Cats Herd You

Did you know that cat obesity is epidemic, with 58.3% of cats either overweight or obese?

It’s easy to think “My cat isn’t one of them.” But 45.3% of cat owners incorrectly identify their overweight or obese cat as being a normal weight. I used to be one of them, before Ashton’s weight loss journey.

Ashton Needed to Lose Weight

Anyone who knows about Ashton knows she loves to eat. Maybe it’s a throwback to her origin as a feral kitten, or maybe it’s something else, but she’s the most food-motivated cat ever in my household.

It shouldn’t have been any surprise that Ashton ended up overweight a couple years ago. She actually tipped the scales at well over 13 lb, putting her firmly in the 40% of cats who are overweight and nearly putting her in the category of 19% of cats who are obese.

Overweight cats, like overweight humans, can suffer from health issues such as arthritis, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes. I didn’t want the ailments caused by obesity to cause her that kind of discomfort, and we certainly didn’t want to risk them cutting her lifespan short, so something had to be done.

Our vet said that too much high-calorie food and snacks and not enough exercise had gotten Ashton to where she was today. So there was no escaping it: It was time for Ashton to go on a diet.

How Ashton Reached a Healthy Weight

Under our vet’s supervision, I started looking for cat food for weight loss that didn’t clue Ashton in on the fact that she was on a diet. That’s when I discovered food from Weruva.

I loved that I could fine the nutrition information for the food on the Weruva web site without having to jump through a lot of hoops to get to it. And what I found in the nutrition information was even better. Not only is Weruva low in calories, they’re low in carbs, phosphorous, and magnesium, too.

Look at what’s inside a can:

It’s food fit for human consumption. It looks like something you would pour over rice and serve at your dinner table. (Don’t worry, I haven’t actually done that!) You can see that it’s bone-free white meat chicken, not mystery ground-up stuff, and Ashton heartily approved of her new diet.

Over the course of about a year, she lost the extra weight she was carrying and weighs a little over ten pounds today. She could probably stand to lose another half pound, but she is close enough to ideal to have her on a maintenance diet today.

Ashton’s maintenance diet is from Weruva, too. With Ashton’s famous love of chicken, she loves all of the poultry flavors, and there are plenty to give lots of variety while keeping her a healthy weight.

Try Weruva for Your Cats

The team at Weruva wants you to be able to try their food and see why Ashton loves it so much, so we’re holding a giveaway of two cases of 24 count Weruva TruLuxe 3 oz. cans. That’s 48 meals! The TruLuxe line features formulas with lean, shredded grass fed, Australian beef, pink salmon, basa and turkey. The winner can choose either land or fish flavors, or a combination of both. The drawing is open to entrants from the US and Canada.

And that isn’t all! Weurva also wants to make a donation to your favorite 501(c)(3) or registered Canadian nonprofit rescue organization. The winner of the drawing also gets to choose a favorite rescue organization to receive $100 worth of Weruva BFF food.

Entries will be open until 12:00 am on June 25th, so enter below for your chance to win Weruva food for yourself and for your favorite rescue organization.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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FTC Disclosure: This is a sponsored post. We received food for free from Weruva, but the story above is our own and isn’t influenced by by this compensation. We only feature products we have used or would use or that we feel are of interest to our readers.

References and further reading:

Association for Pet Obesity Prevention, National Pet Obesity Survey Results
Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery, Prevalence and risk factors for feline obesity in a fist opinion practice in Glasgow, Scotland
Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery, Prevalence and risk factors for obesity in an urban population of healthy cats
The Journal of Applied Research in Veterinary Medicine, Prevalence and risk factors for obesity in adult cats from private US veterinary practices