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Best food for a barn cat that is loosing wt

post #1 of 7
9/24/11 at 1:24pm
Thread Starter 
The dear little old girl at the barn is 15 years old. Everyone loves her and up to now has been holding a good weight.

But she has lost a good amount but still eats. Unfortunately, she has pretty much eaten junk kitty food her entire life. Everyone brings something different for her and it is mostly dry. Still, she has had a good life with very little medical attention.

Now that winter is coming, a couple of us want to feed her the best food we can. The barn does not get below 35 degrees. There are blankets and all kinds of soft pillowy places that she sleeps in. With 28 horses in the barn, it really is pretty comfortable.

What would be your recommendations for food for Cailie? We would like to bulk her up a bit and maybe something with a bit more fat for warmth too. We'd like to give her the best we can. She has been a good girl for so many years.

Thanks.
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post #2 of 7
9/24/11 at 1:59pm
Higher fat would be good. But I don't know if it will help a lot. . .an older cat who is losing weight probably has kidney disease or hyperthyroid. It would be best if someone could make a housecat of her for her golden years.
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post #3 of 7
9/24/11 at 2:21pm
Agreed on the housecat proposal.

Kitten food (canned or dry) is usually the go-to option for fattening up a skinny cat.
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post #4 of 7
9/25/11 at 2:22pm
If being indoors is not an option, at the least you should get her checked by a vet to make sure she doesn't have some illness that is causing her weight loss.

What is your budget for her food? Feeding the absolute best would be a raw diet, with grain free and low veggie premium wet being next (Evo, By Nature and Before Grain), high protein low carb foods being third (Innova, Nature's Variety, and Blue Buffalo) and kitten type of normal brands being last (Iams, Nutro, Purina).
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post #5 of 7
9/26/11 at 9:21am
There are barn cat foods, specifically slated to working cats - higher protein and much higher fat content than regular dry foods. I don't know about brands south of the border but both Master Feeds and Shur-gain make barn cat food in Canada. Wouldn't hurt to give her some tinned food as well, something fairly oily if possible.

The downside is her age - she should be checked for beginning diseases or chronic ones.

As to making her a housecat, not all barn cats transition easily and some never learn house manners but insist on going where they shouldn't
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post #6 of 7
9/26/11 at 10:51am
I'm in the same battle w/ one of my farm cats who is I think 17 years old. She isn't 'bulking' up for winter like normal. However I know in advance she's in renal failure, took her in just to get tested a few months ago, assuming she was.

The outside kitties have heated pet mats to sleep on, to help keep warm.
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post #7 of 7
9/26/11 at 7:50pm
When my Indie hit 18 and started losing weight, we gave her any food that she enjoyed eating, even if that was the junkiest food out there. At that age for a feral cat, quantity beats out on quality.

Just my humble opinion.
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