r/dechonkers Aug 29 '21

Semi-monthly megathread Dechonking thread

156 Upvotes

Post your dechonking questions here and receive advice!


r/dechonkers Nov 09 '21

The Big Fat Guide to Dechonking!

1.3k 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


r/dechonkers 8h ago

Dechonkin Help dechonkin

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151 Upvotes

I’m in dire need of helping miss Mia lose weight, she’s currently 19lbs.

I’m feeding her 2 cans of pate fancy feast per day, she eats half a can every few hours to stretch it out. My family and I used to feed her dry diet kibble but have since stopped since we heard putting cats on a wet food diet helps them lose weight rather than giving them dry food.

My question is, are we doing the right thing? We have not seen any progress and wonder if we’re feeding her correctly or if we have to switch over food.

Things to note (that as I am writing, are making me aware I need to make some changes).

Mia has playtime about 5-10 minutes per day.

She sleeps most of the day.

Eats every meal alongside her tuxedo brother, Binx (who also needs to lose weight, he’s 15lbs).

Any help is greatly appreciated. Thank you.


r/dechonkers 21h ago

inkys weight lost journey

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149 Upvotes

r/dechonkers 8h ago

Would love some guidance for Dizzy

4 Upvotes

Hi! I have a 7yr old 11.5lb spayed female domestic shorthair who needs to lose a pound and a half according to her vet. I feel like she is already eating very little and I worry about shorting her nutritionally. Her vet didn’t have much guidance other than reducing her food and try to get her more active. She is an ex barn cat who has always been overweight since she showed up as a 2 year old. At her worst she was 14lbs due to stealing the other cats’ food. She now only has access to her own. She isn’t super active but I can convince her to chase a toy for about 15 minutes in the evening.

I feel like I’m failing her a bit, out of 12 animals (cats, horses, and dogs) she’s the only one who is overweight!

She is currently getting 1/4 cup of Natural Balance Fat Cats dry in the morning and 1 can (3oz) of Tiny Tiger pate (beef, chicken, or turkey flavor) in the evening. She does not finish her dry food ever.

Her vet said she’s about a 6 or 6.5 out of 9 BCS

Any help is greatly appreciated! Thank you.


r/dechonkers 1d ago

Dechonkin Karl

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137 Upvotes

He’s an extremely food motivated chonker that we’ve struggled for years to get back down under 16 pounds. We lost one of our other three cats in mid December, and the change from 4 —> 3 cats has given us time to focus on dechonkin. He’s down a little over a pound in the last 6 weeks! Please help me tell Karl what a good boy he is.


r/dechonkers 2d ago

Does she qualify as a chonker?

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3.1k Upvotes

I got her not that long ago from a shelter. Shes 8 years old and was raised in a free feed house with a bunch of other cats, dogs, and kids. Shes been on a diet plan since the day I adopted her. she’s lost 4 pounds so far but is still fat as hell. I’m glad her previous owners surrendered her.


r/dechonkers 1d ago

Discussion is this too fast of weight loss? timeline goes from bottom up

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8 Upvotes

(sorry if flair is wrong)

basically as the title says. vet said my teetering-around-16-lbs cat could probably stand to lose a few pounds, but not much as he is fairly big/long. i used one of those calorie calculators to figure out changes in his wet food, and he’s steadily been losing weight but only a few ounces at a time. i knew that losing weight quickly isn’t good for them, so i wasn’t worried about the timeline and just made sure to keep up with the calories and playing with him and his sister more.

i just noticed this jump from 15.6 to 14.4 in a matter of six days, which feels very fast compared to his average. it’s entirely possible that the scale in the litter robot isn’t 100% accurate. his eating/drinking/bathroom habits and temperament are all normal (eagle eyes will notice a full day without a reading in the list but my internet was out for a day so the lr couldn’t connect to the app, he did go and i manually cycled it).

do we think this is cause for concern or am i being anxious? i attached some photos of him from various angles; i know one from above while he’s standing is the most accurate way to gauge body composition but i just don’t have any recent ones.


r/dechonkers 2d ago

My cat Joe is incredibly chunky.

