Why is my cat overweight?

We deal with thousands of cats every year and in our experience there are only 2 reasons (other than a medical issue) that a cat will gain weight when fed free choice. The first is the diet being fed is metabolically incorrect for your cat. A diet containing too much starch would be a classic example. The second is psychological issues. A cat found starving may never be able to overcome his fear and will always overeat or a dominate cat may cause another cat to overeat. The vast majority of already obese cats can eat our food free choice and within 3 months their body fat will be at a normal level. There are exceptions to this rule, but they are rare. If free choice feeding is done correctly, most cats figure out on their own within a week or two. Click here for more on obesity and overeating.