How to make a cat gain weight?!

leiela

Ok dogs are easy !!! you feed them they eat it... if you want them to gain weight you just feed them more or buy a higher calorie dog food.

My problem is a very skinny and anorexic cat.... yes mental i know.

Well im not sure she's anorexic but her problem seems to be that she doens't eat enough, personally im not convinced she has a sence of smell or taste because moving her cat food bowl 10ft totally confuses her.

So how to make a cat gain weight?? any idea's?? she really doens't eat much, she's not fussy and will eat what she's given but she picks at it and doens't eat anywhere enough...

Also i have a 2nd cat who is a perfectly healthy weight and i don't especially want her getting fat while im trying to fatten up skinny cat??!!

The vet has given her seroid's which should help her gain weight this afternoon and is sending her home tonight, I've got to take her back again in 2 weeks for a weigh to make sure she's gaining weight so i want to do everything in my power during that time to make sure it works.

oneandonlyboy

Hi,

I'm not sure what type of food you feed your cats(dry or wet).
Have you tried grilled chicken or fish? i do this for my cat and he loves it as a treat, he cant get enough of it.
You can mix in abit of boiled rice if you like too.

leiela

The whole frest meat thing is why im convinced she has no sence of taste or smell.

If i cook a chicken i often put the scraps in the cat bowl as a treat. The other cat go's mental and sprints over no matter where she is in the house... though admitedly if im cooking chicken she's usually sitting as close as she'd dare haha, but skinny cat doens't seem to even notice i've even tried taking her to the bowl when i put treats in it, and she wanders away dissinterested... it's just not right,

ive tried all sorts of treats over the years fish, chicken etc ... but she really couldn't care less food just seems to be food to her.

jimbugalee

I was going to say check for worms etc but if the vet has given her the OK apart from eating then exclude that.

Cats and dogs also like rice and scrambled egg. Try and cook something really smelly! Even if you heat it up a little to make it smell more (make sure it's cool enough for them to eat). Does she drink cat milk? You could try that also. And maybe some treats?

At the end of the day she has to eat healthily (for a cat) but as you say I would do whatever you can to get her started.

Also, make sure she feel comfortable where she is eating. If you have had her for a while this probably isn't a problem but maybe try feeding her in a small room where she is by herself so she feels comfortable enough to eat.

Hope that's useful.

lowis

when my cat was diagnosed with cancer the vet recommended she start a high calorific diet to bolster her up during her chemo treatment.

She was given Hills a/d Prescription food and various convalescence foods...perhaps you could ask your vet about feeding her these along with her normal diet? There are quite a few convalescent foods for cats, one that springs to mind is Liquivite.

and when my cat's appetite seemed slow i would heat her food for about 40 secs in the microwave to get the smells active - cats don't have such a good sense of smell as dogs so heating the food a little can help them 'recognise' that something tasty is in front of them.

lowis

and then there is Nutri-Cal too
http://www.nutrecare.co.uk/prod6.asp?prod_id=1507&id=141&sub_cat=504&grpid=1507&msg=&offset=

this is a high calorie supplement a cat breeder recommended to me, sadly i didn't have much of a chance to try it out properly as my cat had gone off her food completely by the time i discovered it. she did like the taste of it though, i used to pop a little bit of it on her paw and she would lick it off.

UKTigerlily

Kippers? She should at least look like she can smell them then you'll maybe know if she can smell? Mine you could see her nose going

foreign_correspondent

A vote for oily fish here, fresh or tinned! Maybe she hasnt got a very good sense of smell and so the food is less interesting to her? Does she show any preference for smellier foods?

We used to have a cat that loved cheese, butter crisps and marmite - althoug I am sure these should not be part of a cats regular doet it may be worth giving her a few titbits of things like this occasionally to see if they interest her!

rita-rabbit

hand feed:
dried food
cheese
any scraps of meat from a meal you have eaten (ie a piece of meat & gravyoff your plate - not that you regurgitate for the cat)

an old cat of mine liked:
chicken stew water
jelly (you know the type u serve children with ice cream)

good luck

sukysue

My cat is very thin also but the vet said he was healthy just thin. I cook him chicken as well and raw liver which he eats but he still isn't any fatter, it's made him even more picky with his food now . I give up!

leiela

Quick update

Ok good new's my cat made me cry yesterday haha.

Well i've decided to supliment her biscuits with meat, i've left a bowl of dry cat food out, but i've started to put out tinned food, and fresh fish etc out for her too.

whenever my other cat go's out (usually first thing in the morning and in the early evening) i've been putting out a small portion of the fish or tinned food out for skinny cat. That gives her usually a few hours to come and eat before the greedy piggy cat comes and polishes off anything thats left over.

I've been monitoring how much she's eaten of the "wet food" during the time periods the other cat is outside, and even though its impossible to know how much "dry" she eating at least i'm getting an idea of how much wet she's eating.

Now granted if she's Only eating the wet she's still not eating anywhere near a "normal" amount, however i have noticed the amount she is eating is going up... gotta be a good sign right??!

Then yesterday she made me cry ... it was so silly and i felt like a wally.

I'd bought some mackrel for her so i put it in her bowl and microwaved it for a little while like people suggested to make it smelly. I wandered up the stairs with bowl in hand and skinny cat was waiting (i think she's starting to get used of the routine of me kicking out greedy cat in the mornings, and bringing her something nice)

I placed the bowl down, she ran over sniffed it and get a VERY VERY exicted little chirp. She doens't meow she chirps, and only when she's super exicted, she's a very expressive skinny little cat.

Anyway she got that exicted she was trying to eat and chirp at the same time it was VERY VERY VERY cute and i burst into tears like a totally WALLY.

That is OFFICALLY the first time i've EVER seen her get exicted about food.

So there we have it apparently she likes mackrel... so today i've been very naughtie and been to the fishmongers and bought 3 huge fresh mackrels which im gonig to cook up tonight and give her in portions, i may even give some to greedy cat if she's well behaved.