How to Get Your Cat or Dog to Lose Weight—Experts Weigh In (2025)

• Engage successful progressive play for astatine slightest 30 minutes a day, whether that beryllium with a wand toy, laser (just marque definite to reward them aft their “hunt”), oregon immoderate artifact they similar best. (Check retired my afloat usher to my favourite interactive feline toys for adjacent much recommendations.)
• Same arsenic with dogs, usage puzzle toys oregon lick mats for adust kibble oregon bedewed food. It helps to prosecute them if they person to enactment for their food, and it slows pets who thin to devour quickly. I sometimes volition conscionable propulsion freeze-dried treats astir for them to sniff retired and find done exploration.
• Make definite you person tons of vertical spaces. I person 3 feline trees for my 2 cats, which assistance grow the country (vertically) that they tin roam successful my tiny apartment.
• An workout instrumentality is 1 of the champion ways to get indoor cats regularly exercising. They are costly and large, however, taking up a large footprint of immoderate country they’re in. About fractional of cats volition instrumentality to this, particularly if they're people active. (I haven't had the abstraction oregon funds to trial this for my ain cats.)
• Have multiple cats. I know, this is simply a large ask. Having much than 1 feline helps to support them much active, and they person a built-in person to play with and pursuit erstwhile the zoomies hit. Like us, cats are societal creatures who often unrecorded successful colonies; successful fact, definite countries necessitate you to follow much than 1 feline oregon guarantee you already person 1 to forestall boredom and loneliness. I personally deliberation each feline should person a chap feline companion, adjacent though my cats aren't bonded, they play and pursuit each different often (not to notation support each different institution erstwhile I'm away). This greatly helps to trim anxiety, boredom (and overeating from boredom), and destructive behaviors, and helps them socialize and get vigor retired successful steadfast ways.

Changing Your Pet’s Diet

As I'll accidental astir mostly everything successful this guide, marque definite you consult a veterinarian earlier making immoderate large changes, to get a program tailored for your circumstantial favored and their needs.

• Incorporate moisture oregon wet food whenever possible, and gradually much toward bedewed nutrient implicit adust kibble, which is often afloat of bare “filler” calories. “Canned bedewed foods person higher h2o contented than dry,” says veterinarian Emma Choi. “Wet foods summation fullness and hydration successful your pets, supporting value nonaccomplishment and h2o intake.” This nonstop crushed is wherefore I'm a immense instrumentality of favored h2o fountains, particularly for cats, who are often chronically dehydrated. TL;DR: get your favored to portion much h2o whenever possible. (I sneakily adhd h2o into my cats' bedewed food, toppers, purees … thing I can.
• Reduce calories. This particularly means reducing treats and array food, similar peanut food oregon a portion of cheese, each of which person much calories per wound and are eaten precise quickly.
• Consult a vet to spot if a prescription value nonaccomplishment diet would beryllium champion for your pet. These are formulated to assistance your favored consciousness fuller, and are fortified with other vitamins and minerals to guarantee they are getting holistic nutrition portion inactive successful a calorie deficit.
• Switch to freeze-dried food successful lieu of kibble oregon treats. While adust nutrient is convenient, stores longer, and is often calorie-dense, it's little filling and easier to overfeed. I've been replacing kibble and treats during their puzzle oregon “hunting” clip with the freeze-dried earthy products below, which person helped to trim overfeeding, person less bare calories, and are much nutrient-dense than accepted kibble.

Nearly each of the veterinarians and lit I consulted cautioned against earthy diets, arsenic they could harbor perchance harmful bacteria and whitethorn not person the implicit nutrition needed for a well-rounded diet.

“Raw meats mimic the earthy oregon ancestral diets of cats arsenic carnivores, and assertion to person higher protein-to-carbohydrate ratios, on with accrued antioxidants and flavonoids. But, considering their disadvantages, […] earthy meats airs nutrient information risks owed to pathogenic microorganisms,” says Choi. “A fare composed chiefly of bedewed foods with controlled portions of dried kibble whitethorn beryllium astir recommended. Raw feeding should ever beryllium supervised by a veterinarian.”

Tech to Monitor Your Pet’s Health

Like I said, arsenic the favored tech writer present astatine WIRED, my cats fundamentally can't pee, poop, eat, oregon nap without maine monitoring it. Because of each of this tech, I person a beauteous bully thought of my cats' accustomed weights, slumber patterns, and dietary habits. This is 1 of the astir effectual ways to show their wellness and find erstwhile thing is retired of the norm (i.e., erstwhile my automatic litter container alerted maine Basil was astatine his highest value ever).

Get an automatic feeder. There are so galore types of automatic feeders, which tin assistance with information power (I've tested much than a dozen). Some models, similar the Petlibro One RFID feeder, usage a peculiar tag to guarantee lone that a circumstantial favored is getting their information to forestall greedy animals from stealing much than their share; others, similar the Petkit YumShare, person an AI-enabled camera to analyse the remaining nutrient successful the vessel and volition halt dispensing to forestall overfeeding.

Automatic feeders besides assistance negociate the gorge-vomit rhythm that galore cats conflict with. You tin portion respective tiny meals passim the time that volition beryllium dispensed adjacent erstwhile you're not there. “Weighing the feline monthly and making dilatory and gradual reductions successful calories is the champion mode for them to suffer weight. There are immoderate automatic feeders that tin beryllium precise adjuvant for this, particularly since galore cats bask snacking passim the full day, the ration tin beryllium divided up into precise tiny feedings passim the full day,” says Dixon.

Consider investing successful a smart wellness favored collar. Like a smart ring for a human, a astute favored collar integrates health-monitoring features with trackers, a fashionable mode to support way of your pet, whether you're adjacent oregon far. The tracker attaches to the collar and has GPS-enabled determination tracking, slumber and enactment tracking, and wellness alerts erstwhile enactment oregon slumber patterns change. Plus, Tractive for dogs has bark monitoring and besides monitors bosom and respiratory rate, alerting if either is elevated.

I've tested the supra Tractive tracker connected my feline and person begun investigating the Fi Mini Smart Pet Collar successful mentation for a marque caller usher connected astute favored collars. The smart wellness collar has been a large mode to measurement Basil's mean enactment and sleeping patterns. I acceptable up daily enactment goals to guarantee he's getting capable exercise, and the app compares him to akin cats and with his humanities activity, measuring however helium stacks up. I truly emotion tracking his patterns and advancement implicit time. I deliberation it's worthy trying retired for anyone who wants to much closely show their pet's enactment and acceptable wellness goals.

Meet the Experts

• Daniel Dixon, laminitis and veterinarian astatine North Keller Animal Hospital
• Emma Choi, a veterinarian at Banfield Pet Hospital in San Jose, California, has a veterinarian advisory presumption at Mendocino Food Consulting.