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My cat was overweight. How much should I feed her to reach a healthy weight?

Updated On September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Cat | American Shorthair | Female | spayed | 2 years and 8 months old | 10.6 lbs

I have a 2.5 year old spayed female cat, domestic short hair, 10.6lbs. I feed her Blue Wilderness grain free dry (1/8 cup at night) and Wellness grain free wet (1/4 regular sized can morning and night). Vet said last summer she was overweight (she was around 12lbs). I was feeding her the same as now except she was given 1/4 cup dry and only 1/4 can wet once per day. How much should I be feeding her? She's always hungry since I cut back. What weight should she be?

2 Answers

Most Helpful Answer

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Answered By Dr. Melanie, BVSc MS

Veterinarian

Published on December 3rd, 2016

These are good questions, and I will try to help you as best as I can. The problem with judging how much a cat show weight depends not only on their breed, but their bone structure as well. Some cats are naturally bigger than others, and what is a healthy weight is individual per cat. American shorthair females can range in weight from 6-12 pounds, so it can be normal for some females to be at Luna's weight or even higher. That being said, however, she may be smaller in frame, and needs to be closer to the middle or lower end of the weight range. I certainly wouldn't want to say she needs to lose a certain number of pounds, and have her be too skinny. It's great that she has lost 1.4 pounds, and if she hasn't been seen by a vet since the summer, it may be that she has reached a better weight (sometimes cats only need to lose a few pounds to reach a healthy weight). I would recommend taking Luna back into the vet for an exam to see if she has reached a healthy weight according to them. Another way to tell is to look at her body condition score. This will help give you an idea of how she is doing weight wise, and the vet can confirm how much more she needs to lose. I will put a link to a body condition chart for cats: http://www.wsava.org/sites/default/files/Body%20condition%20score%20chart%20cats.pdf As for how much to feed her, what you've been doing has clearly helped her lose weight, and I would continue to do that if the vet feels she needs to lose more weight. If she doesn't, then you can discuss with a vet a healthy diet for her. It's normal she will be hungry, dieting is not easy for either humans or cats :-)

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    Answered By Angel Alvarado, LVT

    Licensed Veterinary Technician

    Published on

    Try transitioning her to all canned food. The higher protein content in canned diets may give her that feeling of satiety (feeling full) more than the dry food. An average sized cat can get a half can twice daily. That would be a regular 6oz can.

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