We don’t understand all the mechanisms behind obesity in humans but we know that:

• It is often caused by hormonal imbalances (particularly GLP-1) causing the brain to feel more hungry than necessary
  • The causes for those imbalances are not known for sure (!) but GLP-1 agonists counteract them all the same
• Forcing oneself to eat less will work to lose weight but requires a truly disproportionate amount of willpower compared to a healthy adult. The long-standing myth that fat people have purely psychological issues has been extremely damaging, both on a personal and human level but also to the state of research on the matter which for the longest time did not receive funding for that unsubstantiated reason
• Dieting causes side-effects such as slowed metabolism and chronic fatigue as the body mistakenly thinks hungry = need to save energy. On top of the mental strain of feeling hungry all the time for the rest of your life which many formerly obese people can attest to. All of which affects quality of life and can make the side-effects of GLP-1 agonists pale in comparison.

Now I don’t know how well all that translates to cats, but I would not be surprised if the obesity epidemic in humans had environmental causes that were affecting other mammals in similar ways. And it would make sense that for the worst-affected, GLP-1 agonists would be a better way to manage this hormonal imbalance than forcing the poor kitty feel absolutely famished all day long to maintain a barely healthy weight.

I will let professionals decide when an obesity case is better treated with strict portion control vs GLP-1 agonists, but the least we can do is avoid blanket statements on the management of the complex and badly understood mechanisms of hunger control and weight gain.