It is one of the most calorie foods out there containing 35% minimum protein and taurine.

This food is made with fiber-rich ingredients and also contains vitamins minerals, and omegas to support healthy eyes and heart. It contains all the important ingredients that you can find in other expensive well-established brand names.

This cat food has high-quality protein, low fat, and low calories that we need to take care of while choosing a cat food for weight loss.

It is a grain-free formula and made in the US, the quality of their food is good. Reviewers loved this food as this food helped their cats to lose weight. Some find this food a little dusty or powdery. You can read the complete review using the button above.

Overall it is the best weight loss cat food and also helps to maintain a healthy weight.

Check the chart below for a better understanding.

Nutro Max Weight Control Dry Cat Food

Nutro Max is compared to be a cheap weight loss cat food for an adult cat. We don’t recommend going for a cheaper option when it comes to feeding it to your cat for weight loss.

But, this food contains good ingredients compared to its price. It is totally a good value of-money option.

This food contains 30% protein and 10% fat which is a good ratio. We also found out their calorie content is 314 kcal/cup, which is pretty good for weight-loss cat food.

In most cheap cat foods you will find poor-quality meat by-products. This kind of food we don’t recommend this for cats. If food is not suitable for humans, never give it to your beloved cat.

Nutro-made cat food with real ingredients contains real meat. So, you will be sure while feeding it to your cat. Their formula is made with a chicken meal as the first ingredient for your cat’s protein needs.

The kibble shape and flavor of this food are excellent and are good for picky eaters. It also contains omega to promote healthy skin and coat. So, you are getting the same health benefits that we get from more expensive options with a big price tag.  Overall, it is a balanced diet of cat food for weight loss.

Check the table below to feed the best amount for weight loss.

Hills Science Diet Light Chicken Dry Cat Food

Hill’s Science is a popular brand as we already know. We listed this food as it is a well-balanced food for a healthy life. This food contains 288 Kcal/cup which is really very impressive in our opinion.

If you look at the nutrient content, it has 31% protein and a low-fat content of 6%. Again the impressively low amount of fat to lose weight. It provides your cat with high-quality real chicken while losing weight.

This food contains no preservatives or artificial flavors. So, you will feel good while feeding your cat. It is made with natural fiber, antioxidants, and vitamins to provide health benefits and a healthy immune system.

What do we like about Hill’s Science Diet food? They provide high-quality ingredients and protein-rich food. It is always recommended to gradually move to new cat food to avoid litter box issues.

Overall, it is good cat food with a reasonable price and plenty of nutrition.  This is a good balanced weight loss food that you should try.

The recommended feeding guide for weight loss is below. You may adjust the feeding amount to maintain optimal weight. But, if you are still not sure, you can ask your veterinarian for future advice.

Halo Holistic Wild Salmon Cat Food

Next up, we have Halo Holistic Grain-free cat food. A grain-free diet is a good choice. Because, grain like corn, wheat, and rice are filler and cheap. But, some cats have a hard time digesting grains.

From many reviews, some cats are allergic to grain not all of them. Grain-free cat food is good for cat’s skin allergies.

Often grain-free cat food contains a high amount of fat. But, Halo’s healthy-weight cat food contains low-fat percentages (a little more than other low-fat brands).

Reviewers mentioned this cat food little smelly as it is made with fish after all. But, this cat food is worth trying as it is a high quality, reduced calorie grain-free cat food.

This food is made with a special recipe with ideal calories and fiber for healthy weight and also to boost metabolism.

Instinct Natural Ultimate Protein Cat Food

Last but not least, we have Nature Variety Instinct Ultimate cat food, this is another best cat food for overweight cats.

This cat food contains compared to be less heavy calories per cup (491) than other cat food on our list. But, don’t be confused by this. This is good cat food for weight loss. They have different portion sizes for weight loss feeding, you can check the table below. Why we are saying this is good weight-loss cat food? We will explain it now.

This is a grain-free dry cat food that contains no filler ingredients. 95% of the protein content is coming from real chicken. So, you can be sure that your kitten is getting quality meat ingredients in her diet. This is absolutely a high-protein cat food.

