Is it normal for a cat to lose weight when going onto adult food?

[hillyy13]

My Persian cat turned one in March so we put him onto adult food. I have always kept note of his weight due to my older cat having kidney issues so I weigh him frequently.

At the most recent weigh in, I noticed my one year old has dropped around 300g. The only thing that has changed is he’s lost his winter fur and gone onto adult cat food. Is this normal?

11th October - 3.1kg
18th October - 3.3kg
23rd October - 3.25kg
1st November - 3.35kg
8th November - 3.3kg
24th November - 3.5kg
4th December - 3.65kg
22nd December - 3.8kg
3rd January - 3.85kg
1st Feb - 4kg
23rd Feb - 4.05kg
22nd March - 4.15kg
3rd May - 3.8kg

 

[Furballsmom]

Hi! If he's acting normally otherwise, it might be that the adult food has less calories per serving than the food he was getting previously. However, if he continues on the downward trend, you'll want to check with his vet.

 

[hillyy13]

Hi! If he's acting normally otherwise, it might be that the adult food has less calories per serving than the food he was getting previously. However, if he continues on the downward trend, you'll want to check with his vet.

He’s an absolute nutter, doesn’t stop for a minute! In fact, at just over one year old he’s crazier than he’s ever been lol. I’ll definitely keep an eye, thanks!

 

[ProMeower]

+1 to everything Furballsmom said. Here's my experience switching to adult food, if it helps:

We found our youngest cat as a starving kitten, so he was free-fed pretty much until a year old or so. We switched over to regular food not because of age but more so when he started to gain weight and look chubbier around the waist. I mean, weight gain alone could have just been him growing, but at some point it began to make the cat wider.

When I switched over to adult food, I let him eat the recommended amount on the can and checked his weight every 2 or 3 weeks. I weigh out the food, so I reduced his meals until he lost the little extra weight he'd put on, then increased by a little bit so he would then be in "maintenance" and not weight loss. Maybe let your cat eat as much as he wants for a while, use the amount he eats to figure out new meal size, and recheck?

 

[Alldara]

At 1 year old, he might need the higher calorie food still. (If he continues down!) Mine is 3 and doesn't stop so he still gets kitten food to keep his weight stable.
We used to think cats finish growing at 1, but now we know they can continue to 1.5 or 2 years for many cats.

 

[Sarthur2]

Yes, adult male cats especially continue to grow and develop a huskier build for 18-24 months after birth. Your cat probably needs more nutrition still. I would let him eat his fill. Does he still get wet food? This is important also.

 

[maggie101]

My cats know when they have had enough. I never gave kitten food. It's pretty much the same. Their weight fluctuates. Peaches has always been 7 pds except as a kitten ounces increase or decrease then back up then down and so on. They only eat canned 3x a day. Mostly weuva,orije,fancy feast classics,nutro perfect portions,daves