High calorie cat food to put weight on kitty with IBD

arinlars · Dec 17, 2015

Hi all,

Mimi is doing great lately but she looses weight, her normal weight is 4 kg but she is 3.30 kg. She had a bad episode of IBD a month ago. But she weights as much she did 2 years ago when she first was diagnosed

. She is on 2x day 2.5mg prednisolone and she has appetite. She eats a lot but she doesn't gain weight, but no diarrhea any symptoms of IBD.

Does anyone has recommendations for high calorie wet food that will make her gain weight? Her vet only recommends food that will make her puke.

lisahe · Dec 17, 2015

Sorry to hear you're having such a hard time with Mimi's weight. What are the foods your vet recommended that seemed to make her sick? And do you know what ingredients -- like fish, chicken, or corn? -- seem to bring on episodes of IBD?

One resource I've used when trying to feed high-calorie diets is the chart on catinfo.org. It's a little overwhelming because it lists so many canned foods but at least you can compare. (It's here, as a PDF.) The list hasn't been updated much in the last couple years so it's a bit out-of-date but it's still a great starting point.

arinlars · Dec 17, 2015

Oh the royal canin ones all of them it makes her tummy upset . Pretty much anything with chicken. Thank you for the list I will read it.

lisahe · Dec 17, 2015

I'd stick with grain-free foods like maybe Wellness Core (there are beef/venison/lamb and turkey/duck flavors) or even Tiki Cat's Gourmet Carnivore foods without chicken. Those are all pretty caloric. Merrick makes limited ingredient foods with turkey and duck but they're only 130 or so calories per large can. Our cats love them, though.

Good luck!

samus · Dec 19, 2015

Does butter bother your cat's stomach? And here are a couple more suggestions.

http://www.assistfeed.com/ExtraCalories.htm

Has your vet given your cat any B-12 shots? They help appetite, and depending on where the inflammation in your cat's gut is, it might not be able to absorb B-12 from food.

donutte · Dec 19, 2015

Dang, I wish I remember all the high calorie ones I was researching back when syringe feeding Lucky. I think I had the receipt emailed to me, let me check.

I remember most of the foods that had duck were highest in calories. There's an Iams high calorie food that I'm guessing is similar to Hills a/d (it's also prescription though). Has your cat tried a/d btw? I'll see what else I can come up with.

Edit: this site was a huge reference for me that day http://www.petobesityprevention.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/Cat_Canned_Pouch_Foods.pdf Obviously geared more toward owners trying to get low-cal food, but if it helps, it helps.

donutte · Dec 19, 2015

And if you're just at a point you're trying to get your cat to eat and put on weight, the Fancy Feast kitten food in a cat is pretty high calorie (the turkey one in particular). It's also high protein and high phos though, so you may not want to use it if you have to limit those things.

samus · Dec 20, 2015

Donutte said:
And if you're just at a point you're trying to get your cat to eat and put on weight, the Fancy Feast kitten food in a cat is pretty high calorie (the turkey one in particular). It's also high protein and high phos though, so you may not want to use it if you have to limit those things.

Not all kitten food is high calorie, though. (As I found out when I got my cat some Animonda Carny kitten food assuming it'd be higher calorie... For that variety, "kitten" only meant it was more finely ground.)

stephenq · Dec 20, 2015

arinlars said:
Hi all,

Mimi is doing great lately but she looses weight, her normal weight is 4 kg but she is 3.30 kg. She had a bad episode of IBD a month ago. But she weights as much she did 2 years ago when she first was diagnosed . She is on 2x day 2.5mg prednisolone and she has appetite. She eats a lot but she doesn't gain weight, but no diarrhea any symptoms of IBD.

Does anyone has recommendations for high calorie wet food that will make her gain weight? Her vet only recommends food that will make her puke.

Hi, i am so sorry to hear of this development. As I'm sure you know, a cat who is loosing weight with IBD is in trouble, and its the prednisolone that is usually able to arrest the weight loss. High calorie foods may not help, your cat is loosing weight because her intestines are sufficiently inflamed and/or damaged that she can't absorb nutrients. Her appetite is ok?

Three things I would be discussing with my vet in this order:

- possibly increasing the Pred dose

- Switching to a different steroid like Dexamethasone

- If neither idea helped then i would discuss Leukeran.

