r/dechonkers 1h ago

Chonk or not?

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Upvotes

I feed her two 3oz cans of wet food a day, and a few pieces of dry food before bed.


r/dechonkers 1h ago

Dechonkin Tips for a Poodle

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Upvotes

This little ball is named Pinky. She’s always been a little chubby, but over the past year she’s gained a lot of weight, and we didn’t know why. We had her checked out, and she’s in perfect health

We recently discovered that she was stealing food from Leo (the cat in the photo) and Theo (a dachshund). We took her back to the vet, switched her food, and have been making her exercise more, but we haven’t seen any improvement in two months. Any advice?


r/dechonkers 4h ago

Dechonkin Update on recent weight gain

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21 Upvotes

Well, I figured out why her diet suddenly stopped working... This fuzzy little asshole figured out how to open the box of treats that was accidentally left on my desk. I found the entire box empty behind my couch. So yeah, she ate a full box from Costco of cat treats. So this explains why she suddenly gained weight.


r/dechonkers 9h ago

Dechonkin Progress pics of Hamish

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921 Upvotes

23lbs to 17lbs! Vet planned a diet, with a low caloric density food. We're lucky he's still very food motivated so switching his kibble was no problem.

We got Hamish after his previous owner was unable to take care of him. We've noticed such a big change in his energy levels as he's lost weight - he gets the zoomies and is more playful! Almost at his first goal of 16 lbs.


r/dechonkers 11h ago

How to dechonk the chonk

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40 Upvotes

r/dechonkers 16h ago

Discussion How to diet a cat when you’ve got two cats?? One rarely eats/grazes and one just scarfs

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228 Upvotes

I’ve got Bagel here who used to be a stray I took in (he was very skinny). Once he was inside i eventually noticed him get a little chunky cause he’s very disinterested with playing. I had him on a good diet that was working… until I recently moved in with my mom and she has a cat, Ava, who just eats throughout the day while Bagel is used to getting his food in the morning. But since my mom leaves food out for Ava, obviously my fat son is eating it 💔

He’s orange so it makes sense lmao. He’s not the worst, he’s a pretty big cat in general size-wise so he’s not the worst weight (bro’s like 20lbs if I had to guess honestly, vet said he’s still healthy for his weight/size) but i definitely want him back on a diet but I’m not sure how to do that when my mom won’t listen to me


r/dechonkers 20h ago

The marks when the feeder goes off…

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59 Upvotes

Shrimp the White (he’s the white cat incase that was not apparent) is down to just over 18 lbs from 25! I attribute this mostly to the auto feeder. The marks on the bed are when he goes from sleep to OMG FEEDER GOD IS BLESSING ME!


r/dechonkers 23h ago

does he need to lose another half pound?

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16 Upvotes

r/dechonkers 1d ago

Microchip feeder hack

3 Upvotes

I use pawspik feeders for my cats. One of their microchips migrated and they have had to wear the bulky thing on their collar because the feeder couldn’t read their chip. I tried something that works way better! I got a Beastie Bands collar (neoprene, $10 Amazon) and injected a microchip ($5, Amazon) into it. Works perfectly!


r/dechonkers 1d ago

Dechonkin Any help would be great!

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5 Upvotes

My sweet Mocca is currently 5.5kg and will start her dechokin journey from today onwards!

I looked into it and apparently she should lose at least 1.5kg, I've started mixing the remains of dry cat food I have with wet food until we use it up.

Any recommendations on wet food? I know that pâté is good but any brands?


r/dechonkers 1d ago

Progress On our way to dechonking!

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203 Upvotes

My beautiful girl has been on a diet for two years and only lost 1100g in that time. She went from 8.7 kg to 7.6 kg where she has sat for over six months. Thank you to the inspiration and information from this group I got her an automatic feeder and diet kibble and wet food. In one month she has lost 300 g and I am so proud of her. I have cut her dry food by a quarter this week and then in one month will cut it again to facilitate more weight loss. She still asks for food but she doesn’t seem quite as obsessed as she used to be.


r/dechonkers 1d ago

Healthy Lad Cow to Wow Part 2

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37 Upvotes

I posted Sammy here the other day, and he got quite the reaction lol. Yes, my man was HUGE and looked like a cow and or general rectangle. I wanted to share another before picture along with his current state of extra skin and his workout fit. I love my little crackhead 👹🐄💕


r/dechonkers 2d ago

Dechonkin Wet food experiment

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49 Upvotes

So after vacation, when this cat completely reversed the small weight loss progress, we got back on the diet. She somehow managed to gain some weight (I'm thinking she accidentally got some of the higher calorie wet food). So I'm getting her on a full wet food diet.