Because it is made with a real meal and is high in protein, cats love this food. We have seen our cat enjoying this food as we also heard from many of our reviewers.

If you are free to feed your cat. Free feeding is not recommended for this food as it is a high-protein and high-calorie food.

This is a super high protein cat food and made with the best nutrition your cat needs made also her feel full and satisfied with smaller portion sizes.

The ideal feeding amount might vary from cat to cat (also vary by age, and activity level). So, it is an initial recommendation. Instinct recommendation for weight loss portion size per day is listed below. If you are not sure, you could always ask your vet.

Make sure to provide fresh and clear water with the food.

Why Most Cats Are Overweight?

There is a large amount of cat owners not aware of what is the healthy weight for their adult cat. For most domestic cats is it between 7 and 13 pounds. And, large cats normally weigh between 13 and 24 pounds. Sometimes it may vary. As we already mentioned before, according to APOP 60% of cats are classified as overweight or obese.

Your cat’s ideal weight might vary from different breads. It is important to research first what is the healthy weight for your cat.

A cat is classified as overweight if the body weight is more than 20 percent above her ideal weight. An extra 2 or 3 pounds on cats is a serious matter. It is the same as a 150-pound human having 30 pounds more weight. You can imagine the feeling of carrying extra weight while walking. It gets uncomfortable for us same goes for our feline friend.

How to Know If My Cat Is Overweight?

Look at your cat from the above: We will look at the area between your cat’s ribs and hips. It should move inward slightly, and it creates a clearly defined waist. If we see there is no waist. The waist is bigger than her ribs or hips. Then, your cat may be overweight.

Should look at your cat from the side: An ideal weight-healthy cat has an abdominal tuck. This area is just behind the ribs, it should have a smaller diameter than your cat’s chest. If your cat’s abdominal tuck is not noticeable, then she may be overweight.

Do you feel your cat’s ribs area: You should be able to feel her ribs easily. If you can’t feel her ribs, then your fur baby may be overweight.

Touch the base of your cat’s tail: You will be able to feel a small layer of fat protecting the base of your cat’s tail. If you are not able to feel her bones easily. Then, she may be overweight.

Give your cat a gentle petting: Hips, spines, and shoulder areas are fairly bony. They are visible and pointy when your cat gets underweight. Also, for healthy cats, these bones are easily detectable. You can feel them with gentle petting. If you are unable to feed it due to the fat layer. Then, your cat could be overweight.

What Can Cause a Cat To Be Overweight?

There could be many reasons for overweight / Obesity in cats. If your cat is overweight, one of the main reasons we have seen is unhealthy eating habits such as high-calorie foods or frequent treats also can be the reason.

Many cat owners try traditional cat weight loss diets. But, they are generally high fiber/ low fat which does not solve the problem. It fails to lose significant weight.

Many cat owners feed energy-dense carbohydrate food to their indoor cats in a free-feeding manner. This provides too much more energy than a cat probably needs. You need to adjust your indoor cat’s diet as their activity level is low compared to the outdoor cat. Outdoor cats have a higher activity level and they do a lot of exercise while hunting their food.

One of the main factors building obesity in cats is the role of carbohydrates. Because excess carbs are stored as fat. High carbs in cat food also mean your cat is getting low protein which is not good for your cat’s health.

We recommend high protein low carb, low fat, and low-calorie cat food for a weight loss diet.

A cat’s digestive system is not designed for protein. So, we should prefer protein and fat as an energy source. There is no requirement for carbs in cats’ diet.

Traditional weight loss cat food contains low fat, high carbohydrate, and high fiber. It might help to lose weight. But, with the lack of high protein in her diet, your cat’s lean body mass gets harmed or damaged.

For a successful healthy weight loss in a controllable manner, check out the recommended cat food list above. It is your responsibility to control the portion size for their healthy weight and lifestyle.

Obesity is also a common issue for an older cat. Because the decrease in activity level decreases their natural process. So, feeding the same quantity of food will not help your older cat.