When was her last ultrasound?

donutte · Dec 20, 2015

samus said:
Not all kitten food is high calorie, though. (As I found out when I got my cat some Animonda Carny kitten food assuming it'd be higher calorie... For that variety, "kitten" only meant it was more finely ground.)

That's why I called out the Fancy Feast turkey variety of kitten food

arinlars · Dec 20, 2015

Ok, so I give her every month a B12 shot according to her vet.

Mimi is the type of cat that eats a little all day. She has always done that and it works I guess with her IBD. Now this is what I feed her and she eats it:

Half a can from nature's variety (according to LisaHE's pdf a can from this brand has about 200 calories which is the highest)

Half a can mixed with Fancy feast, the one that does not have grain or chicken or carageenan. I thought ok, how would I feel if I was eating like kale every day? miserable. So maybe that is why Mimi does not like the quality food, so I mixed it with Fancy Feast which she loves and it's not too bad. As she gains weight I will reduce it.

Also the trader joe's tuna for cat's which is only minced tuna kinda works.

@Donutte I will try the kitten variety and see if that works too!

@StephenQ She eats a lot. The vet said to continue what I am doing and observe for one more week and then we can talk about switching to another steroid but they told me Pred has the only good results and the others are not well tested. I talked to 2 vets and they don't want to give me Leukeran yet. I did not make another ultrasound, her last one was 1 year ago but the internist said she can feel Mimi's little intestines being thickened typically normal for a IBD

(or lymphoma)

Mimi is doing good right now. I will observe and try to make her fat! No diarrhea and no vomiting. Fingers crossed!

stephenq · Dec 21, 2015

arinlars said:
Ok, so I give her every month a B12 shot according to her vet.

Mimi is the type of cat that eats a little all day. She has always done that and it works I guess with her IBD. Now this is what I feed her and she eats it:

Half a can from nature's variety (according to LisaHE's pdf a can from this brand has about 200 calories which is the highest)
Half a can mixed with Fancy feast, the one that does not have grain or chicken or carageenan. I thought ok, how would I feel if I was eating like kale every day? miserable. So maybe that is why Mimi does not like the quality food, so I mixed it with Fancy Feast which she loves and it's not too bad. As she gains weight I will reduce it.

Also the trader joe's tuna for cat's which is only minced tuna kinda works.

@Donutte
I will try the kitten variety and see if that works too!

@StephenQ
She eats a lot. The vet said to continue what I am doing and observe for one more week and then we can talk about switching to another steroid but they told me Pred has the only good results and the others are not well tested. I talked to 2 vets and they don't want to give me Leukeran yet. I did not make another ultrasound, her last one was 1 year ago but the internist said she can feel Mimi's little intestines being thickened typically normal for a IBD (or lymphoma)

Mimi is doing good right now. I will observe and try to make her fat! No diarrhea and no vomiting. Fingers crossed!:rub:

Ok keep us updated and Vibes! :vibes:

arinlars · Dec 27, 2015

I'm giving Mimi nutri-cal. How soon do you think I can see results? Also all the nature's variety limited ingredient have high calories, above 215 per can , which I find good .

It seems that's Mimi's teeth are contributing to the weigh loss issue too (besides IBD) but that's my theory . Her little teeth are bad. I really want to bring her for dental but I'm terrified that will cause issues with her IBD and then she won't eat for a week !

stephenq · Dec 28, 2015

arinlars said:
I'm giving Mimi nutri-cal. How soon do you think I can see results? Also all the nature's variety limited ingredient have high calories, above 215 per can , which I find good .

It seems that's Mimi's teeth are contributing to the weigh loss issue too (besides IBD) but that's my theory . Her little teeth are bad. I really want to bring her for dental but I'm terrified that will cause issues with her IBD and then she won't eat for a week !

Can you discuss her teeth with your vet and get an opinion?

arinlars · Dec 28, 2015

All 3 vets agreed that Mimi is s good candidate for dental work but it's normal for her age.

I have to talk to them again because I don know how the IBD is going to work with this one. The primary vet is really good they have like 500 5 stars reviews in Yelp , however I think they kind of are overwhelmed with me and Mimi's problems . Last time they told me I should consider "for other alternatives " implying to let her go ! That's makes me mad because I know Mimi has so many problems but I'm not going to choose the easy solution .

High calorie cat food to put weight on kitty with IBD

arinlars

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donutte

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