Half of the cats visiting veterinary clinics in the US are overweight or obese. That's not a viral meme problem—it's a health crisis quietly unfolding in millions of homes, where extra weight worsens arthritis, diabetes, and shortens lifespans.
Now there's a potential intervention. San Francisco pharmaceutical company OKAVA has begun the first clinical trial of a GLP-1 medication designed specifically for cats. The implant, called OKV-119, sits under the skin and releases a steady dose of the drug for up to six months—no daily pills, no fighting with your cat at feeding time.
GLP-1s are the same class of drugs that became household names through Ozempic and Zepbound—they work by mimicking a hormone your gut naturally produces after eating, triggering fullness and slowing digestion. In humans, they've shown dramatic results for weight loss and type 2 diabetes. The question now: do they work the same way in cats.
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Start Your News DetoxThe trial, called MEOW-1 (Management of Overweight Cats with OKV-119), is enrolling at least 50 cats. Two-thirds will receive the implant while researchers track their progress over three months, with an option to extend for another three. According to OKAVA CEO Michael Klotsman, the implant mimics the metabolic benefits of fasting—improved insulin sensitivity, reduced fat mass, more efficient energy metabolism—without requiring owners to restrict their cat's food or change the feeding routines that often bond humans and their pets.
That last point matters. Caloric restriction works for cats, but it's notoriously hard to maintain. Owners struggle with hungry cats, and the emotional weight of denying food to a beloved pet takes its toll. An implant that works quietly in the background could sidestep that friction entirely.
What comes next
Results are expected next summer. If the trial shows the implant is safe and effective, OKAVA plans to request FDA approval by 2027 or 2028, with a target price of around $100 per month for cat owners. Thomas Lutz, a veterinary physiologist at the University of Zurich who has studied GLP-1s in animals, told the New York Times he sees "clear benefits" in the approach—what's been missing, he noted, are larger-scale clinical studies like this one.
Some veterinarians are already prescribing human GLP-1 drugs off-label to cats with promising results, though the evidence remains thin. A dedicated feline formulation, tested rigorously and designed with cats' physiology in mind, could change the landscape for the roughly 61 percent of US cats currently classified as overweight or obese.
