Pumpkin has gone from a little over 16 lbs to 14.7. Rookie numbers compared to what I’ve seen, but he has gone from lethargic, unable to jump high, barely mobile to now just as active as any regular cat and gets up above our kitchen cabinets. We got him from our local shelter, who got him from another shelter in which all the cats that came were very overweight. I got his weight down, and then was in a personal emergency where he had to stay with a foster for 3 months. He gained all the weight back. Now he’s healthier than I’ve ever known him to be and only getting stronger. (Unfortunately now that he can jump, I have had to baby lock any cabinets with food and treats🤦‍♀️)

So we began this journey at 9.29kg, 10 months ago. We've lost just over a kilo in that time (8.2kg) and the vet seemed happy, but suggested cutting down on the food. So I've trimmed another 10g from his daily food.

Does 1kg in 10 months seem like a good amount?

When we first started he lost a lot of weight very fast and I had a 7.5 home reading I didn't entirely trust but that still seemed like a shock and too much too fast. I've had gallstones from doing this so I knew that wasn't a bright idea so we've gone for a slow and steady approach.

But I don't want to do this too slowly, you know?

Shadow was grooming himself poorly owing to his weight, but wouldn't let me do it to the extent that he developed severe matting and I had to pay £200 to have him sedated and shaved in the affected areas. (When I say "wouldn't let me" I mean I got bit and blood was drawn.)

New scratching furniture has arrived. He has all sorts now, so he can make a go at it himself if he won't let me.

He seems a lot happier and is coming to me for many cuddles like he used to when he was younger. Super vocal and chatty.

We use our automatic litter boxes to weigh our cats at home, I thought they were maybe over estimating the cats weight by half a kg but apparently they're accurate so now we're dechonking everyone. The issue is that each individual cat's weight can vary by a half kg on any particular day. Is this a normal amount? I'm struggling to figure out how to see slow progress if their weights vary by more than the recommended weekly weight loss amount in a single day (around 10% of their total weight).

So first of all, my cat weighs about 10.6 lbs. I've had her on a weight loss diet for roughly 3-4 months. She's eating a quarter cup of hills perfect weight 2 times a day.

I know 10.6 lbs is average for most adult cats but she has a very small frame. The veterinarian said she should probably be about 8-8.5 pounds.

She's extremely lazy so I'm not sure if the lack of activity has anything to do with it. She seems to behave normal otherwise? Any ideas what to do/if I should cut the kibble more? I haven't seen any change yet from the new diet. she was previously eating slightly more kibble

Honestly it doesn’t make a lot of sense how she got like this, but we’re taking the advice anyway. This will be her before. 4.7 kg

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Edit: y’all can calm down, don’t worry. 😉 Cat subs are all so different, lol. Of course we’ve been to the vet, and in fact because of my personal circumstances have been to two places and had 5 vets discuss her in the last eight weeks. Plenty of professional opinion.

She is 12 years old, from the shelter (spayed, of course).
She does have issues, but the fat is just fat.

For those of you who are “concerned” and wayy too quick to judge: I come to Reddit for research and ideas, and to fully understand. I go to the vet before I make a change. That is a given, and maybe cat subs would in general be a little less toxic if y’all could just assume that people are caring and responsible hoomans until they prove otherwise?

Anyway, I’ll add some more details for those of you who are like me. But it’s not pretty. If you’re not into gruesome cat problems, you can stop reading after this and be happy with the knowledge that my little 12 year old Lucie boo is receiving the best care. Her bills haven’t quite reached my other senior (CKD) kitty’s but she’s doing her best to compete. 🐈‍⬛

- - -

First, we went for a regular checkup to a new vet. They said she needed a full teeth cleaning and general old cat mouth scenario: X-rays, cleaning, pulling where necessary, all under anesthesia. But they said to do a blood panel before anesthesia. I also wanted to get a full geriatric anyway.

Second, we got the blood. Came back with an elevated ProBNP, but nobody was freaked out about it. Just said to get a heart ultrasound before anesthesia. That vet got a closer look in the mouth and said she suspected a tooth injury so bad that the root is showing. Something is showing through the gum. It makes me emotional. It looks painful. She got six days of painkiller. Honestly didn’t seem to make much difference in her demeanor - and I pay attention.

The estimated prices for things at the new vet were 2-3 times as much, so I took her to my old vet. She gave her a round of antibiotics and scheduled the ultrasound.

Then the ultrasound. She has heart failure, and it’s bad. She’s had a heart murmur for years, but nobody said to do anything about it. Lesson learned. No anesthesia possible, not even reduced. Meds were added. The surgery for the teeth cancelled.

