High calorie cat food?

tinksy

One of the issues we have is that we are veggie in this house so no meat around!

I definately think our issue is related to the other cat being mean and the skinny one being a slow eater. I've just managed to get him to eat a sachet and a half of kitten food but its taken him an hour due to his lack of teeth and the fact his gums are playing him up.

He had a battery of tests run last year when he has his teeth out and nothing was found so hopefully its just a issue within the house.

He thinks his luck is in as all this food keeps appearing. I'm going to try him on the gourmet pate later as he loves to lick the juices off and ignore the chunks.

Yolina

My (terminally) ill moggy is on Royal Canin Recovery, which is similar to the high calories a/d food Pinkcandyflossprincess mentioned. I've also found that he likes Hill's Science Plan Optimal Care - he's quite partial to the ocean fish and the salmon ones - it's similar in texture to the mushy recovery food - though not as high in calories, but as long as he's happy to to eat it... He also loves raw egg yolks, so he gets one a day (and organic at that) though too much of it could give cats the runs so you need to bear that in mind - I'm quite happy to indulge him (with no issues so far I might add) given that he has no long term prognosis and I'm just pampering him until it's time.

tinksy

We had a look today in the supermarket and found the following.

Felix be good to yourself mature - 13% protein
Hi life and simply fayre - 12% protein
Felix kitten - 15% kitten

Ours already eat Felix but going to see what he thinks about the hi life and simply fayre because we don't want him on kitten food long term. He is currently on 2 sachets of kitten food a day, plus hopefully 2 adult sachets. So far today he has eaten 2 kitten and almost 1 adult mixed in with a small amount of kitten milk (I know cat milk isn't to brilliant for him but he adores it and can't have hard treats) and 1 tube of cat yogurt. Plus a slice of processed chicken.

He is purring away now whilst having a snooze!

faded_flowers

Iif you're serious anbout getting weight back on him, you need to think about a good quality food. Foods like Felix have the bare minimum meat content and bulk up the 'protein' % with vegetable proteins.

tinksy

Unfortunately he isn't a fan of hi life and others we have tried. At the moment just eating is enough for me and then I will start playing around with what he eats. He was on PAH purely which is high meat content but went off it and turned his nose up. Hopefully once he has got some weight on him we can look at changing his food but for now I just need to make sure he is eating.

kaz1968

maskerade wrote: »

Can anyone recommend a high calorie cat food? Our older cat has shed a lot of weight and this is being investigated by the vet but in the mean time she needs feeding up.

Thank you :beer:

Hi I hope your wee cat is feeling better. My 14 year old cat is in a similar situation with weight loss and after a trip to the vets last weekend and being told she was healthy but underweight, I was recommended the Royal Canin Senior Consult Stage 2 High Cal. (complete dry food) I bought a small 400g bag to start with just in case she didn't like it .. how wrong I was ... I've not seen my cat hoover up food quite as quickly as she done with this .. she loves it and has in the last week visibly put weight on and she's very content. It's worth a try if you've not already found a solution.

Long may the happiness and satisfaction of my OAP continue

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

Make sure the vet has done a full senior profile, as thyroid may not be the only issue. And, no matter how pernickety an eater, get food down the cat - if they don't eat for more than a couple of days, the fat in the body breaks down and collects in the liver, which can cause liver failure.


I'm syringe feeding my old girl at the moment - she started like that and was treated for her thyroid, but then she destabilised and they've only just done the comprehensive blood tests which have revealed liver problems. She looks AWFUL.

But, despite her distaste, I'm syringe feeding her pate cat food (the smooth stuff) whether she likes it or not, she's on medication (four tablets a time) and she's back at the vet again early this week, as she doesn't look good right now. They didn't want to put her on prescription food straight away in case she refused it, but she completely stopped eating Friday night. I shall be asking whether it would be best for her to be admitted for tube feeding - or whether it's time (as I did on Thursday).


But please, don't let the cat refuse food.

Fire_Fox

tinksy wrote: »

We had a look today in the supermarket and found the following.

Felix be good to yourself mature - 13% protein
Hi life and simply fayre - 12% protein
Felix kitten - 15% kitten

Ours already eat Felix but going to see what he thinks about the hi life and simply fayre because we don't want him on kitten food long term. He is currently on 2 sachets of kitten food a day, plus hopefully 2 adult sachets. So far today he has eaten 2 kitten and almost 1 adult mixed in with a small amount of kitten milk (I know cat milk isn't to brilliant for him but he adores it and can't have hard treats) and 1 tube of cat yogurt. Plus a slice of processed chicken.

He is purring away now whilst having a snooze!

Why are you feeding so many treats? By all means have a little cat milk but then don't have cat yoghurt and processed chicken (salt!). Cats aren't human they are obligate carnivores, they need meat/ offal protein (not vegetable protein) and saturated animal fats, balanced with minerals. They are healthy on what for us would be a restrictive diet. You are concentrating on the protein and ignoring the minerals and fats, fats are actually twice as high in calories as protein or carbohydrates gram for gram.

If you want to get weight on in a healthy way please concentrate on saturated fats and protein sources with high bioavailability - meat, offal and animal derivatives. Limit the dairy, vegetable proteins, cereals/ grains none if which cats have evolved to eat and consider the water content (jelly/ gravy) because water is calorie and nutrient free.

If you do want to give a treat you might consider raw chicken wings, not all cats go for it but many go nuts. Contains protein, fat and minerals in the bone, raw meat protein being the most bioavailable (meaning the easiest for them to digest and utilise).

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

Much as I hate to disagree FF - offal is a very bad idea until liver issues have been excluded. Cat yoghurt was approved of, as it can encourage reluctant cats to eat. And cottage cheese was specifically recommended for mog because there is a type of protein in it that is very good for cats with liver issues. Plus a little unsalted butter for the extra calories it provides.

Fire_Fox

Jojo_the_Tightfisted wrote: »

Much as I hate to disagree FF - offal is a very bad idea until liver issues have been excluded. Cat yoghurt was approved of, as it can encourage reluctant cats to eat. And cottage cheese was specifically recommended for mog because there is a type of protein in it that is very good for cats with liver issues. Plus a little unsalted butter for the extra calories it provides.

Disagree away!! Which liver issues??? Thought Tinksy's cat was skinny but passed battery of tests? Didn't actually suggest feeding offal, merely that cats need that type of protein as opposed to the vegetable protein in many supermarket cat foods.

ETA think we may be talking at cross purposes, it is Maskerade's cat that might have thyroid/ liver issues? Or are they the same household and I am confuzzled?