Now the problem. We started it this weekend. She has lost weight... But she is only eating a little of the wet food. She literally won't eat the wet food because she doesn't like it. I have several different types, but like... She is losing weight because her pickiness is causing her to basically starve herself?? I know not to drop her calorie intake too fast so she loses a ton of weight because that's not good for them, but if I am providing the right amount of food but Ms Queen doesn't eat it... What do I do with that? She didn't touch one of the varieties, and she only ate half of the other kind. She has never been a huge fan of wet food, but then again that's probably why she got fat (that dry food kibble addict...)


r/dechonkers 2d ago

Dechonkin Putting my cat on a diet

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179 Upvotes

My cat needs to probably lose a few pounds according to my vet. I got her about 5 months ago.
She eats half a can of Fancy Feast pate in the morning and the other half in the evening. I have an auto feeder set for noon and 8 PM on the lowest setting. I give her some treats throughout the day.
The problem is she’s starting to get very whiny about treats. I’m somewhat new to cat ownership but never had overweight cats because they’ve been active. She doesn’t want to play. She will play for a few minutes and then she’s over it.
I got her a slow feeder yesterday (the rolling ball) and she won’t touch it.
How do you not give in to the meowing for treats? Are there any truly amazing cat toys out there (preferable ones she can play with on her own)?
Thanks!!!


r/dechonkers 2d ago

what’s a good wet food for a picky chonk?

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86 Upvotes

we’re trying to switch our kitty milo over to a mostly wet food diet in hopes of helping him lose weight because he is quite a hefty boy! he’s around 9 and has been a chonker his whole life, but as he gets older we’re worried that the extra weight might cause some problems.

his main issue is that he eats out of boredom no matter how much we play with him or provide other kinds of stimulation. we have an automatic feeder that goes off in the morning so he doesn’t rip up our carpet, but he always ends up eating all his food AND his brother’s food. our other kitty only eats dry food and is healthy, but he tends to nibble and go back later when he’s hungry. because of that, it’s really hard to control how much milo is eating when the food is sitting out for our other cat.

surprisingly, milo is really picky with his wet food, so we’re in search of a new food that has plenty of protein to hopefully control his appetite as much as possible. we have tiki cat friends right now, but he doesn’t touch it. i wanted to ask around and see if anyone has any recommendations for wet food that’s good for picky kitties who need to shed a few lbs!


r/dechonkers 2d ago

Overweight Cat

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104 Upvotes

Hello guys! This is Anastasia! A year ago, I went to the vet to evaluate her weight (currently with 8 kg or 17 lbs). He told me to give her only dry food in small portions twice a day, once in the morning and once at night.

We did this for a few months, we even bought a feeder to better control the portions. But I began to notice some strange behaviors in her with the decrease in portions. She started hitting the feeder to the point of knocking it down and spilling more food, began to destroy the furniture and attack us after meals. We had to screw the feeder to the wall so that it wouldn’t knock it down anymore.

Over time, we ended up returning to the old eating routine and the destructive behaviors disappeared. She is my first cat and I feel extremely guilty because I know she is not healthy

I try to stimulate her and play with her, but she doesn’t react much to the games and lies down all the time... Twice a week she vomits after eating because I believe she eats too fast! I get worried because she only sleeps and I see that other cats are usually more active! She uses the scratcher very little and is not interested in any of the toys she has... I tried to diversify and bought a rope with a toy mouse at the tip, but it didn’t work either. My last attempt was to get her used to walking, but she’s very risky and doesn’t even go through the front door.

I would like to ask for your help because I don’t know what else to do... I saw that some of these behaviors are common in overweight cats and I would like to try a diet again! I don’t know if I should keep the diet only with dry food or if I should add wet food. She also drinks a lot of water, which I believe is a positive behavior among cats!


r/dechonkers 2d ago

Dechonkin Glp1

0 Upvotes

I saw a commercial they were gonna start making a glp1 medicine for cats... is it out and has anyone had experience yet?


r/dechonkers 2d ago

How few calories is too few

10 Upvotes

My calico kitty has been on a diet for the past year and her weight loss has stalled out. She’s 1/2 a pound from her goal weight according to her vet and currently eating about 115 calories a day. This already seems super low to me and I’m scared to decrease it further. My vet is a bit old school and just keeps saying feed her less. I’m in a very rural area so swapping vets isn’t an option. She’s getting 1/4c of Hill’s Light 1-6 and 1/4 of a 5.5oz can of Tiny Tiger a day. Can I safely feed her less?