So then what about the teeth? She said one of the teeth was no longer loose after the antibiotics - so there was swelling, and when it went down the tooth was stronger. One of the other, more experienced vets happened to be there and had a look and did some digging. Weirdly Lucie didn’t have any issues with it so it doesn’t seem painful. This vet, who is someone I highly respect, suspects bone cancer. I asked if we could verify that somehow, and we have an appointment for an x-ray tomorrow. I guess it’ll include my hand for free.

So lots of stuff, and possibly related as in cause/effect, but no. The fat is just fat. So the dechonking journey is still happening, albeit very slowly and carefully. And with lots of love. ❤️ 🐈‍⬛

hi everyone. meet my big boy, sufjan. he's BIG and FAT and i absolutely adore him. anyways i've tried a few things but nothing seems to work... i've fed him high protein food his vet recommended, but he stopped eating it after a while, because he prefers temptations seafood medley. i also tried to feed him a dry/wet food diet, but he doesn't seem to like wet food at all. he's very chatty, so when he yowls for snacks, i try to play with him and distract him from his hunger, but it doesn't work. he plays fetch with me for 4-5 rounds before he plops back down like a diva. he does enjoy the outdoors so i give him supervised outside time for roughly 30-45 minutes a day besides attempting to play for another 30. he's much larger than his sisters, and when he's on a diet, he becomes more aggressive with them, which is why i give in to his begging. not sure where to go from here, so please share your experiences with dechonking your kitties :3

She’s a little smaller in stature than your average chonk, (when I got her she was slightly underweight at 7 pounds/3 years old) but she is now 12.5 pounds so we have been advised by the vet to start keeping an eye on her weight 😔 We began measuring her food intake just these last two weeks, and will begin decreasing this week 🫡 wish us luck !!!

She’s been doing great. The vets said she can’t breathe while on her back and side so she’s been scaring me by asking for belly rubs and trying to roll all around. Her owners said she goes outside the litter box but I bought super shallow little disposable plastic trays and that has been perfect she’s using them just fine with no accidents. I believe they weren’t scooping often enough and they used a wood shaving letter which I’m sure didn’t help. Now really we need to bathe her. She plainly is stinky but also her skin is very dry and pealing. We’ve been using a very soft brush on her skin she loves it. I’m wondering if anyone knows a good shampoo to use? I’m thinking of just grabbing baby shampoo. Anyways enjoy the little video of my little naked chicken. She’s been so sweet and purrs so much.

Edit: I also have been adding a coat and skin oil supplement to her food!

She's my first ever cat. My rotund baby needs to lose weight. She was an outdoor cat for the 2nd year of her life until we adopted her. She is absolutely FERAL for food. She'll find scraps in the sink filter if we forget to clean it. She'll tear open the trash. I had to weigh my trash can down with 20 lbs of barbells to prevent her from knocking it over. She cries and screams every time the pantry door opens.

She's been to the vet. They said she looks like a tick; huge body, little head. Everything seems normal. She's just an envoy for gluttony.

I feed her a quarter of a cup of Purina cat chow twice a day. That's 179 calories. Last weigh in was 10.5 lbs. We play with her and encourage her to run around the apartment but she gives up after a few minutes. She has a BCS of 7/8, and I'm not sure what her ideal weight should be. Maybe 8 lbs?

Everyone told me wet food was calorie dense, and to feed dry instead. Is this incorrect?

Is there something in her routine that needs to change? Is this an appropriate feeding schedule and amount?

I (F 23) have three cats and my white cat (Chesterbelle) is getting really fat and i dont know what to do. My other two cats Buster ( M 1 black tuxedo) and Kitchen (F 1 brown tabby) are brother and sister and they like to scrounge around and eat throughout the day. Chester likes to eat twice a day morning and night. I don’t know what to do because I feed them at 9 AM and at 6 PM twice a day and Chester will eat his food and go over and try to finish the other cats two foods. all my cats are neutered and spayed and have their updated vaccines. I don’t know what to do because Chester will go over and eat their food and drink a bunch of water and then he’ll want to throw up and he just keeps getting fatter. I don’t know what to do with Buster and Kitchen because they don’t want to eat all of their food at once. Buster will eat his food at once but Kitchen will not. i’ve seen those food bowls that open for the specific cat with a chip on their collar, but those are way too expensive and I can’t afford that. Any help/ideas?

