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My Bengal is overweight and hungry. Am I starving her? How to help?

Updated On September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Cat | Bengal | Female | spayed | 2 years and 11 months old | 17 lbs

My 3 year old Bengal is 17 lbs and always hungry. I give her high quality canned food twice a day, totalling about 140 calories. The vet told me to not let her gain any more weight, but as it is I feel like I'm starving her. Can you please give me advice? I'd like her to slim down, but I don't think it's possible. She is huge...has a "swinging" belly and no waistline. Help! Thx.

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1 Answer

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Answered By Dr. Heidi DVM, CVA, CCRT, CVTP, CVSMT, CVCH

Veterinarian, Certified Veterinary Acupuncturist, Certified Canine Rehabilitation Practitioner

Published on January 28th, 2018

It sounds like you're doing everything right. You didn't mention how long Sheena has been on that amount of canned food and if you have rechecked her weight. Cats tend to lose weight very slowly, so if you have changed her diet within the last 6 months, you may not be able to tell a difference yet. Unfortunately, some cats just have very poor metabolism and need very few calories. If Sheena is not losing weight, then you are certainly not starving her (even if she thinks you are). Be sure to pay attention to the number of treats that she is getting too because if you are feeding dry treats, those can significantly increase her calorie intake. Of course more exercise can always help too, so you might consider adding something like playing with a laser pointer into her daily routine. You might just need to be a little more patient with her weight loss plan, so don't get frustrated just yet. Good luck! I hope that was helpful. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

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