Every Pet Lover wants to make sure their cat lives a long and healthy life. Achieving this goal involves all kinds of factors, including ensuring they get plenty of exercise and are engaged with on a daily basis. Keeping an eye on your cat’s weight is an important part of this process — not only do you need to be aware of what their ideal weight is, but you need to help them reach and maintain that weight. This is where two important concepts come into play — weight management vs weight maintenance. Understanding these and the role they play in keeping your cat at a healthy weight will go a long way toward helping you make the right feeding choices. What is the Difference Between Weight Management and Weight Maintenance? While the ideas of weight management and weight maintenance seem similar, they actually describe two different approaches to feeding your cat: Weight Maintenance Weight maintenance is the act of keeping your cat at their ideal weight. Your pet’s ideal body condition will be based on the animal’s breed and size, among other factors. At this weight your cat is functioning at their best and getting all their nutritional needs met. Weight Management Weight management focuses on getting your cat to their ideal weight. While this often applies to cats that need to lose weight, it can also apply to animals that are underweight. What Should I Feed My Cat to Help Maintain Their Weight? When your cat has reached their ideal body weight and you’d like to help them maintain it, try ACANA™ Indoor Entrée recipes, which includes a poultry-based recipe and a fish-based recipe. Each one is crafted with 65% animal ingredients1 and features balanced calories from protein and fat, plus L-carnitine, to help your indoor cat maintain a healthy body weight. Additionally, these recipes support digestive health. Our Indoor Entrée with fish recipe also helps support healthy skin and coat, and our Indoor Entrée with poultry recipe helps control hairballs. The Importance of Working with Your Veterinarian Whether you’re working on maintaining or managing your cat’s weight, getting input from your veterinarian is important. A vet’s expertise will help you to determine what your cat’s ideal body condition is. If weight gain or loss is necessary, it’s advisable to work with a vet to calibrate your cat’s diet in a safe and healthy way. Every cat is different, so a vet can also answer any questions and provide guidance as you need. How Should I Help Manage My Cat’s Weight? Weight management can be a difficult process, and that’s one of the reasons working with a vet is so highly recommended. This approach allows the vet to supervise the process and fine tune as necessary, while making sure the cat is getting all the nutrition they require. By taking care to stay apprised of your cat’s weight, you can maintain or manage as necessary, thus ensuring your furry friend is in good shape for your life together!
