You think your cat incredibly cute fluffy and round. But the vet just told you that your cat weighs a few pounds too much. Your cat is too heavy and for his health it is important that he starts to lose weight.
Give your cat some exercise by playing with your cat
Cats sleep a lot of hours during the day, this is normal cat behaviour. But does your cat get enough exercise while is awake? If it is still a kitten, we play with our cat more often than when it the cat gets a little older. Make sure your cat has enough toys, rotate them so that they are “new” and interesting for your cat. But also play more often together with your cat and his toys.
Play with food
You will probably still hear your mother’s voice in your head: “don’t play with your food.” But you are a catmom and your cat child can play with its food. There are various options for this. You can throw the kibble into the room one by one so that he can run after it. Or you can hide kibbles around the house (preferably in places that require a little climbing). And feeding puzzles and feeding toys are also available. Nice additional advantage: because your cat is busy during dinner, he will sooner feel that his stomach is full.
Even more movement outside.
When your cat is outside he has many more stimuli, a bee or butterfly that flies by, all kinds of sounds. Your cat will be triggered much more when he is outdoors and will get more exercise which will cause him to lose some pounds.
Climbing around to lose some extra pounds
Climbing requires a lot of energy. Does your cat have the opportunity to climb indoors? If not, you can easily create this by attaching boards to the wall.
Avoid emotional eating caused by stress
Not only human can eat more food when they are stressed, cats do this too. Try to find out if your cat is stressed and if you can reduce this stress.
Find a balance in the amount of food
If your cat eats too much, he will gain weight but with too little food. Find a balance here (possibly in consultation with the vet). On the back of the food bag is also the indicated amount of food per day. Do not assume how much your cat now weighs, but his target weight. Adjust the amount of kibble to the final weight you want your cat to become. If you weigh the food, you know for sure that you give enough. Do it in a healthy way, never go crash diets. That can be harmful to your cat.
Reward your cat with loose kibbles
Do you reward your cat with cat treats? The treats often contain more calories than the normal cat food. Keep some loose chunks (from his daily portion) separate and use these chunks as reward treats. Give your cat some time to get used to the movement and the new way of eating.
Last option, diet food.
If this does not prove sufficient, you can switch to special diet food. (Pay attention to never change to other food at once, do this gradually by mixing the current food with the new one. Always increasing the amount). Never switch to a different diet in one go, but always let your cat get used to it in phases.
Has your cat reached the targeted weight?
Then keep a close eye on whether your cat is no longer gaining weight, it is important that you do not suddenly give him lots of treats again. Does your cat keep losing weight? Then give him some food. Is his weight stable? Good job! Keep this up.
