Young mother cat needs to gain weight-any tips?

My cat is about a year old and unfortunately got pregnant before I could get her spayed. She was always a slim kitty (as torties tend to be) but since she has given birth to 4 kittens they just seem to be draining her, her sides have sunken in and her hip bones are protruding and shes always exhausted. The kittens seem to be fine, chubby and dont whine when nursing so I assume she is producing enough milk. Shes on the highest protein kitten food I could find,and always has it out available for her. She eats constantly so getting her to eat isnt a problem. We also give her wet cat food as often as we can. I bought her some kitten milk today to see how that works, im hoping it does. The kittens are almost a 4 weeks old so will be weaned soon but is there any other tips on getting her to gain more weight fast? I wont be able to bring her to the vet for another 2 weeks when I get paid so if there is anything else I can do in the mean time that would be great.

Also, yes she will be spayed as soon as possible. I dont want her going through this again for sure.

Hi @EmilyF  Welcome to TCS.

Nursing kittens can take a lot out of mother cats. Really the best thing to do is feed her as much as she will eat and make sure she always had food available, as you are doing.  I suggest that you feed her wet food several times a day and make sure she has the dry food available all the time.

Could you call your vet and ask what food he recommends before you take her in? My vet gave me some high calorie Hill's Prescription food for some of the skinny feral cats I rescued. There is a high calorie gel that you can get that stimulates the appetite as well.


Have you tried to get the kittens onto solid food yet? You could try mixing some of the formula with wet food and see if they will lap it. 

Keep us posted.