Planning how to feed a skinny shelter cat

I'm adopting a 2 year old cat, Milo, next week. Milo is very skinny — less than 8 pounds, and you can feel his ribs protruding. He came to his current foster mom straight from a shelter, where we're not sure how long he was there, but he was originally a stray. His foster mom feeds him only dry food, no wet, and said when he first came to her a week and a half ago, he could not even eat a shot glass full of dry food (mixed with coconut oil). Now he's up to a shot glass amount. 

I was planning on having a dry food dispenser so that he could eat when he's hungry, he wouldn't wake me up in the morning to eat, and if I was gone for a night or had to work late, he'd be fine. I was also planning on feeding him a little wet food in the evenings. 

My question is — if he's this skinny and seemingly malnourished, do I need to ease him into this diet? Will he eat from a dispenser? Should I hold off on the dispenser until he's gained weight, because I wonder if I should stick with the coconut oil. I don't want to make him sick. Is there any special way I should introduce wet food to him? Any tips and advice would be appreciated! 

When I took my girl in she was very skinny. She had to be fed LITTLE and often. I got it wrong a few times, and gave her more as she was begging for it. She ended up getting a badly upset tummy as a result :doh3:

What I'd suggest is feed a small amount about every 4 hrs during the day - there's no need to leave food out overnight. As you're out all day, a timed feeder would be a good idea - Milo would then get food at regular times and would be unable to eat more than his tummy can handle (potentially a problem with a kibble dispenser).

Introduce wet food slowly - just offer a spoonful to start with and gradually increase. An easier option than adding coconut oil might be to use kitten food to help get the weight on - its higher calorie than food for adult cats, and is perfect for this situation. Kitten food can sometimes give a cat the runs, but if he's tolerating food with added oil then I would think he'll be just fine with kitten food.

Go for pate style wet foods - they're both the highest calorie and the highest meat usually (and you are feeding an obligate carnivore after all )

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