You can create a diet plan according to your cat’s weight and life stage to help her maintain a healthy weight. Writing it down on a piece of paper is undoubtedly convenient. However, sometimes cats end up eating it or tearing it apart. We suggest saving it on your device where you can even convert it from Word to PDF and it is also just a click away.

Health Risk for Overweight Cat

Your cat’s health is at potential risk if your cat is overweight. The health risk for an overweight cat is a serious issue. There are many problems that affect overweight cats like diabetes, high blood pressure, bone or joint pain, skin problems, hepatic lipidosis, and urinary treat disease.

Cats need to maintain a healthy weight to live long and happily. A healthy-weight cat is more full-filled than an overweight cat.

Hopefully, you get the idea of why choosing a healthy cat food is important and its effects on your cat’s health and wellbeing.

Diabetes: The overweight cat often gets affected by diabetes. For overweight cats, even a few pound increase is a serious matter. There is a risk of diabetes. That is why we recommend visiting the vet if you notice your cat is overweight.

High Blood Pleasure: High blood pressure (or hypertension) is a common health problem in pets caused by obesity. This can cause major health damage to cats and also cause organ damage. There is a risk of loss of eyesight, and blindness due to the cat’s retina detaching.

Bone/Joint Damage: Overweight cats are less healthy than healthy-weight cats. Excessive weight causes discomfort for them while jumping. Excessive weight can also burden the joints, tendons, and ligaments. In some cases, it may cause Arthritic change. Being overweight might cause joint and bone pains. Arthritic pain can be difficult to treat as cats do not metabolize common painkillers.

Surgical risk: Overweight cats have a greater surgical risk. Because obesity affects their heart and lung function. They need to take extra precautions and take longer to recover from anesthesia.

Skin Problem: Overweight cats are not healthy. So, they might get problems with their skin and coat like itchy skin and greasy coat. Overweight cats have a hard time reaching certain parts of their body to groom.

Obesity and overweight can affect your cat in many ways. Overweight cats become less mobile. They tend to add more weight as they become less active and lack of exercise. So, it is important to control their diet to maintain a healthy weight and lower excessive weight.

Tips for Helping Your Cat to Lose Weight

Feed food properly formulated for weight loss

These foods contain an adequate level of nutrients. They have limited calories, fat, and carbohydrate. Many of food contains fiber, fibers helps to add a sense of fulfillment. While feeding weight-loss cat food, you need to maintain high-quality protein to maintain a healthy weight. Weight control and weight management formulas work for indoor cats.

Portion sizes

You need to monitor the portion size and adjust accordingly for a healthy weight loss. If you notice no change or your cat continues to gain weight, then you need to lower the feeding portion size slowly until her weight becomes a little manageable.

It is recommended between 24 to 35 calories a day per pound body weight to keep cats normal healthy weight. It might vary depending on your cat’s breed and activity level. We have listed the recommended feeding portion sizes for the best weight-loss foods above. You can use these guidelines to start feeding your cat, then adjust the portion size according to your cat’s requirements.

Say No to Free Feeding

If your cat is on free feeding, then you need to change that habit. If you are out of your house often, then you can invest in an automatic feeder. It will help you to set the feeding time. This will help to avoid overfeeding and she will get the appropriate amount every day.

Extra activity Always Help

You can make some time to play with your cat. This will build good friendships and also will help your cat to stay more active. There are plenty of exciting toys available for cats. You can hide some good treat and your natural hunter will find it, this will make a cat feel like it is hunting.

But, if you can’t provide some play time with your cat every day. There are some options available to improve her activity level. The most impressive one is cat furniture, which is best for indoor cats. It comes with toys that will keep your cats busy and entertain them. But, it will not replace the fun your cat might get playing with you.

Feed cats highly digestible meat-based foods

Cats are an obligate carnivorous animal. They need high high-protein diet from real meat sources. A digestible food from a real meat source is important to keep your cat healthy.

Feed smaller, more frequent meals

You can feed your cat in smaller portion sizes but more frequent meals. You can divide the amount of food with meal time, and you can feed them 5 times instead of 3 times.

What I Need to Consider for Weight Loss Cat Food

We already have a clear idea now what we need to look for in weight-loss cat food. The important factor we need to look at is carbohydrates.

