Elderly cat weight loss & Cost

mrbobo · Mar 18, 2015

My little man, Bobo is about 14 years old now. Lately he's been a lossing a little bit of weight which concerned me a lot. I started giving him special adult 11 year + food and he loves it and it seems to be doing the trick! Obviously I'm very happy, but that food is crazy expensive ($13 for a 3.5 lb bag) does anyone have any other suggestions that is a little less expensive? I love Bobo more than anything, but as a 22 year old college student I simply cannot afford this.

Thanks all!

pinkdagger · Mar 18, 2015

What food are you feeding him?

I don't know if this applies to all brands, but the ones I've seen and looked into have fewer calories, less fat, and in some cases less protein than typical adult food. I think this goes to address the concerns people have about their elderly cats becoming more sedentary or being restricted by things like arthritis that may prevent them from being as active as they used to be. I would ditch the senior foods if he's still losing weight on the new stuff if this is the case - but check and compare that food to its "adult"-advertised counterpart. It's possible he just likes the new flavour and is eating it more readily if he tired or if something was wrong with his previous food. If he can't seem to keep weight on anymore, I would get Bobo to a vet to make sure he's still as healthy on the inside as he seems on the outside.

If you want a more calorie heavy food, kitten foods tend to be better for this. Some people use calorie pastes like NutriCal to entice their cat to eat and boost calories.

di and bob · Mar 18, 2015

Kitten food worked great for putting some weight back on my elder, just compare labels though with adult food. Some kitten formulas have WAY too much protein in them which can hurt the kidneys in a older cat.

LTS3 · Mar 18, 2015

MrBobo said:
My little man, Bobo is about 14 years old now. Lately he's been a lossing a little bit of weight which concerned me a lot.

Has the cat been seen by a vet yet? If not, that should be the first thing you should do. Senior cats can develop health issues. Losing weight may indicate any number of things such as bad teeth to hyperthyroid to diabetes.

If the vet gives your cat a clean bill of health, then address diet. Maybe add some higher calorie foods to the diet. Kitten food tends to be high in calories, both canned and dry. You could also feed a small amount of a high calorie supplement daily.

What brand of food are you currently feeding?

detmut · Mar 18, 2015

look at the labels. they will tell you how many kcalories per cup. has anything else changed? be aware that weight loss can be a sign of

Cancer
Kidney disease
Liver disease
Gastrointestinal disease
Decreased food consumption

Diabetes mellitus
Hyperthyroidism
Hepatic lipidosis
Dental disease
Heart disease
Inflammatory bowel disease

in particular

Hyperthyroidism occurs most commonly in middle to old-age cats with a reported range of onset between 4 and 22 years. The median age for acquiring the disorder is just under 13 years. Only 5% of hyperthyroid cats develop the disease before 8 years of age.

jackcat101 · Oct 30, 2015

I have a 13yr old angel kitty named Jack-he's the love of my life. He sleeps either above my head on his own Temperpedic pillow or under the covers w/me in the Fall & Winter.
He's lost a bunch of weight. I can see his bones protruding & of course I became sick with worry. I took him into our family vet & had blood, urine, & feces tests ran. The vet believed he surely either had a thyroid condition, which I do as well & would have been fine w/, or diabetes. He had neither.
He checked his teeth, no problems. He did say Jack has a heart murmur, actually a significant heart murmur. We've started feeding him soft food now twice a day instead of once & I've increased his treats. He seems to have put on a little weight, but not enough to make me feel comfortable. I'm considering buying him some kitten food, or even start cooking him up chicken breasts. My Mom makes a type of gruel w/chicken breasts, stock, & adds prescription cat food to it for the Persisn I rescued & she adopted. The poor kitty needed every single tooth extracted in his head & my Mom grinds up the food for him in her Magic Bullet!
Does anyone see a problem w/feeding my baby the gruel of ground up cooked chicken breasts? Thanks.

missmimz · Nov 3, 2015

Jackcat101 said:
I have a 13yr old angel kitty named Jack-he's the love of my life. He sleeps either above my head on his own Temperpedic pillow or under the covers w/me in the Fall & Winter.
He's lost a bunch of weight. I can see his bones protruding & of course I became sick with worry. I took him into our family vet & had blood, urine, & feces tests ran. The vet believed he surely either had a thyroid condition, which I do as well & would have been fine w/, or diabetes. He had neither.
He checked his teeth, no problems. He did say Jack has a heart murmur, actually a significant heart murmur. We've started feeding him soft food now twice a day instead of once & I've increased his treats. He seems to have put on a little weight, but not enough to make me feel comfortable. I'm considering buying him some kitten food, or even start cooking him up chicken breasts. My Mom makes a type of gruel w/chicken breasts, stock, & adds prescription cat food to it for the Persisn I rescued & she adopted. The poor kitty needed every single tooth extracted in his head & my Mom grinds up the food for him in her Magic Bullet!
Does anyone see a problem w/feeding my baby the gruel of ground up cooked chicken breasts? Thanks.

I think feeding kitten food is fine, but I'd probably stay away from feeding too much unbalance food such as chicken breasts or baby food. Did your vet run a full blood panel? Were his kidney's checked? What about a urine culture? Are they sure his heart murmur is not related to something else?

LTS3 · Nov 4, 2015

Jackcat101 said:
I have a 13yr old angel kitty named Jack-he's the love of my life. He sleeps either above my head on his own Temperpedic pillow or under the covers w/me in the Fall & Winter.
He's lost a bunch of weight. I can see his bones protruding & of course I became sick with worry. I took him into our family vet & had blood, urine, & feces tests ran. The vet believed he surely either had a thyroid condition, which I do as well & would have been fine w/, or diabetes. He had neither.
He checked his teeth, no problems. He did say Jack has a heart murmur, actually a significant heart murmur. We've started feeding him soft food now twice a day instead of once & I've increased his treats. He seems to have put on a little weight, but not enough to make me feel comfortable. I'm considering buying him some kitten food, or even start cooking him up chicken breasts. My Mom makes a type of gruel w/chicken breasts, stock, & adds prescription cat food to it for the Persisn I rescued & she adopted. The poor kitty needed every single tooth extracted in his head & my Mom grinds up the food for him in her Magic Bullet!
Does anyone see a problem w/feeding my baby the gruel of ground up cooked chicken breasts? Thanks.

Ground up chicken breast is not a complete meal on it's own. Keep it to no more than 10% of the diet, the other 90% being regular cat food. If you want to make your own homemade diet, either raw or cooked, and make it more than 10% of the diet see the Raw and Home Cooked forum for more info: http://www.thecatsite.com/f/65/raw-amp-home-cooked-cat-food

What's in the stock? Typical stock ingredients like garlic and onions are harmful to cats.

It wouldn't hurt to get a second opinion from other vet, maybe a cardiologist so the heart murmur can be checked out more.

Elderly cat weight loss & Cost

mrbobo

TCS Member

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pinkdagger

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di and bob

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LTS3

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detmut

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jackcat101

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missmimz

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LTS3

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