Best Cat Food For Weight Loss In 2022 | Buyer’s Guide & Review

Updated: February 19, 2023 by CanCat Eat

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

If one continues to feed their cat the same food throughout cats 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 give 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 filter 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 leads to a healthy weight.

We have made a guide and a list of tips that is 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 the balanced weight loss cat food.

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

As we already know that carbohydrates are not part of 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 to the benefit of the top rated weight loss cat food. We listed them based on your cat’s need 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 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 review said also with my personal experience. You can read the review from the above button.

Why 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. Makes it a one of the best diet cat food for cats who needs to lose some pound. It has taurine and other essential vitamin to provide health benefit that your cats is going to need.

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

It has all the essential like omegas, antioxidant, vitamin and minerals to benefit your cat’s health (healthy immune system and urinary healthy).

Blue Wilderness recommend 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 in our list. We have already reviewed and talked about this grain dry cat food. In here, we are looking at the benefit 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 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 filled with important nutrients, and here 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 in ideal weight.

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

Another thing we like about Blue Buffalo, they provide different formulas that are designed for your cat’s need. 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 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 average weight loss cat food in our list.

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

This food is made with fiber rich ingredient, also contents vitamins minerals and omegas to support healthy eyes and heart. It contains all the important ingredient 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 it 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 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 for below for 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, is pretty good for a weight loss cat food.

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

Nutro made the 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 in the first ingredient for your cat’s protein need.

This kibble shape and flavor of this food is excellent which is good for picky eaters. It also contains omega to promote healthy skin and coat. So, you are getting the same health benefit that we get from more expensive options with a big price tag.  Overall, it is a balanced diet 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 a really very impressive in our opinion.

If you look at the nutrient content, it has 31% protein and 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 flavor. So, you will feel good while feeding your cat. It is made with natural fiber, antioxidant and vitamin to provide health benefit and healthy immune system.

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

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 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. 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 allergic.

Often grain free cat food contains high amount of fat. But, Halo’s healthy weight cat food contains low fat percentages (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, reduce calorie grain free cat food.

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

Instinct Natural Ultimate Protein Cat Food

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

This cat food contains compared to be little heavy calorie per cup (491) than other cat food in our list. But, don’t confuse by this. This is good cat food for weight loss. They have a different portion size 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 contains no filler ingredients. 95% of the protein content is coming from real chicken. So, you can sure that your kitten is getting quality meat ingredient in her diet. This is absolutely a high protein cat food.

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

If you are free feeding 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 need made also her feel full and satisfied with smaller portion size.

The ideal feeding amount might vary from cat to cat (also vary by age, activity level). So, it is an initial recommendation. Instinct recommendation for weight loss portion size per day 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 Cat Are Overweight?

There a large amount of cat owner not aware that what is the healthy weight for their adult cat. For most domestic cat is it between 7 and 13 pounds. And, large cats normally weight between 13 and 24 pounds. Sometime 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 bread. It is important to research on it 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 than her ideal weight. An extra 2 or 3 pound on cats is a serious matter. It is the same as a 150 pound human having 30 pounds more weight on. You could 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 slight, and it is creating a clearly defined waist. If we see there is no waist. Of 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 have 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 bone easily. Then, she may be overweight.

Give your cat a gentle petting: Hips, spines, and shoulder areas are fairly boney. They are visible pointy when your cat gets underweight. Also, for healthy cat, 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 Causes a Cat To Be Overweight?

There could be many reasons for overweight / Obesity in cats. If your cat is overweight, one the main reason we have seen is unhealthy eating habit such as high calorie foods or frequency 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 high carbohydrate food to their indoor cat 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 factor building obesity in cats is the role of carbohydrate. Because excess carbs are stored as fat. And 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 weight loss diet.

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

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

For a successful healthy weight loss in a controllable manner, check out the recommend 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 to 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 on potential risk if your cat is overweight. The health risk for an overweight cat is a serious issue. There are many problem effects an overweight cats like diabetes, high blood pressure, bone or joint pain, skin problem, 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 effected by diabetes. Overweight cat, even a few pound increase is a serious matter. There is a risk of diabetes. That is why we recommend visiting the vet if your notice your cat is overweight.

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

Bone/Joint Damage: Overweight cats are less health than a healthy weight cat. Excessive weight cause discomfort for them while jumping. Excessive weight can also burden the joints, tendons, and ligaments. In some case, it may cause Arthritic change. Overweight might get 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 effects their heart and lung function. There need to take extra precautions and take longer to recover from anesthesia.

Skin Problem: Overweight cats are not healthy. So, they might get problem in their skin and coat like itchy skin and greasy coat. Overweight cats get hard time reaching the certain part of their body to groom.

Obesity and overweight can effect your cat in many way. 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 for maintaining a healthy weight and lower the excessive weight down.

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 the 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 continue 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. In might vary depending upon your cat’s breed and activity level. We have listed the recommended feeding portion size for best weight loss foods above. You can use these guidelines to start feeding your cat, then adjust the portion size according to your cat requirement.

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 on 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 friendship 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 option available to improve her activity level. Most impression one is cat furniture, this 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 protein diet from real meat source. A digestible food from real meat source is important to keep your cat healthy.

Feed smaller, more frequent meals

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

What I Need to Consider for in Weight Loss Cat Food

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

Carbohydrate uses to pack kibble together, and many cat foods sacrifice protein this way.

We always said before, and saying it again, cats does not need no carbohydrate 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 a healthy weight loss.

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

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

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

You might heard before, 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 of protein in their diet will make them lose weight unexpectedly in an uncontrollable manner.

How to Put Your Cat on a Diet Cat Food

First thing you should do, take your cat check 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 a very picky eater, so sudden switch from a rich food to a weight loss food might not be the best approach. Most Vet 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 eat. 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, how much she is eating everyday. Reweigh the cat is important at 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 time will help you to calculate, how much calorie is 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 happen with best weight loss food. Because cat’s digestive system may take a longer time to adapt. For this case, we would suggest you getting 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. While 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.