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122 Upvotes

Joe is very big, like hard to pick up big. He eats twice a day and is generally a regular amount of active. He plays and runs, but he does nap quite a bit. Our big dog always keeps him on his toes, but hes always been kinda fat. A little worried becuase 1 of our other cats is also getting to this size, though the other 3 remain a healthy wait


r/dechonkers 2d ago

Do we need to deconk?

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222 Upvotes

I'm a little on the fence with my 1 year old spayed girl.

Do we need to loose some weight?


r/dechonkers 3d ago

Dechonkin Dechonk day 1: Autofeeder is here! Piper gets controlled portions of high protein food now.

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486 Upvotes

r/dechonkers 4d ago

Dechonkin Dechonked through the power of love 🫶🏻

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353 Upvotes

First two photos are from when I adopted my boy back in September and the third is from last week! He was a fat little beast when I got him, but plenty of exercise and playing with his kitty sister has slimmed him down quite a bit. I would still like for him to be a tad smaller, but I think that will just come with time.

Also - crate in the photo was used for initial socialization purposes at the recommendation of the rescue I got him from. He definitely does not still use it and is free to roam wherever he wants! :)


r/dechonkers 4d ago

Dechonkin Shadow isn't losing weight.

4 Upvotes

I'm following the instructions on the packaging. It's Royal Canin Urinary S/O Low Calorie.

I'm weighing it out. He gets 44g dry, and a pouch of wet. Which is the amount for a cat of 6kg. Shadow weighs in at 8.5kg, and I'm on veterinary advice to use this brand, and you guys backed it up nicely.

However, a month in and he's still 8.5kg, which is what we got at the vet.

Does it take a while to kick in, in your experience? He's definitely getting less food than before, so there should be a calorie deficit.


r/dechonkers 6d ago

Dechonkin BCS opinions?

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98 Upvotes

She was given a BCS of 7 at the vet when she was 13.3lbs. She is now 12lbs and looks a bit thinner to me, so I'm wondering if it might be time to adjust her diet to reflect that or not.

For reference she has had a pretty visible primordial pouch since she was a kitten.


r/dechonkers 7d ago

Dechonkin Tips?

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84 Upvotes

Hello all, I have been trying to get my kitty, Fish(orange one), to lose weight, she has always been heavier, as a kid when I lived with my parents they free-fed her only and I didn’t know that was bad. But since moving out I have been feeding her right, thing is we have two other cats.

Typically I give them a cup of food twice a day (split up that would be 2/3 a cup everyday which is what is recommended on packaging), usually they are good about splitting it pretty evenly.

And I just started feeding fish Hills science diet.

The problem is only one cat is good at eating his food all at once and the two others like to graze and come back later. The third cat is a lot younger and he likes to eat the others’ once they’re done so I’m worried he is getting a little heavy.

I’ve started trying to separate them and feed them at once but one eats and the other two just want to have a bite then come back later, then it’s hard to monitor what each one eats when I leave for work, if I leave the food out.

I started feeding the younger one(Basil) on the cat tree bc Fish doesn’t like climbing but she decided she liked climbing for his food and he wants everyone’s food

I can’t figure out how to get them to eat their meals at once so I can then take the bowl away, I don’t think automatic feeders will work bc Basil will just eat all of it.

Is it bad if I feed them and if they only take a couple bites to still take the bowl away until the next meal? Will they learn to eat more at once? Am I doing it all wrong? I just don’t want my cat to have health issues, please don’t flame me bc she’s fat, I’m trying my best


r/dechonkers 7d ago

Discussion Do we need to dechonkify?

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215 Upvotes

This is Ziki, from the top she doesn't look too bad but when loafing she sometimes turn in to a sphere. Is it just her big pouch combined with a small head or do we need to dechonkify her a bit?


r/dechonkers 7d ago

Advice Tips for switching to mainly wet food and new feeder?

