Is There an Ozempic for Cats?

There is no FDA-approved GLP-1 medication — Ozempic, Wegovy, semaglutide, or otherwise — for cats as of April 2026. Veterinarians cannot legally prescribe human GLP-1 medications to cats. But unlike dogs, cats are now first in line: two separate clinical trials testing pet-specific GLP-1 drugs in cats are actively enrolling. Okava Pharmaceuticals' MEOW-1 trial tests an exenatide-releasing implant. Akston Biosciences' AKS-562c tests a once-weekly injection at Cornell University. Both report results in summer 2026.

Why cats first? Three reasons. (1) Feline obesity is reaching crisis levels — APOP's vet survey put US cat overweight/obesity prevalence at 61%, slightly higher than dogs. (2) Cats are notoriously hard to put on diets through food restriction alone — owners report severe behavioral problems and food-aggression when intake drops. A pharmaceutical option fits the species better. (3) Cats don't have the same pancreatitis breed-predisposition pattern as dogs, which lowers one of the regulatory barriers for GLP-1 trials.

What's Actually in Trials Right Now

Okava MEOW-1 — The Exenatide Implant

Okava Pharmaceuticals is developing OKV-119, a small subcutaneous implant designed to release exenatide (a GLP-1 receptor agonist originally approved for human diabetes) over approximately six months. The MEOW-1 trial — Management of Excess Overweight cats With OKV-119 — enrolls at least 50 cats. About two-thirds receive the active implant, the rest serve as controls. Owners observe their cats over a 3-month primary period with an optional 3-month extension. Trial initiation was December 2025; results are expected summer 2026, with FDA submission targeted for 2027-2028 and potential commercial launch around $100/month-equivalent retail pricing if approved.

Akston AKS-562c — The Weekly Injection at Cornell

Separate from Okava, Akston Biosciences is running a feline trial at the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine. Their candidate, AKS-562c, is a once-weekly GLP-1 Fc-fusion injection — a different molecule and a different delivery format from Okava's implant. The Cornell trial enrolls 70 cats with the option to expand to 140, over a roughly 3-month observation period. Akston announced trial initiation in November 2025.

Realistic Timeline

Even in a best-case scenario, no FDA-approved cat GLP-1 will be available before late 2027. Veterinary drug development from Phase 2 to FDA approval typically takes 2-3 years after positive trial readout, and that's assuming the trial succeeds.

Why Vets Won't Prescribe Human Ozempic to Your Cat

1. Species-specific dosing has never been studied for cats. Human dosing scales by body weight, but GLP-1 receptor density and incretin response differ significantly between species. A 'safe' human dose could be sub-therapeutic — or unsafe — in a cat of any size.
2. Hepatic lipidosis risk is elevated in cats with rapid weight loss. Cats who lose weight too fast develop fatty liver disease (hepatic lipidosis), which can be fatal. GLP-1 medications cause appetite suppression, and an off-label, untested dose could trigger weight loss faster than the cat's liver can adapt.
3. Compounding pharmacies cannot legally fill a human-drug prescription for a cat without veterinary oversight, and most veterinarians won't write that script. FDA guidance for veterinary compounding restricts compounding for off-label species use without a clinical justification — and 'my cat is overweight' is not a clinical justification when food therapy is the standard of care.

What About Wegovy, Semaglutide, or Mounjaro for Cats?

Same answer as Ozempic: none of them are approved for cats, and vets won't prescribe them off-label. All four — Wegovy, Ozempic, Mounjaro, Zepbound — are GLP-1 receptor agonists (with tirzepatide adding GIP receptor activity in Mounjaro/Zepbound). They were developed for human metabolic indications using human dosing, human safety data, and human-specific molecular forms. None of that translates safely to cats without species-specific clinical work — which is exactly what Okava OKV-119 and Akston AKS-562c are doing now.

What Cat GLP-1 Will Likely Cost

Pricing is not yet announced for any pet GLP-1 product. But based on industry signals and adjacent veterinary biologic comparisons, here's the realistic expectation:

• •Okava OKV-119: ~$100/month-equivalent retail per Okava's public guidance. As a 6-month implant, that translates to roughly $600 per implantation procedure (plus vet visit fees).
• •Akston AKS-562c: No public pricing yet. As a weekly subcutaneous injection, retail likely $25-50 per dose, or $108-216/month equivalent.
• •Pet insurance coverage: Currently inconsistent for veterinary weight loss drugs. Adoption likely depends on whether pet insurers add coverage post-launch.
• •Owner total cost: $600-1,500/year for the medication alone, plus vet visit fees (initial consultation, BCS scoring, periodic monitoring).

Side Effects: What MEOW-1 and the Cornell Trial Are Measuring

Both feline trials track the same primary safety signals — informed by what GLP-1 receptor agonists cause in humans, plus species-specific concerns:

• •Gastrointestinal effects — nausea, vomiting, decreased appetite. The most common adverse events in human GLP-1 trials. In cats, severe appetite suppression carries the secondary risk of hepatic lipidosis (see below).
• •Hepatic enzyme elevation — ALT, ALP, GGT. Rapid weight loss in cats can trigger hepatic lipidosis (fatty liver disease), which is potentially fatal without aggressive intervention. The trials specifically monitor liver enzymes to detect this signal early.
• •Pancreatitis — GLP-1 medications carry pancreatitis warnings even on human labels. Cats are less prone to pancreatitis than dogs, but the signal is still tracked.
• •Implant or injection site reactions — local inflammation, infection, granulomas. More relevant for the OKV-119 implant than the AKS-562c weekly injection.
• •Cardiovascular markers — heart rate changes have been observed in human GLP-1 trials; feline trials track this for the species-specific risk profile.

Until the trial readouts (summer 2026 for Okava, Q2-Q3 2026 for Akston), feline-specific side effect rates are unknown. The trials are designed to surface them.

What You Can Actually Do Right Now

1. Confirm your cat is actually overweight. Use the 9-point Body Condition Score scale. Most owners overestimate or underestimate by 1-2 BCS points. A cat with BCS 6-7 is overweight; BCS 8-9 is obese.
2. Switch to a vet-formulated weight management food. Hill's Metabolic, Royal Canin Satiety, and Purina OM all have feline-specific weight loss formulations with reduced calorie density and increased protein/fiber for satiety.
3. Use a portion-controlled timed feeder. Cats don't self-regulate well with free-feeding. A timed automatic feeder splitting daily intake into 4-5 small meals helps prevent the food-aggression that crash diets cause.
4. Add play exercise — 10-15 min twice daily. Wand toys, laser pointers, and food puzzles. Cats that play eat less and lose weight more steadily.
5. Re-weigh monthly, not weekly. Cats should lose 0.5-2% of body weight per week. A 12-pound cat losing 0.5 pound per month is on track. Faster than that risks hepatic lipidosis.

Get Notified When Cat GLP-1 Launches

We track both cat trials and will send one email when the first cat GLP-1 medication becomes commercially available. No spam. No marketing emails. Single-purpose alert.