How to make a cat gain weight?!

Aspiring

:T Brilliant news, leiela.

On the fresh mackeral front; you may want to cut them up and freeze them raw. That way, you only defrost enough to cook for puss on a daily basis. Cooked fish doesn't keep very well and the last thing puss needs is to get an upset tum now that you've found something desirable!

And, no, you are so not a "wally" :rotfl: It's been a worry for you and now you have found the magic answer; I would say that having a blub in relief and delight is a perfectly normal reaction

A cheaper source of fish (this is MSE after all ) might be to ask your local fishmonger for any scraps at the end of the day (heads and tails that you could cook up and bone). Also, don't know about where you live, but local to me there is a fish and chip shop which advertises "fish for cats". Yes, this is the trimmings and yes, it is advertised, but you could cold call around your local ones to see if they offer the same. Far cheaper than buying fresh mackeral and just as nutritious for puss

I have tried asking at Tesco fish counter if they would sell me the scraps but their attitude is, that any scraps belong to the customer who bought the fish (even though they don't want them and Tesco will bin them ) so they couldn't sell them to me (bit daft that, if you ask me, but hey, who am I to argue )

Worth asking around, even if you draw blank; especially as puss has now decided that fish is the way forward

Hope the check up goes well.

leiela

Well i lucked in the fishmonger next door to my butcher where more than happy to sell me a huge bag of fish scraps (mostly salmon and cod) for 50p ... yay... im gonna cook them up tonight and see what she thinks, if thier good i can get a bag a week to suppliment her normal food.

Im guessing feeding a cat just fish scraps isn't healthy?? Right now i don't care what she's eating as long as SHE'S EATING, but i know sooner or later i'm going to have to think about her long term health,

i want to make sure she's getting a healthy balanced diet, but she does seem more willing to eat the fresh fish, rather than normal cat food (not suprising really) but how much is OK???

if cats are ok just eating fish i don't mind buying it.. kitties worth it, but if it's not good for her long term health because she's missing vital vits etc and i don't want to get into a situation where she'll only eat fish if it's not good for her all the time.

Anyone got any clue??

I dunno it sounds silly but im really looking forward to the vets visit on tueday, i REALLY REALLY think she's gained abit of weight, she's still skinny but these things take time... but she just doens't seem as skinny as she was so im looking forward to him weighing her to see how well we did.

lowis

she will be missing out on some of the things she needs...can you mix the fish with catfood perhaps? may be get some fishy-flavour dry food? start off with the fish being the bulk and gradually make the dry food the majority in the mix.

foreign_correspondent

I have no idea how much fish is ok, but I expect a lot of tinned cat foods are fish based - if you google 'fish cat food' there is some info - it seems that ptoblems can occur if it is the cats sole diet - would she eat some meat too - maybe mixed in - either tinned cat meat, or a little cooked mince or chicken maybe?

Ask the vet for dietary advice when you take the cat in!

Glad to hear kitty is eating better anyway!

UKTigerlily

Awww glad you've found something she likes! Cats must have Taurine but idk if it's found in fish or just meat? (And I dunno if it's found in human foods). Could you mix the fish in with wet cat food? I have to give my Dog mixed Pilchards & Kibble or she won't eat sometimes!

leiela

Chicken and meat doens't interest her at all and dry cat food is even worse, i was feeding her dry food when she got into this mess, she'd rather starve silly cat.

Well i've just done a google search and there is a site with instructions on how to make your own cat food, it looks like a few other bits are needed veg, eggs etc to make it balanced but nothing hard to get hold of so im gonna try making it see if she'll eat it... i'll try and fish heavy mix to start with an ween in the other stuff see how she does.

http://www.serve.com/BatonRouge/nutrition/fresh_cat_food.htm

I don't mine making it rather than buying tins as long as she keeps eating it.

UKTigerlily

Please be careful if making your own, it's a dangerous thing to do unless you're an expert in Cat nutrition. Won't she even eat wet cat food if left? Most Cats will eat rather than starve to death. Please don't give Veg to a Cat, they don't need it, nutritionally it does nothing for them. I'd mix a tiny bit of tinned human fish, like the mackerel in with the wet cat food to give it the smell & encourage her to eat it (Hopefully!)

lowis

are you near a waitrose? their own brand tuna/shrimp and sardine/mackeral cat food is literally pure fish in a tin, with some jelly. i used to heat this up for my cancer kitty whe her appetite disappeared, she wolfed it down! I think Tesco do a very 'real' fishy one in the Finest range too.

anguk

The trouble with cats is they are so fussy. Our cat is a greedy thing who would eat all day long if we let her but she will only eat the food she likes. She won't touch dry food or certain tins and if I dare to put it in her dish she turns her nose up at them then spends all day following me around miowing because she's hungry!

Nomad25

You don't say how old she is? From experience, if they're normally quite thin - you'll have a hard time to fatten an old cat up. [Usually due to the kidneys not processing food as efficiently].