TLDR: My one cat is a fat ass who keeps eating his brother and sisters food and idk what to do

She was 17.4lbs at the end of may when surrendered. She is 13.1lbs today 🥳🥳

Vet told me a couple months ago her goal is 12lbs, just wanted another opinion (obviously will confirm with vet before changing her diet) cause she still looks super chonky lol just loose skin maybe? She still can’t reach her butt but waist snatched

Edit: 12yo but super healthy blood work

This is Mr Macchiato! At one point, he was 16.6 pounds, but is now 10.4 pounds. His vet says he’s healthy and doesn’t need to lose any more weight, but I still get comments calling him a chonk or even use the “oh lord he coming” meme.

I guess I’m biased because I’ve seen him lose the weight, but does he look super chonky at first glance?

this is gerald, my 3 yr old orange boy. first pic is today and the last pic is the day i got him from the shelter 7 months ago. we went to the vet today (for unrelated reasons), and he's gained 5 POUNDS since i got him. i was shocked, as i feed him the recommend calories for a 12lb cat and we play daily. looking at home every day, i hadn't realized he'd gotten so big. i was so disappointed in myself and i guess we need to go on a diet.

any advice would be much appreciated as i want to make sure he's losing the weight healthily.

Faye is officially on a diet. She’s over 14lbs, she has such a small frame that she would probably be happier under 10lbs. She isn’t able to groom herself very well, so I’ve gotta be the big mean mom & clean her butt.
She’s 5 years old and I’m still discovering her personality.

A big win for Diego

I could not tell you what she weighs we have no scale, but here some photos of her. Foot for scale There's a video in the comments cause i cant add more photos, thats her standing

Today’s the day! I’m bringing Lady to get shaved, vaxxed, and checked up on then she’s coming home. Now I’m really looking for product advice. She’s too big to use a normal litterbox so I’m going to buy two sheet pans, put them side by side, then put them on top of litter mats. Let me know if anyone else has any better ideas. I think a pet pad under the mat would be good too. I found a good litterbox on chewy for senior cats but it’s 70$ so that will wait a month or two. I have two other cats so I’m going to keep Lady in my room for now and the other cats in the rest of the apartment so they can sniff through the door and all that fun stuff. Let me know if anyone has anything that they felt really helped them in the process of dechonking. Also I would love to know other people’s timelines I’ve been looking through other posts but it’s hard to keep track. How long until your kitty was able to self groom again and jump again? I’m feeling overall nervous but excited for those milestones. Thanks!

My mom got back to me today with the best possible update for Miss Desi. Everyone at the vet office fell in love with this sweet girl instantly and they have decided to keep her at the clinic as a resident office cat so she can have all her medical needs taken care of and have a supervised dechonking journey. Thank you to everyone who reached out with ideas for her and to those who actually inquired about taking her in. We are so glad she has found a great place to take care of her every need and get lots of love every day from all the kitty lovers at the clinic. 🧡🧡🧡

From 2022 to now, 2026.
First pic he was about 18 lbs, today he is steady at 9 lbs. At 16 years old too!
I hope we’ve expanded his life expectancy by de chonkin. He’s my best boy and been with me through everything.
Switched from free feeding to automatic feeder portioned, and wet food 2x a day on a schedule.
His vet says that since he’s 16 there’s just a bit of a decrease in kidney function but that’s to be expected, otherwise he’s in good shape!

My cat came to us at about a year old and was only 3.43kg (about 7.5 pounds) and she went to 14 pounds in 6 months - result of over feeding but we were unsure of age so anywayssss we are here and she has lost weight, she’s about 12 pounds now and few months since that weigh in and doing great but aside from her primordial pouch she has a lot of extra fat…just kinda hanging? lol…will that ever go away? Any tips? She’s about a year and 8 months now? She was a stray before so complete estimate

Update: Desi has been adopted by the vet!!

This is Desi, her elderly dad died of cancer earlier this year and my sister was his nurse. She connected with the family and got Desi placed with our mom temporarily, but Desi was always an only cat and was very stressed by my mom's resident orange boy. After months of trying to acclimate them, my mom has made the decision to surrender her to the vet for further health evaluations given her size and to see if they'll be able to place her with another family, but she will end up being put down if they cannot find her a home. She would be perfect for anyone who recently lost a kitty and is looking to fill the void. She is located in Stillwater and she is super sweet, purrs up a storm when you give her scritchies, and obviously loves a treat. She was peeing outside the box but we suspect that was behaviorally related to disliking her kitty roommate 😭 I wish I lived closer to take her but I'm in another state and have a resident cat of my own.