Carbohydrates are used to pack kibble together, and many cat foods sacrifice protein this way.

We always said before, and saying it again, cats do not need any carbohydrates in their diet. But, don’t take it wrong, carbohydrate is not bad for cat. But, they are not the necessary ingredient.

High-protein cat food from a real meat source should be the first priority. It is best to choose low-carb, low-fat, high-protein cat food for healthy weight loss.

We need to give a diet that is entirely protein to the cats. Wild cat survives on eating their prey and contains protein and fat.

If your cat food contains a high amount of carbohydrates and a low amount of protein, your cat will lose lean muscle. This will result in a reduction in the metabolic rate in your cat and end up more weight gain.

We recommend high-quality protein-rich cat food (above 30% protein) for the best weight loss. This will help your cat to maintain healthy muscle while losing extra weight.

You might heard before, that a high-fiber diet cat food is good for weight loss. But, again high fiber will sacrifice the protein content. Protein helps to maintain muscle. High fiber may be helpful for a short period of time. But, loss of muscle mass is not going to help your cat. Lacking protein in their diet will make them lose weight unexpectedly in an uncontrollable manner.

How to Put Your Cat on a Diet Cat Food

The first thing you should do is get your cat checked by a vet. They will check the weight of your cat. You will get to know how much they need to shift to get a healthy weight. Your vet will also tell you if your cat has any medical condition. This will help you to choose a suitable weight-loss cat food for your cat.

You need to start putting your cat on a weight-loss food. Some cats are very picky eaters, so a sudden switch from a rich food to a weight-loss food might not be the best approach. Most Vets and manufacturers recommend you should gradually introduce your cat to a weight-loss food. You could do that by mixing the weight-loss food with your cat’s current diet.

You can start mixing 15-20% of new low-calorie cat food with the food your cat currently eats. And, gradually increase the low-calorie weight-loss food over a period of weeks. This will make the transition smooth.

Why gradual moving is important? It is going to remove the rejection of the new food. Low-calorie food may not be tempting for your cat. Your cat might still prefer to eat rich food. But, gradually introducing new food will help to avoid temptation drastically.

Starvation is extremely dangerous for cats. They require a fully nutritious high protein diet to avoid illness and such disease.

You need to pay attention to your cat, and how much she is eating every day. Reweighing the cat is important every four weeks. If you notice, there is no weight loss at all or even weight gain. Then, you should simply lower the amount of food you are currently giving to your cat.

You should always report to your veterinarian if your cat stops eating for two or three days. Free feeding is not recommended here. You should avoid free feeding for weight loss. With feeding, you will be unsure about the cat’s daily calorie intake. So, you can plan a specific meal time. Don’t leave the food or treats outside. Why? Specific meal times will help you to calculate, how many calories your cat is consuming a day.

Sometimes, there is some potential liter-box trouble when switching from rich cat food to weight-loss food. This does not mean your chosen food is of low quality. It even sometimes happens with the best weight loss food. Because a cat’s digestive system may take a longer time to adapt. For this case, we would suggest you get clumping cat litter to avoid any nasty odors.

FAQs

What is the Best Canned Wet Cat Food for Weight Loss?

We have found that a high-protein diet is important for cats to lose weight in a controllable manner. We recommend a high-protein, low-calorie food best for weight loss. While doing our research we have found Royal Canin Ultra Light Thin Slices to be the best canned cat food for weight loss.

What Is The Best Cat Food For Overweight Indoor Cats?

Our Indoor cat companion requires a healthy diet to stay fit and in great shape. The above-mentioned cat foods are best for overweight indoor cats. You can get them online. They will stay happy and enjoy the food. Our guide is going to help you to keep your cat in great shape and healthy weight.

Kristen Torres

Kristen is a cat parent. Love to keep my cats happy always and playful. Also, It became my passion to help another cat owner with caring tips for their cats and kittens. Stay tuned with my personal blog to know more caring tips, review of cat food and feeding guides. I’d love to know about your cat. If you something to share with about your cat. I will be happy to read.