From scrawny kitten to beefcake

Well some of you might remember my other post where I took the new baby to the vet only to find out he was actually 4 months old which, at a whole 2lbs 9oz put him drastically underweight for his age and size. The vet said he looked sickly, that he obviously hadn't been fed in a while and (her words) "let him eat whatever he wants!"

So... the new baby at 2lbs 9oz...





It's kind of sick how far his back right hip sticks out in that second picture. You can't really tell in those pictures, but his thigh was only about an inch wide when you looked at him from the side. No muscle... just a bone with some skin over it... but mostly he was all fur.


So now, after a week and a half of food... meet Mr. Beefcake - now a whopping 4lbs 8oz!



I'm so proud. He's doing so well!

OMG, what a DOLL! I remember when you posted earlier He's grown so big and handsome!

Oh WOW, what a difference!

You're doing such a wonderful thing for this little cutie!!!

Oh, he looks great!!!

ohh he looks much better You're doing great with him!

My goodness he looks wonderful! And very pleased with himself, sprawled out in his very own chair! Congratulations on his progress!

WOW

What a difference - what in the heck did you stuff him with ??????

Originally Posted by GoldenKitty45

WOW

What a difference - what in the heck did you stuff him with ??????

Click to expand...

He looks like a different cat, and so much happier too.

What an excellent difference

He is just such a cutie now and he is such a chubby boy

Wow that little beefcake has progressed so well under your care. What a handsome beefcake he is!

Hello Mr. Beefcake!

He is adorable!

Thanks guys! I'm so excited by this.

Originally Posted by GoldenKitty45

What a difference - what in the heck did you stuff him with ??????

Click to expand...

Dog food! Ok, wait... hear me out

You see the first few days I had him home, he slept a lot.. even for a kitten, it seemed excessive. He was just in a bad way. So I had to wake him up to feed him, and to do that I had to give him something really smelly to get his attention... so for the first few days I gave him meow mix pouches. IMO, they're not really the best quality food, but they reek of fish which I knew would get his attention. Of course once he realized there was food, you couldn't pull his head out of the dish to save your life. Took about three days worth of feeding, but he started to get some of his kitten energy back and could make it to the regular food dish on his own then. Unfortunately, he decided he liked what I was feeding the other cats.... as well as what I was feeding the dogs I always knew he was in the dogs' dishes when Karma would start nudging my leg and whining... was the doggie equivalent of "Mooooooom! There's a cat in my dish!" So it took another few days, but finally he understood that the food in the bathroom is his... while the food in the livingroom belongs to those big scary monsters that get to go outside

So all told he had:
Meow Mix pouches - first 3-4 days only
Turkey
Chicken
Beef
Innova Evo Dog Food
...and cat/kitten food that I'm blanking on the name of... It's Innova Evo-like, but not IE... eh it'll come to me.

Now he's still skinny... he looks like he has a big belly in that pic, but I think it's just the way he's laying. He's very long and lean, but he's starting to get stocky/muscular. And now I think he has a little too much energy... I actually had to pull him off the top of my screen door the other day... those kitten claws - darn good for climbing!

He's also turned into a momma's boy.... he likes to wrestle with Peewee, but then he comes back to me and takes a nap in my lap. Except right now... he's chasing a catnip mouse around the bathtub Hey, whatever works for him

Oh, and I feel I should also mention... we've had a name change. We were calling him Odin.. which is a fantastic name... but then a few days later I made a silly joke with the name sammy and DH went "OMG that's IT! That's the perfect name!" So little beefcake kitty is now Sammy. Hmm I should go change my sig.

Look at the tummy on that baby now, he has one!!

Whoa did he beef up! See what a little food & love can do?