Best Wet Food To Help Cat Lose Weight

A white circle with a black border surrounding a chevron pointing up. It indicates 'click here to go back to the top of the page.'

Facebook Icon The letter F. Facebook Email icon An envelope. It indicates the ability to send an email. Email Twitter icon A stylized bird with an open mouth, tweeting. Twitter LinkedIn icon LinkedIn Link icon An image of a chain link. It symobilizes a website link url. Copy Link

Our stories are reviewed by medical professionals to ensure you get the most accurate and useful information about your health and wellness. For more information, visit our medical review board.

The Best Cat Food Of 2024, Recommended By A Vet

Angle down icon An icon in the shape of an angle pointing down. The best weight loss cat foods are packed with nutritious ingredients and can help keep your cat feeling full. Amazon, Chewy; Business Insider

The best cat foods for weight loss are specially formulated to help cats lose weight safely and healthily. They typically have fewer calories, less fat, and more nutrients per serving than other cat foods. Weight loss cat foods may also contain extra fiber, which helps cats feel full while eating less. If your cat has put on an extra pound or two, your veterinarian can offer more guidance on their daily calorie needs and may recommend a weight management food.

We spoke with feline nutrition experts and a vet to find out how to choose the best food for overweight cats. Hill's Science Diet Perfect Weight Adult Roasted Vegetable and Chicken Medley and Nulo Freestyle Adult Trim Salmon and Lentils Recipe are two of our top picks because they contain key ingredients to help cats feel full and burn fat. All of our recommendations align with the Global Nutrition Guidelines published by the World Small Animal Veterinary Association (WSAVA) and meet or exceed the Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) standards.

Adult Perfect Weight Roasted Vegetable & Chicken Medley Cat Food

Keep in mind that cats can gain excess weight for various reasons. For example, spaying or neutering cats is essential for their health but can lead to weight gain over time. Age, limited mobility, consuming too many calories, or getting too little mental and physical exercise can lead to extra weight. While properly portioning your cat's food can help them maintain a healthy weight, simply cutting down the amount you feed them can be dangerous. A smaller serving may not provide all the nutrients your cat needs, says Dr. Mark Freeman, a veterinarian and assistant professor of community practice at Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine.

These canned foods from Royal Canin, Hill's, and Purina contain extra ingredients that are common in the best weight loss food for cats. Chewy; Business Insider

Canned food, also called wet food, contains a lot of water: 75% to 78% moisturecompared to 10% to 12% water in dry food. This is significant because cats prefer to get most of their hydration from their food rather than drinking water, says Dr. Deb Zoran, a board-certified small animal internist, nutritionist, and professor at Texas A&M University. What's more, the water in canned food helps fill cats up, even when they consume fewer calories.

The 14 Best Cat Foods For Weight Loss Of 2024

Because wet and dry cat foods have different amounts of water, you'll need to convert the wet food values to a dry matter basis to compare the nutritional content. This means you remove all the moisture from the wet food and then calculate the nutritional values based on the remaining solids. We contacted the manufacturers of the foods listed in this guide to get the nutritional profiles of each food on a dry matter basis. If you'd like to compare recipes for dry foods with wet foods not listed in this guide, you can use these directions from the Cummings Veterinary Medical Center at Tufts University, call the food manufacturer, or ask your vet for help.

Our picks for the best wet cat foods for weight loss have added fiber from ingredients like powdered cellulose. More fiber can help your cat stay full for longer, so it may help keep them from meowing for more food between meals. They also contain L-carnitine, an amino acid that helps the body burn fat for energy and may help with weight loss.

Your veterinarian might recommend dry food (kibble) that contains salt for weight control. Salt may seem like a strange ingredient, but Freeman says pet food brands add salt to encourage your cat to drink more water. It's another mechanism to help pets feel full and reduce food consumption, he says.

