Is cream ok to give to cats?

Hi - I have a problem with a skinny cat (its the one in my sig). Shes been to the vet, and apparently is healthy enough, but she looks painfully thin to me! You can't see her ribs but she is almost that skinny!

She is fine activity-wise, and runs around all day with her fatter brothers (but they are neutered). I was wondering if it would be ok to give her some cream instead of the kitty milk they normally get. I thought it had less lactose than milk..?

She normally has a combination of
Nutro Complete Care kitten and adult dry;
Felix adult and kitten;
Hilife adult pate.

Thanks as always!

in my opinion it might make things worse. Cream still does have lactose in it, which could give her diarrhea. Then she'd still be skinny and also dehydrated!

I wouldn't give her cream either . If she's been checked by the vet and given the ok i wouldn't worry.

Keep her on the kitten food though as long as possible because that has more fat and nutrients in than adult food.

Sophie was about 10 months old when she started to prefer Rosies adult food so i was ok to switch her onto that.

If she's under a year old, you might want to switch her from her current combination of adult and kitten food to kitten-only, so she'd be getting more calories per volume of food.

If she's an adult, perhaps you could ask your vet about giving her a high-calorie supplement such as Nutri-Cal or something similar?

Give her some KMR mixed with the weaning formula powder. THat bulks up kittens and young adults fast. Also, have her tested if she's over 6 months (or when she gets there) for all of the big feline diseases.

shes 7 months old now I think, but still soooo tiny!

i dont think we got our adult cats tested for diseases when they were 6 months, nothing like that was recommended. I will asl my vet about this!

And the Nutri-cal thing sounds like a good idea - thanks I will look into that.

As for giving her all kitten food, thats almost impossible, as the dry food is free fed, which is why I mix the food - maybe I will try just giving kitten food - it can't harm the adult cats can it? They are pretty good at self regulating so should eat less of the higher calorie food?

Thanks!

Good for you for being so observant and concerned about your kitten's health! You mentioned your little darling's brother's were neutered, great! If she has not yet been spayed and your Vet agrees after a pre-spay health assessment, this would be a great time both for her best health and to prevent any unplanned pregnancy.

Kitties should never be given milk or cream. Has she been tested for worms? If your Vet has ruled out any disease process or parasite, I agree that your pretty little girl would do best to have a kitten food diet since she needs the extra protein and calories. For your healthy adult cats who will self regulate their eating, it's better for them to eat kitten food than for your growing kitten to have adult food during this important time in her life. If you find this isn't feasible, perhaps you could take her aside to give her a special meal or two of wet kitten food each day. You may also want to consider getting her a high energy supplement to boost her calorie intake a bit.

Great job taking such wonderful care of your kitties!

you gotten great advice... nutri cal or kmr(kitty milk replacer)

Bijou and Mika share food and he is 16 lbs and she is a tiny 8 pounds. They are full brother and sister. Her appetite is amazing - I believe she actually eats more than Bijou but is just tiny. The vet says she is very healthy so I guess she is just meant to be tiny.

Their parents are both very slim, rather smallish cats (IMO) yet Bijou is a big boy

Dexter & Sadie are brother & sister too.
He is a big boy --- 16lbs.
Although Sadie is not skinny, she is much smaller at 9 lbs.
They are almost 6 years old and both healthy.
Small is OK if your girl is healthy.

I have nothing to add because the good people here have already given you the best advice in the world. I do agree though that you should try and keep your kitten on kitten food for now. My girls are 7-8 months old and they are still on a kitten diet.

BTW, your little girl is absolutely gorgeous!!!

I think cream would actually have more lactose than milk. I'm not sure but I know people with lactose intolerance can handle skim milk more easily than whole milk, for example. But not all cats are lactose intolerant so that's always the major factor.

She looks tiny to me but not underweight. At 7 months she's like a pre-teen child. Often they're gangly and skinny at that age but they fill out soon enough. If the vet says her weight is healthy then she's fine - just teeny.