During animal development, homeostasis, and aging, anything that grows eventually decays or undergoes consumption, which is known as atrophy or wasting. Thus, like growth, wasting is a fundamental biological process. Importantly, wasting is also part of a complex systemic disorder associated with many diseases. Cachexia, the wasting syndrome commonly observed in advanced cancer patients, affects approximately eight million people worldwide. Due to the complexity of the disease, it is challenging to dissect the molecular mechanisms of cachexia. We established the first non-mammalian model of cachexia-like wasting in Drosophila melanogaster, opening up a novel opportunity to use its powerful genetic and genomic tools to describe the genetic basis of cachexia-like wasting. We are currently investigating essential mechanisms underlying wasting process by exploiting Drosophila as an animal model of wasting, which may provide potential new avenues for the development of treatment strategies for cachexia.