Creating A Weight Reduction Plan For Cats

Calorie control also plays a major role in weight loss. Even so, treats are still important for bonding with your cat and rewarding them, says Dr. Julie Churchill, a veterinary nutritionist and professor of nutrition at the University of Minnesota College of Veterinary Medicine. She suggests using a portion of your cat's kibble as a treat. This way, you can give them a few small pieces of a complete and balanced food without disrupting their diet.

Our picks for the best dry cat foods for weight loss contain soluble and insoluble fiber sources like beet pulp, oats, psyllium seed husk, and inulin, which can come from chicory root or Jerusalem artichoke. Soluble fibers absorb water and form a gel in the stomach, slowing digestion while helping cats feel full. Insoluble fibers add bulk to your cat's stool and help keep their digestive system healthy.

Along with added moisture, many wet cat foods contain carbohydrate sources that can help your cat lose weight or maintain a healthy weight. For instance, Tufts University says complex carbohydrates such as brown rice and whole corn are more fiber-rich than other carbohydrates. They can help your cat feel full for longer. Our experts recommend whole, complex carbohydrates over processed carbohydrates such as flour and meals. This is because cats use more energy to break whole carbs down, says Dr. Korinn Saker, associate professor of clinical nutrition at the College of Veterinary Medicine at North Carolina State University.

How Much To Feed A Cat: Portions, Calories & More

Our budget weight management picks for the best cat foods include fiber to help your cat feel full and L-carnitine to help them burn fat. If wet food still feels too pricey (it tends to be more expensive per serving than dry food), you can ask your vet for help creating a meal plan that mixes wet and dry food. Zoran says she offers her cats wet food to keep them hydrated but also incorporates a small amount of dry food in feeder puzzles. This helps slow her cats' eating by making them work for their food, which can help them feel more satisfied and promote weight loss.

Budget dry food is a good option for cat owners looking for an affordable way to help their cat lose weight. Both budget and premium weight loss cat foods may contain cost-effective protein sources like meat byproducts and byproduct meals. These are secondary ingredients from the human food industry, but they meet the nutritional requirements for pets set by the AAFCO. Our experts agree that byproducts and meals make good protein sources for cats.

Cats are obligate carnivores, meaning they need animal-based proteins for essential amino acids like taurine. Budget dry cat foods can meet your cat's dietary needs as long as proteins in the form of whole meat, meat meal, or byproducts come first on the ingredient list.

How Much Wet Food To Feed A Cat Every Day

The budget weight loss dry foods below are low in calories and fat, like our other picks in this guide. They contain proteins such as deboned chicken, turkey meal, and salmon meal. Salmon meal is a good source of omega-3 fatty acids, which can help improve joint health and relieve inflammation. This may help ease joint pain caused by stress on the joints from excess weight. Our picks from Purina and Natural Balance also contain L-lysine, an amino acid that supports the immune system and may boost a cat's resistance to certain viruses.

Senior cats are more likely to develop health problems, especially if they are overweight. Maintaining a healthy weight can add years to a pet's life, improve their quality of life, and delay many chronic diseases that occur with aging, Churchill says.

When choosing among the best senior cat foods, it's important to work with your veterinarian to determine your pet's specific needs. Some cats may require a diet with lower levels of phosphorus, sodium, or protein, while others may benefit from a high-protein diet. Many senior cat foods, such as the ones below, also contain ingredients like fish oil, glucosamine, and chondroitin that can help improve mobility and reduce inflammation. Our senior picks also contain cranberries and blueberries. These ingredients provide antioxidants, which can help keep a cat's liver, kidneys, and brain healthy.

Should You Feed Your Cat Wet Or Dry Food?

AAFCO nutritional adequacy statement for adult maintenance or all life stages:The AAFCO is a nonprofit organization that provides nutritional guidelines for pet food. An AAFCO statement indicates that a food meets the nutritional needs of cats based on their life stage. You can confirm a cat food is nutritionally complete and balanced for adult maintenance or all life stages if it has an AAFCO nutritional adequacy statement on the label.

Keep in mind that cat food will only meet