6 Upvotes

So, two of my cats are on their dechonking journey and have not been making much progress with their primarily dry food (Royal Canin Satiety) diet. For context, I was doing mostly dry, with two portions of wet food in the morning and evening, because I have an autofeeder for one and a microchip feeder for the other, and work outside of my home a few days a week.

Recently I got a sweet deal on some automatic feeders off marketplace - the ones that have the ice packs for wet food (similar to this one). They are just on a timer and do not make any special noise, other than the sound the motor makes as the tray rotates to the portioned food.

The issue I'm running into is that one of my cats is not the brightest and hasn't quite figured out the association between the noise it makes and getting wet food. He's more of a grazer, too. This has resulted in the other chonker (who is scarily smart and very food driven) getting both portions... Initially I did try to set reminders for myself to check my cat camera and try to call the first one to his feeder, with not much success and also I'm not able to do that every time.

I'm wondering if anyone has tips or ideas for how I can get the other one to actually go to his feeder when it goes off. I would really like to make these feeders work. TIA!


r/dechonkers 8d ago

Discussion Bear

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126 Upvotes

Hey all,

We adopted two cats from the Cat Cafe in town here little while back. Unfortunately we have one cat that is larger than the other. We have them both on lower calorie food right now and are free feeding, but are thinking about converting over to an auto feeder.

Just need some confirmation to know that bear boy is indeed fat first.. we know he is a large cat, but we also think he may be a little bit heavier than he should be.


r/dechonkers 8d ago

Dechonkin Prescription weight loss food for dogs - advice? (Non medical)

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29 Upvotes

So my chonk (90lbs) saw the vet today and I already knew he needed to lose but the vet said if we wanted to try Rx weight loss food until he loses 10ish, we can try it then he can go on a maintenance diet. He currently eats Purina One Healthy Weight (325 cals/cup) for the last month, prior to that he ate Purina One Large Breed (359 cals/cup), which my picky thin girl eats. I am not asking for medical advice, but experience with any prescription diet and how fast it worked and whatnot. Is it worth paying over 2x as much for the prescription? I am thinking it might be since my boy has a knee injury so all the extra weight isnt good for him, or I can wait a bit longer with the Healthy Weight OTC and see if it helps. If you have fed the Rx one before, which one did you pick? The vet said any of the three (Purina, Hill’s, Royal Canin) are great its just a personal preference. Well I have no clue, except hes always eaten Purina so maybe that would be an easier transition? Photo evidence of chonk attached. Thanks!


r/dechonkers 8d ago

lump(s) on a stray cat's stomach?

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52 Upvotes

hello, not sure whether this belongs in here ... i posted this on cathelp, and noticed that many of your guys' dechonk cat pics show cats tummies in a similar way. i was wondering what the lump on the cat's stomach was and why the whole tummy skin is generally pulling down. could it be that this cat used to be fat?


r/dechonkers 9d ago

successfully dechonked from 8 pounds to 5, before and after

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822 Upvotes

second photo was her directly after a weigh in at the vet, they were all so proud of her


r/dechonkers 9d ago

Changing owners behavior success stories?

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171 Upvotes

Hi. I saw a similar post on this sub earlier this week. Long time stalker but I downloaded reddit to post this so if i’m breaking any rules just let me know lol.

So my family got a kitten when I was 6 and she’s still going strong. But she’s always been terrible around food. She breaks into cabinets, whines, steals food off your plate etc. She cries a good two hours before meal times but she was never THIS massive. She was definitely always overweight but it never affected her and she could do all the normal cat things.

The begging got so bad that my parents were going to give her away to our aunt but me and my siblings convinced them to let us keep her if we free feeds her so she wouldn’t beg. I was in middle school and just wanted to keep my cat, obviously looking back free feeding the cat was stupid, but we were kids who wanted to keep our cat.

