Eponine Needs to Gain Weight!

Hi everyone,
Well, Eponine and I just got back from her yearly vet checkup. She did fine EXCEPT the doctor said that she could stand to gain about a pound (she currently weighs 8.4 lbs.)
Have any of y'all had to put your cats on weight GAIN diets? How did y'all do it? The vet told me to simply feed her wet food each night, as well as leave her dry food out all day (which I do anyway) and that should do the trick.
Some advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Amy & Eponine (who is most likely thrilled at the idea of having wet food for dinner each night!)

Personally I wouldn't feed her more food, I would look into probiotics instead. This will help her metabolize her food better, and not put a lot of weight on her quickly, but slowly so you can control it- You can go to our links page and look up FastTrac

http://www.thecatsite.com/cat_links/

kitten food might bulk her up as would some organic plain boiled chicken

Originally Posted by hissy

Personally I wouldn't feed her more food, I would look into probiotics instead. This will help her metabolize her food better, and not put a lot of weight on her quickly, but slowly so you can control it- You can go to our links page and look up FastTrac

http://www.thecatsite.com/cat_links/

Click to expand...

Probiotics seem interesting but rather costly. Are they the best non-food method of healthy weight gain for cats?

Not to hijack this thread but mine is getting probiotics and still not enough wt gained... any help... she is a yr old and still growing

Hi there,

Sorry I don't have any advice for you best of luck!!

well you having the same as the vet is good... but I did figure out breed well part of her and her color..lol.. no more ?s about her changing color..

leave out smelly tempting food (as a suppliment not as a cat food replacement) like tuna, pilchards or sardines. you could try mixing them in with her wet food to get to eat more. has she a faveroite food you could give her more off?

Originally Posted by maverick_kitten

leave out smelly tempting food (as a suppliment not as a cat food replacement) like tuna, pilchards or sardines. you could try mixing them in with her wet food to get to eat more. has she a faveroite food you could give her more off?

Click to expand...

So the smellier the better? I knew cats were weird!
She used to LOVE wet food (hre "dinners"), which I gave her a couple of nights a week. Lately, though, she'll gulp down about half of it and leave the rest out to congeal and go bad. She eats her dry food fine, but that isn't putting the weight on. I baked a chicken last night and gave her some small pieces of that, but she is still sore from all of her shots yesterday and hadn't left from her spot under the bed by the time I went to work this morning
So she has a bowl full of wet food/chicken waiting for her once her soreness/weariness from the shots wears out.
So....wet food....a little bit of smelly foods (like tuna)...probiotics.... any other ways to help kittys gain weight in a healthy manner?
My poor skinny rat

I'm having the same issue. My female is ~10 months and was gaining weight just fine until we got our male in September (he's 7 months now). He took over alpha and bullied her for food.

I asked the vet when we took him in to be neutered, but of course, all they said was to bring her in. God forbid I ask for a bit of behavioral advice.

So I took it upon myself to do precisely what your vet suggested. I had them on solely Felidae dry, but I've switched to feeding them wet food twice a day and freefeeding the dry. I watch them when they eat, and she is clearly eating just about as much as he is. Weight gain is SLOOOOW but I've noticed some changes. She still only weighs 5.5lbs though (she is a very tiny cat though). =[

My main concern now is that they have no interest whatsoever in the dry food. Any way to get them to start eating it again so I can cut down on the expensive cans? I've tried beef broth and warm water (a tactic that has worked for my dogs in the past) but it doesn't interest them.

Sorry about the ending thread hijack...I would also like to know about gain diets, just remembered another question while I was typing,

Originally Posted by maverick_kitten

kitten food might bulk her up as would some organic plain boiled chicken

Click to expand...

Hi Amy!
I remember when I first found SiSi (Sasha's mama) she was nursing, as Sasha had just been born in the wild and she was barely 5 lbs. I gave her Friskies Chunky Chicken; and yes, boiled chicken and sivved the juice through cheesecloth to catch any oils, and a treat between meals, as well as dry f ood left out. She was up to 7 lbs in 4 weeks, which worked very well for her as she was leggy and tall and could handle the extra weight just fine. I don't know if this helps, but in my particular experience, it really does depend on the kitty. A little bit of fat is ok to gain weight as long as physical activity is there.

There are high calorie supplement for cats. It comes in a tube like the hairball stuff does. Maybe that is something you may want to look into.

Originally Posted by ugaimes

So the smellier the better?

I knew cats were weird!
She used to LOVE wet food (her "dinners"), which I gave her a couple of nights a week. Lately, though, she'll gulp down about half of it and leave the rest out to congeal and go bad.

Click to expand...

just give her half as much, twice as often... that way it doesn't congeal - or at least less of it will congeal!

sorry i can't be more help - Mouse was hefty, Pixel's high normal (11 pounds) & Cable's still growing & eating everything i give her, congealed or not!

I would feed extra meals of wet food...twice a day if needed. If your kitty is leaving some of the wet food you give, give less but more often

Try using the better quality canned foods, and vary it up a bit...brands to consider include Natural Balance, Felidae, PetGuard (which has a variety of flavors), Active Life (if you can find it) are some of what's out there.

If your kitty loves seafood, PetGold (petco's brand) has excellent tuna with shrimp and other combos (in a unique looking flatter can) that is quite good re ingredients, whole seafood and good appeal.

Other tricks...treats I use these shamelessly to get Patrick to eat...bonito flakes (aka kitty kaviar), wildside salmon, any of the freeze-dried all natural treats such as Whisker Smackers by Dr. Harvey's, Grandma Lucy's or Halo Pet, Rosie's Rewards (a beef jerky, make of beef...and nothing else).

Nutrical is one of the high calorie pastes that one can use, and is available in petsmart's and petco's.

Hth!

I see a trip to PetSmart this weekend to get Eponine some of those better-quality wet foods and weight gain supplements. I really would like to boil some chicken for her, but she did not touch any of the baked chicken I gave her the other night. She's not a huge fan of "people food."
Thank you everyone for bestowing your kitty nutrition knowledge on me- I am extremely greatful I'll be sure to keep you all posted on her weight gain. Is it really bad if she doesn't gain a pound and stays around 8.4 lbs?
Amy

Amy i would recommend the better quality foods also

Theres not many animal bits in

as long as shes happy and healthy i wouldnt worry. take her for a second opinion if you dont she needs to gain the weight to put your mind at rest. as long as shes eating thats the main thing.

Boy that girl can eat! She goes through about two bowls of dry cat food each day! She also gets 3 AquariYum treats/day at certain times, as well as any other time that I think she looks especially cute (you can guess how much that happens!!!) I'm honestly shocked that she's not bigger than she is!