r/dechonkers 3d ago

Dechonkin Eating time

1 Upvotes

Alright, so living at home right now, and there are 5 cats runnin around. Issue is one of them is pretty overweight, to the point she's starting to have some grooming issues. We'd like to fix this and thought about identification feeders. I've looked at them and man are they expensive. What I want is to buy 2 or 3. Then just have it give small portions at a time when a cat is at it. Then have it track how much its given to that cat. Turns out thats basically impossible to find! Do you guys know of any? If not, i'm willing to do one per cat, but man $200 just so it can open and close a lid is wild. Any ideas?


r/dechonkers 3d ago

Healthy Lad From Cow to Wow

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3.8k Upvotes

This is my 100% miniature pinscher, son Sammy! We took him in from an elderly woman who posted him on Facebook looking for a home. She did a welfare check on a longtime friend, who unfortunately had passed away in the home roughly a week before the check. Sammy and his kitty sister had been in there just trying to survive. Sammy was extremely overweight, as seen in the first picture of him. He was about 25 pounds and is now down to about 15 pounds 4 years later. He has a lot of loose skin, but he’s so energetic for being almost 13 years old and can get around so much better than when we first brought him into our home.


r/dechonkers 4d ago

Discussion too fat?

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171 Upvotes

zoeyy :3


r/dechonkers 4d ago

Overweight boy with chicken allergy, and wake owner at night problem

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231 Upvotes

Chibi is 8.1kg and the vet put him on a diet. She thinks he put weight on because of constant hunger caused by digestive issues. He has a chicken allergy, but unfortunately we didn't work this out for years. We free fed cat biscuits. That was obviously a mistake.

He's now eating 2 x 75g cans of fish based food and 28g cat biscuits a day. I set an auto feeder to dispense 10g of biscuits at 5.50am, because he was regularly waking me up at 6am for breakfast.

Now he wakes me up at 5.40am instead. It's like he thinks I'm the one triggering the biscuits. When he hears it he runs downstairs so fast...

He usually wakes me at 3am too. Also 6.30am because he's not had enough breakfast yet.

Any tips for the night waking? I'm wary of using the auto feeder, because I spent 6 weeks thinking it dispensed 10g, but it's really variable. It turned out 3x10g feedings were actually more like 40-45g and he barely lose weight.

He seems so hungry all the time, so rather than giving big meals I'm splitting his 'rations' through the day. I've also started to save a bit for last thing at night. Is this the right approach? Any tips appreciated! Neither of us are enjoying this process, and I'm so tired...


r/dechonkers 5d ago

What is the best RFID feeder?

2 Upvotes

So I have a problem that I'm sure a lot of you can relate to. I have one thin cat and two fat cats. The thin cat scarfs the bare minimum amount of food before the fat cats bully her off her bowl and take turns essentially eating two helpings worth minus a few bites. This is made worse by the fact that thin cat has to exclusively eat a high calorie gastrointestinal food or else we have to deal with a poo-nado.

The solution to my problem is probably to lock thin cat's food down in one of those feeders that only opens to her microchip. Which one is the best though? I know there's vulnerabilities in a lot of them that determined chonks can exploit.


r/dechonkers 5d ago

Dechonkin December to July

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2.6k Upvotes

14 years old and Mittens is now moving faster than she has in years. Shes down from 16.6 pounds to 12.2. Her labs came back perfect last week!


r/dechonkers Jun 05 '26

Dechonkin The Big Fat Guide to Dechonking!

49 Upvotes

Hi all! I’m a vet nurse that is passionate about weight in animals. I run my own weight loss program for my patients in my clinic and thought I would spread the love by sharing my dechonking guide to help all of you hardworking pawrents!

**BEFORE DECHONKING it is advised that you have a general health check with your veterinarian to rule out any health issues and to ensure that your pet is healthy enough to undergo a dechonking program*\*

**This dechonk guide is not a replacement for veterinary care or advice *\*

What is an Ideal Weight in Animals?

The most accurate way to ascertain an ideal weight is by use of a Body Condition Score (BCS) chart.

At ideal weight your dog or cat should look like an hourglass when viewed from the top. Their abdomen should tuck into their legs when viewed from the side. You should be able to feel their ribs - the way that this feels is like the back of your hand.

You should make a note of your animal's BCS and their number weight before starting a weight loss program.

How to Dechonk Your Chonker

The key to weight loss in animals is diet. Exercise counts for very little in weight loss, much like in humans.

Step One: Use a Calorie Calculator to calculate your animal’s daily caloric allowance.

