Our cat needs to gain weight - need ideas

[chrissyk]

This has to be a first in the history of domesticated felines. Our cat actually needs to GAIN weight. She's had all kinds of blood tests and she is completely healthy. Our vet surmises that she is a picky eater. We think that she is probably bored of her food???

She has never been the greatest eater, but she went from nearly 12 lbs to 7lbs 12oz in the past 2 years. We have a goal of putting 2 pounds on her by Aug. 30th so our vet will feel better about putting her under anesthesia to clean her teeth.

Anyways, any ideas? We've tried "appetizing" her food with rotisserie chicken, and she just picks the chicken off and leaves the rest of the food We feed an organic pet food diet and we don't want to deviate from that as she has been quite healthy on it otherwise. We are not opposed to other people-food "appetizers," though. We're just stuck for ideas. Also, she hates cat treats (I know, she's a freak), and she won't really eat much dry cat food at all so that doesn't help either.

 

[Rajah]

Only thing I can think of is to try kitten food?

 

[jennyl772003]

I know my mom's cats always loved turkey baby food. Maybe mix it into the dry food?

 

[snowball22]

Maybe try:

Canned Tuna in Oil
Hard Boiled eggs mashed up
Milk

 

[plgrn]

Chicken broth in lieu of her water for a few hours. That should spark her appetite, but if it doesn't she'll at least get a few extra calories in her. Just make sure to get the reduced sodium stuff if possible, and put her water back out when you're sure she's drank some of the broth since it will make her thirsty.

 

[chrissyk]

I hadn't thought of the tuna in oil! She does like tuna, and I know that they sell it packed in olive oil. I'll try that Also, I wonder if she'd eat eggs. It's worth a try.

We do buy the kitten dry food, but she doesn't eat it too much. She's never been a big dry food eater. I haven't found a kitten wet food in either of our organic brands, but I should check that out again. Maybe that would have more calories.

 

[CathrynRose]

Anyways, any ideas? .

When my mom's cat was losing weight rapidly - and also was given the task of fattening him up, she bought baby food.

It worked. And the cat really liked it.

 

[Kay7979]

This is usually what happens when cats get old. Not sure if your cat is an older cat or not. Try to give foods with a strong smell. Sometimes if food does not smell like much of anything it isn't appealing and cats don't eat. The tuna in oil is a good idea as it has a strong scent. A little extra beef broth or chicken broth mixed with those flavors of cat food may help, also warming the food seems to bring out the smell. Our cat loves straight olive oil. If you can find something like this as an inbetween meal treat go for it! Our old cat, now passed away, used to like a big dolop of warm cream cheese, or a serving of sour cream. Our current cat loves whipped cream. I don't think sugar is good, so he doesn't get it often. Maybe straight heavy cream would be appealing to your cat. Do try different brands of cat food, rotated with the organic good stuff, as it may just be that the cat is bored with the same meal selections. A serving or two of kitty junk food won't hurt your cat, and may make your cat more interested in food in general.

 

[chyam]

When my mom's cat was losing weight rapidly - and also was given the task of fattening him up, she bought baby food.

It worked. And the cat really liked it.

Exactly..........I have used baby food for weight gain, for sick kitties, and for my "old lady" Binky to supplement her diet, it is loaded with calories and they also seem to really like it. An old vet turned me on to this when one of my cats wouldn't eat, now I always have several jars on hand. Mine like the Turkey, Chicken, Lamb and Veal no so much the Beef.

 

[Sherri]

This has to be a first in the history of domesticated felines. Our cat actually needs to GAIN weight. She's had all kinds of blood tests and she is completely healthy. Our vet surmises that she is a picky eater. We think that she is probably bored of her food???

She has never been the greatest eater, but she went from nearly 12 lbs to 7lbs 12oz in the past 2 years. We have a goal of putting 2 pounds on her by Aug. 30th so our vet will feel better about putting her under anesthesia to clean her teeth.

Anyways, any ideas? We've tried "appetizing" her food with rotisserie chicken, and she just picks the chicken off and leaves the rest of the food We feed an organic pet food diet and we don't want to deviate from that as she has been quite healthy on it otherwise. We are not opposed to other people-food "appetizers," though. We're just stuck for ideas. Also, she hates cat treats (I know, she's a freak), and she won't really eat much dry cat food at all so that doesn't help either.

You can send her to my house, my dh always teases me that I make all of the skinny cats fat.
For people food goes, you can try fresh tuna fish, my cat likes crackers and toast and hoagies.

