5 Best Wet Cat Food For Weight Loss

Wondering, What is the best weight management wet cat food? Best Wet Cat Food For Weight Loss:

If you own a cat there is a good chance your friend may be overweight. CBS quoted an Association for Pet Obesity Prevention report that concluded about 58 percent of cats in the United States are at least overweight if not obese.

Do not despair. There is a great chance your cat’s weight problem can be successfully addressed with diet. After extensive research and our own experiences, we offer a review of the five best-wet cat foods for weight loss.

Pet food manufacturers tend to base weight loss programs for cats on human models and owner convenience. Therefore, many diet plans for cats involve dry cat food high in fiber and low in fats.

However, felines evolved thousands of years after obtaining their energy from proteins and fats. They do not graze on grass or forage for grains, whether corn, rice, or wheat.

When choosing a diet to best achieve weight loss in cats, it is best to feed them in a manner that they can best utilize the nutrients.

In this way, they don’t ingest needless extra calories trying to extract energy from the food they aren’t designed to eat. The next best alternative to a raw meat diet with supplements is wet cat food.

5 Best Wet Cat Food For Weight Loss

1. Nulo Adult & Kitten Grain Free Canned Wet Cat food
2. Instinct Limited Ingredient Diet Grain-Free Real Rabbit Recipe Natural Wet Cat food 
3. Purina Pro Plan Focus Weight Management Adult Cat food
4. Blue wilderness High Protein Grain Free Wet Cat Food
5. Hill’s Science Diet Perfect Weight canned cat food

Nulo Adult & Kitten Grain Free Canned Wet Cat food 

Nulo uses proteins from whole animal sources, and other ingredients come from quality human-grade foods. They offer a pate or shredded or minced meat in gravy.

Pros

• This diet is very low in carbohydrates – it does not use grain, potatoes, or tapioca. Yellow peas and lentils keep energy and satisfaction high while maintaining a low glycemic index.
• High in animal proteins.
• Recipes use all-natural ingredients.
• One food is made for both kittens and adults.

Cons

• The Nulo diets use a combination of five protein sources and therefore may not be suitable for cats with certain food allergies.

Instinct Limited Ingredient Diet Grain Free Real Rabbit Recipe Natural Wet Cat food 

Instinct Limited is grain-free wet cat food. It provides only one meat source and a vegetable, so it is beneficial to cats with any food sensitivities or a sensitive stomach. It is also good for weight loss with limited carbohydrates.

Pros

• It is an excellent formulation for cats with any food allergies.
• Carbohydrates are limited.
• Recipes do not use any eggs, dairy, wheat, or soy.
• Cats like the taste.

Cons

• Some feel there is not enough variation of flavors.

Purina Pro Plan Focus Weight Management Adult Cat food 

Like all their Focus formulas, their weight management recipe addresses a specific health concern. It is a high protein diet that aims to preserve muscle mass even if a cat is shedding some necessary pounds. At the same time, it provides well-balanced nutritional support.

Pros

• Chicken or turkey, quality animal protein sources, is the #1 ingredient.
• Prebiotic fiber has been added to help digestive function and to help prevent hairball accumulation.

Cons

• This food uses rice in many of its recipes.

Blue wilderness High Protein Grain Free Wet Cat Food 

Blue Wilderness, by Blue Buffalo, offers their recipes as good alternatives to raw diets. Their formulations are 100% grain-free. The meat mentioned on their labels is the first and main ingredient.

Pros

• Blue Wilderness offers a variety of flavors to cater to many tastes.
• The food uses natural ingredients and no poultry or animal by-products.
• There is no wheat, soy, or corn in any recipe.
• Cats find the food highly palatable.

Cons

• Some people find the aroma too strong.

Hill’s Science Diet Perfect Weight canned cat food

As its name implies, Science Diet backs its food with research from the scientific and veterinarian communities. The company saw about 70 percent of cats lose weight on Perfect Weight cat food within 10 weeks of being placed on the diet.

Pros

• The diet features easily digestible ingredients.
• Despite using vegetables in some of their recipes, Hill’s diets are biologically formulated.
• This diet can be fed to multiple cats in a household with different caloric requirements.

Cons

• If you try to avoid giving pork to your cat, be aware that some of the formulations of this diet contain pork.

How do you choose the best wet cat food for weight loss?

There is a shortlist of features to analyze when trying to select a wet cat food for weight loss.

Is wet cat food more fattening than dry?

For many reasons, wet cat food is often less fattening than dry food. It adheres more closely to what a cat’s closest relative might eat in the wild. Dry cat food is difficult to bind into pelleted form without carbohydrates.

Often dry food encourages greater calorie consumption because cats are missing the correct balance of macronutrients (proteins, fats, and carbohydrates). This leads them to eat more in an attempt to fill the deficit.

In the end, weight gain and loss are directly related to energy intake and use in the form of calories and not the type of food. But anything we can do to provide healthy nutrition for felines will help them achieve and maintain ideal weight and fitness levels.

Do cats need wet food every day?