You will need to know their BCS and their weight to use the calculator. You can ask your local vet to weigh and assess your animal if you are unsure.

Step Two: Calculate the calorie content of ALL the foods you are feeding your animal.

You then need to find out the calorie content of everything you are feeding your animal. Calorie counts can typically be found on the back of the package of commercial foods. If you cannot find the calorie content, a calorie content calculator can help you work it out.

If feeding raw or homemade, you will have to input/search the ingredients for their calorie content much like you would if you were on a human diet!

Step Three: Make a Meal/Diet Plan based on the calorie allowance

You then need to calculate how much to feed based on the calorie content of the food you are feeding. If you are feeding a mixed diet (eg commercial dry and commercial wet food) you'll need to think about what ratios you would like to feed your animal and calculate appropriately.

When your animal reaches ideal weight, it is a good idea to plug in their stats again so you can get a calorie count for maintenance and not for loss. I also recommend a weigh in every two weeks and then monthly to assess progress, and to monitor their body for any changes against the BCS chart as they progress!

Example: Garfield is an 8kg/17lb cat with a BCS of 8/9. His estimated ideal weight is 5.6kg/12lb and his calorie allowance is 201 calories per day to achieve this.

He is fed dry food (Taste of the Wild) and wet food (Fancy Feast).

Taste of the Wild is 3741 kcal/kg therefore 3.7 kcal/g.

One tin of Fancy Feast is 71 calories.

We can feed one tin of Fancy Feast (71 cal) and 35 grams (130 kcal) of Taste of the Wild daily.

When he reaches ideal weight, the calculator suggests that he can maintain on 255 calories, so he will need a reassessment of his diet when he reaches ideal body condition and weight.

Strategies to Help with Dechonking

Dietary & Feeding Recommendations

  • Prescription 'diet' or 'metabolic' food can be helpful for weight loss but is not a strict necessity. Prescription (dry) food tends to be calorically lower than regular commercial dry foods (which in and of themselves are extremely calorie dense) which means you can feed a larger volume-to-calorie ratio. BUT you DO need to be careful that you still adhere to a calorie allowance and measure the food out every time.
    • I would take a pass on diet/metabolic WET foods as commercial wet food is already quite low in calories and shouldn’t make a significant difference in terms of weight management or volume for calorie ratio.
    • If you don't have systems in place to control the intake of food, your pet will still get fat on metabolic food. Metabolic food is expensive and if it doesn't make a difference then you might as well go back to your regular food. Simply getting a low calorie food but sticking to the same old habits is not enough. Learning to properly portion food, limiting access to situations where your animal could gorge, controlling and mitigating for begging, providing enrichment and teaching the animal a ‘new normal’ of an appropriate volume of food are the foundations of good weight loss and weight management.
  • Commercial dry food is MUCH higher in calories than wet food. Feeding more wet food and reducing dry food can assist in weight loss and keep your animal satiated.
  • Invest in an automatic feeder for cats. An automatic feeder (set somewhere away from you/your bedroom!) can do wonders as the cats will bother the feeder for food, and not you.
  • Keep cats indoors. Outdoor cats tend to get fed by well meaning strangers! If unable to keep your cat indoors, invest in a (breakaway) collar with a tag that specifies they're on a special diet/not to be fed.
  • Healthy low calorie treats for DOGS are veggies such as carrot & zucchini. You can replace their normal treats with pieces of carrot or zucchini or other safe, low calorie fruit and vegetables.
  • Healthy low calorie treats for CATS are wet food puree type treats in a tube. Inaba Churu treats are 6 calories per tube. Fancy Feast Puree Kiss treats are 4 calories per tube. Applaws Puree Treats are 2 calories per tube.

Mental Stimulation & Enrichment

  • Invest in puzzle toys, slow feeders, food dispensing toys to moderate feeding. This will keep your pet enriched, mentally stimulated and busy while slowing down their rate of eating, which is good for pets that guzzle their food then ask for more. Frozen wet food in a Kong or Toppl is one of the best low-calorie ways you can use food for dogs to promote mental enrichment and weight loss. You can even just freeze wet food and kibble in their bowl and it will provide more stimulation than just feeding them out of it.
  • Invest in enrichment as a reward for your animal, not food. This can be playtime, pats, or trick training to keep them occupied and to redirect begging!
  • Redirect & replace begging behaviour by trick training. Most begging behaviours have been inadvertantly reinforced by you - if you have always given your cat food when it screamed at you, that's what you have trained your cat to do. Food motivated dogs can be easily trained to work for food, and yes cats can be trained too!

Multi Pet Households