 

[Evil Queen]

I rescued a very unweight kitten.

I would cook up rice, baby cereal, livers, baby orange juice and mix it altogether, then package it up into smaller bags. When ever she ran out, I would fill her bowl again. She gained weight fairly quickly. She's still small, but stout as heck.

Also, one of our cat's lives in the ferret room, and he's been known to nibble at their food once in awhile (while also being on kitten food), that cat is HUGE!! **Matter of fact, my DS is on vacation and left me money to buy his first adult food, I bought weight control.**

 

[Cool-Beans]

Start feeding it!

My suggestion was given - a little drizzling of tuna oil or milk or whatever the cat likes on the food.

 

[lila]

I agree that weight loss can be common in older kitties. Before my kitty passed, I was desperate to get her to eat, and really found the only things that attracted her attention were tuna and milk. Has the vet checked your cat's kidneys?

My sister also had a cat that needed to gain weight, and she supplemented her dry food diet with wet food every day and found that helped.

 

[dementia412]

btw it is really bad for cats to eat soft food... you really should have always used hard food, it's better for the teeth and digestion, but that bridge has been burned I think the oil tuna is great, but don't go switching cat foods, cant actually don't like to have a lot of variety, they prefer to have the same food. Let us know if you make her hefty hefty hefty.

 

[FranP]

When we got Tori as a kitten, she was severely underweight - the vet gave us a liquid supplement (I guess like a high-calorie cod liver oil thing) to give to her in addition to feeding her - he said the problem was they a kitten (and I imagine an older cat, too) could not possibly take in enough food to gain a substantial amount of weight quickly, so the high calorie supplent helped - it worked wonders for her. We also fed her rice baby cereal with baby chicken, eg yolds and kitten formula we got in the pet store - this was in addition to the little kitten pellets we got from the vet - which she absolutely loved and ate for several years as a treat. Right now, Tori has lost some weight, but the is almost 12 years old and has an overactive thyroid. Medication has helped, but she is still a little bony. Good luck with your kitty.

 

[poohandwendy]

btw it is really bad for cats to eat soft food... you really should have always used hard food, it's better for the teeth and digestion, but that bridge has been burned

This is not true. The most important aspect of cat nutrition is the ingredients and the quality of those ingredients. Most dental issues in cats can be directly related to the poor ingredients in their food. Not the consistency of the food.

The absolute best diet would be a raw diet, which is not dry by any means. If anything, an exclusively dry diet lacks the moisture a cat needs and if the cat does not seek the proper amount of water in addition (many cats simply will not drink enough to make up for the lack of moisture), a dry diet can result in kidney and urinary tract issues.

 

[poohandwendy]

Baby food (meat only with no onion in the ingredients list) and kitten food can be very helpful when trying to help an underweight cat to gain. It also can help to heat the food slightly, so that it smells more. If your cat had a recent URI or cold, the food may not smell enough to be appetizing.

 

[luv2nascar]

my 9 yr old cat is a very picky eater and a vomiter. Fun I know. He was down to 6.5 pounds. I switched his food to the most wonderful stuff. He never throws up from that anymore and has put on 2 pounds in under two years. It is pricey but he is worth it. Purina One Sensitive Systems. They need less than 1 cup per day. It is high in calories, easily digestible. I think he may have teeth problems too. Seems his other food the pieces were too big and hard. He didn't chew them and threw them up. It contains yogurt and he loves it. Two years and he is not bored with it yet.

 

[dementia412]

well it's not like I'm a vet... all I can say is that I've been told by vets, people who care for large numbers of cats, books and internet sources that all say you shouldn't give cats soft food except as an occasional treat, because it's very bad for their teeth (some say digestion too).... so I'll keep feeding mine hard food.... but I'm not gonna try to act like I'm an authority here (heck I didn't even want the cats) Just so long as they stay healthy, right.
My older one threw up untill we used Petromalt, but I think that's only good for cats yacking because of hairballs. Thank goodness for Petromalt, cat yack is one of the most discusting things I've ever seen.

 

[bekkiz]

I'm not 100% sure you can do this for cats (but they can have dairy, so I don't see why not) and I've done this with puppies, but yogurt--especially full fat (like greek style) mixed with their dry food is a good way to get extra calories. If you're worried about sugar, plain is fine (maybe mixed with tuna oil), but the pups like strawberry too