The debate about wet versus dry food for healthy cats is ongoing. It really may boil down to basic feline behavior.

Cats typically do not drink much water as a species. They obtain much of the moisture they require in the wild from their food. Water may not always be readily available.

Dry food has very little moisture content. Chances are high your cat will not compensate for this by drinking sufficient water from a bowl. Wet food has extremely high moisture content and eliminates any concern for whether your cat is drinking enough water every day.

The largest concern for moisture intake in cats is the high incidence of urinary problems like urethral obstruction.

These problems have been linked to low water consumption leading to mineral imbalances in cats’ urine.

This is perhaps the strongest argument for making sure cats have wet food every day.

Even if you feed your cat wet food, make sure she always has access to freshwater.

Does your cat weigh too much?

Determining whether your cat is overweight by numbers obtained from the kitchen scale alone is overly simplistic. An average cat weighs about 10 pounds. Large breeds can weigh over 20 pounds and still be healthy and others are much lighter than 10 pounds.

You should also make a visual assessment of your cat. Feel your cat’s body the next time you pet him. There are cardinal signs that your cat may be getting too heavy.

• It is difficult to feel your cat’s ribs when you pass your hands along her sides.
• Your cat’s waistline has disappeared. When you look down at your cat you should see the trunk taper inward distinctly as it joins the hips.
• A marked decrease in activity warrants attention as does any increased effort to perform normal daily exercises (eg. Climbing stairs).
• Shortness of breath or panting could signify a weight concern or other health problems.
• A tightening collar can sometimes be overlooked as a sign of weight gain.

What are the health risks for overweight cats?

• Obese cats do not live as long as fit cats, even if they do not develop any illnesses from their conditions.
• Overweight cats are more likely to develop heart disease.
• Fat cats are more likely to suffer from fatty liver and other liver diseases.
• Overweight cats are more prone to developing diabetes mellitus, kidney disease, or urinary tract disease.
• Cats that are too heavy can develop osteoarthritis more easily than thinner cats because of the extra stress placed on their weight-bearing limbs.

Why could your cat be overweight?

Several factors make cats vulnerable to weight issues.

– Many cats are now indoors and have adapted well to sedentary lifestyles. Keeping them active can be challenging. Several individuals seem to lose interest in playing early in adulthood.

– Feeding cats a diet convenient for us often is not biologically appropriate for them. Nutrient imbalances with high carbohydrates can lead to excessive feeding habits and unwanted cravings by cats.

– A combination of proportionately low proteins and lack of exercise leads to the loss of some muscle mass. This, in turn, slows down metabolism. Some controlled diet foods exacerbate this by cutting calories in the area of proteins.

– We simply tend to feed cats too much food. Food labels are guidelines that are often generous in their suggested feeding amounts. It is better to determine your cat’s caloric needs and figure out what volume of food will satisfy them. If calories are not readily apparent on the food label, you may need to perform a bit of research.

– A healthy cat needs 24 to 35 calories per pound every day. A veterinarian can help you decide how much to decrease if your feline friend is overweight.

What are some tips for helping your cat lose weight?

Make sure your cat gets plenty of exercise. Surprisingly, some cats are trainable to walk on a leash.

Easier methods involve setting some time aside every day to play with your cat. Most cats can be coaxed to play if you figure out their preferences.

A cat’s play will mimic the way they would hunt in nature. You can capture her interest by finding her favorite type of prey. Some cats like string and others prefer little rubber balls.

There is some evidence that cats may also attract to particular colors. Experimentation on your part could make a big difference in your cat’s health.

A video can better illustrate how to lure your cat into exercising through play. Fifteen to twenty minutes per day, in short spurts, can make a huge impact.

Feeding your cat a high protein, low carbohydrate, moderate-fat diet gets him back to a diet more in tune with his metabolic design. The simplest way to limit carbohydrates is to feed wet food.

Wet cat food also has a natural tendency to have a high protein content. A cat needs high levels of protein to not only obtain the majority of her energy but also to maintain her muscle mass.

If you feed your cat free choice, now is a good time to change to timed meals. It is also a great opportunity to cut out human food and decrease or eliminate threats. Maybe set aside tiny portions of your cat’s meal and give those as tidbit rewards.

Visit your veterinarian to formulate a complete plan of diet and exercise for your cat. Your veterinarian is a good resource for determining how much of your selected food to feed your overweight cat.

Conclusion 

The best-wet food to feed your cat for weight control is Nulo Grain-Free Wet Cat Food. It uses whole foods. If your cat doesn’t have any food sensitivities, it provides the most well-rounded and biologically appropriate ingredients for cats.

You can also consider any other foods on our top 5 list since they all use high-quality ingredients and offer high-protein, grain-free formulas.

They provide balanced nutrition with special attention to cats that need to lose a few pounds. Unfortunately, these cats make up the majority of the domestic feline population.

Consider a dietary change to wet cat food to offer your pet a longer and more vigorous life with lower weight- and health-related problems.

Related: How To Choose The Best And Healthiest Food For Your Senior Cat