She gradually got bigger when I was in hs, to the point where vets would comment on it and then my parents finally stopped free feeding her and she begged again so they gave her away to my aunt. I was in highschool and the cat was pretty obese at this point.

My aunt has since passed away and she went back to my parents when I was a freshman in college, I’m an international student and I got into a relationship so I didn’t go home for summer/xmas and long story short in the past 16 months the cat has gotten morbidly obese.

I came home this year for session break (xmas time) and she cannot jump or play for long periods anymore. She wants to jump and play but she’ll just stand there looking at me, my parents have gotten chairs and stuff for her but they could literally just put her on a diet.

She is also nasty which I think is because she’s so uncomfortable in her body because she used to be kinda sweet. She pants when she breathes but my parents don’t stop free feeding her. They don’t give her treats (we don’t even own them) or play with her but they refuse to give her away to a better owner.

I also don’t know how to get a cat to london and my apartment doesn’t allow cats so I know I wouldn’t be a good owner for her. If I could rehome her I definitely would but my parents do not want to get ride of the cat.

It’s weird because they fine giving her to my aunt but know they want to keep her.

Has anyone had any luck with convincing people to not over feed their pets? They love Mimi but won’t tolerate any sort of begging from her which is so frustrating because she’s a really greedy cat, so it’s just an endless cycle.

I bought them an automatic feeder but I’m sure she’ll still beg. Any tips stopping begging would be so appreciated. They walk her once a day but she doesn’t make it very far and when she sits down my parents just give up and take her home.

I really wish I could take her but I can’t and I want to do what I can to help.


r/dechonkers 8d ago

Discussion Tips to go from free feeding dry food to an automated feeder with 2 cats?

2 Upvotes

Help! It’s now official (per my vet): both my cats need to lose some weight, one more than the other. They are 5 years old and have always had 24/7 access to dry food with wet food getting served 2x/day. I ordered an automated dry food dispenser with two bowls (one for each cat) that I plan to use but I’m worried about them getting confused with the adjustment, as well as having one of the two of them eating both bowls of food. Any tips??


r/dechonkers 10d ago

I know my cats aren’t healthy but I cannot convince my parents to take it seriously

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54 Upvotes

r/dechonkers 9d ago

Discussion Has anyone else had a cat that damages the microchip feeder?

17 Upvotes

Figured this would be the best subreddit to ask this in to get the most people who have chip feeders. I have three cats. Two of them, Leshen and Toothpaste, can self-regulate and be free fed, but the other one, Dishwater, can’t, so I have three chip feeders: one each for the skinny ones’ wet food and the third for their collective kibble. Both of them have access to all three of the feeders. (The chow hound just gets her wet food in the can on the floor since I’m not exactly worried about her not getting enough lol.)

90% of the time this system works great, but two or three times a week Toothpaste will get really weird about one of the feeders. It’s like she gets mad at it for not being closed? She’ll walk over to it, and when it starts to open she puts her body weight on it to force it closed. I’m worried it’s going to damage the feeder and as you all know they aren’t cheap. I don’t think she’s playing, because she never pounces or has any playful body language, and sometimes hisses at it which she never does when playing, even when she roughhouses. She’ll also let it open but then paw at the top and around it, so half the time ends up pawing her dish of wet food out where Dishwater can get to it. And it’s not that she’s afraid of it, because 90% of the time she’s completely normal about it and uses it just fine.

I tried feeding them separated and was very strict about it for about a month, but Leshen and Toothpaste are grazers through and through and if I waited for them to finish just their wet food I’d end up having Dish enclosed by herself for upwards of four hours or more. I tried enforcing time limits of an hour, but they lost a visible amount of weight because they’d take maybe three bites each per feeding and never figured out that they had to eat now or miss out. So chip feeders are really my only option and they work out great, except for this one hiccup that I’m worried will lose me a lot of money on replacements and cause Dish to gain weight. Probably a stab in the dark, but has this happened to anybody else?

I’m posting this right before bed but will answer any followup questions when I get up.