Jack's gained weight ...

... of course, so has JoJo...

I like the invoices from my vet here... they give a weight history on them. Jack's history is as follows:
6/30/05 - 8lbs
11/9/05 - 8.34lbs
5/26/06 - 8.80lbs.

It's not much, but with all his past problems pretty much behind him [he had stomatitis... with surgeries leaving nearly all teeth behind his fangs gone...], he's slowly gaining weight. Now, on to JoJo... my little Chunky Monkey.

9/20/04 - 13.02lbs
6/30/05 - 14.5lbs
9/10/05 - same
5/26/06 - 15lbs even....

Someone needs to go on a diet... but with Jack weighing less and needing to gain weight, and unable to eat larger/normal sized kibble, I can't just get diet food... I do pull up the dry during the day... then feed them 1/4 small can of wet early afternoon... then around 6pm, I put the dry back down. Sometimes I do put it down later... but not much. Because of Jack's needs, tooth-wise, I am currently giving them Iams indoor. Nutro and many others are too big of pieces...

I know I've asked before... but mostly this post was just to say YAY! to Jack gaining a few ounces... my oor precious boy needs to keep gaining to hit at least 10 pounds. I'd be happy with 10. If I can get JoJo down to 12-13, that'll make me doubly happy.

Amanda

CANNED .... or Raw sorry to sound like a recording ... but it will work for both .... my two who eat just canned and raw are stable ... one has lost a bit and the other gained a bit both got what they needed...

where can I find the raw diet food? I'll have to look into it more... I can't really do much with the canned food easily while we're driving... but once we're out in Portland, I can investigate more...

brand names? what more goes into it? how often?

they don't always eat every bite of the canned food as it is. They eat more now that i pull the kibble up a few hours or so before...

lets see if I can post links..lol

www.columbiarivernaturalpetfoods.com

www.omaspride.com

www.bravo.com

I hope those are right ...

those are predone and mostly complete( have meat bone and organs in the right %s)

I feed about 1 ounce four times a day for the cats

2-3 ounces twice a day for the dog ...

while on the road look for dehydrated raw ... Solid Gold make one and so does Steve

I'm so glad Jack is gaining! I took my foster Sarabi to be spayed today...about a month ago when I wormed her she weighed 5 pounds...now she is 6lb 13 oz! I'm so proud of my skinny girl! Giving up her six kittens, and getting rid of the tapeworms and roundworms has been good for her!

Maybe she and Jack should be together...they can eat as much as they want, with a dab of butter on the side for the caloried. And Festus and JoJo can go to a kitty spa to loose a few pounds chasing crinkle balls!

I'm wondering about how much I should give each of them, of regular wet food... I've been reading some of the older threads about raw... I'm not crazy about it, TBO. I'm going to try modifying my feeding schedule again... maybe 1/2 can total in the AM, then the remainder of the can that evening... maybe a little dry mid-day... I'll switch to Science Diet dry... once this bag of Iams is gone. Right now, I'm home all the time... except when I'm out having some semblance of a social life since I'm leaving, all my friends want to spend massive amounts of time with me...], but I do plan on getting part time work out in Portland... so I don't know how well I'll be able to do scattered feedings... we'll see.

They don't like Science Diet's canned... nor many of the other canned foods out there. They do like Pro Plan... maybe not the best... but better than Whiskas... blech. I've tried giving them other canned foods and they just had no interest in them.

As I type this response, Jack is 'circling the wagon' so to speak... he loves walking counter-clockwise around my office chair. He got his rabies shot, so he was extra-grumpy much of the day... JoJo, after about 6 hours, forgave me and came begging for attention... I even gave her a brushing... and she let me brush her tummy!! Trust me, that's another small miracle in the slow bonding process with her. She's always hated having her tummy touched... not to mention petting/scritching/brushing... she's so funny though, she meows at me every time the brush goes below her shoulder blades... my [not so] little goof. She also kept head-butting me as I brushed her... I suspect I won't get much sleep tonight as I'll have to contort my body around these two... they want to be next to Meowmy badly! Jack has now curled up on the floor next to my chair...

Such little lovebugs...

Amanda

GIve them the best you can afford and theyll eat .... Iams and SD are nearly identical in dry .... Pro plan aint my favorite but it is better than some ... have you tried Meow mix pouches>>??

Haven't tried MM pouches. I had some Whiskas pouches for a while, then I read here about Whiskas... I only ever gave them two or three pouches... I only had bought them because they were the only thing I could find at the time.

I figure on SD's Indoor, partly because I did the whole 'quiz' on Petsmart's site... once for each of them... including their weight goals... they both came up with SD's Indoor. So, we'll see. I just got a new bag of Iams... so we probably won't see the end of it until we reach Portland.

JoJo's sitting in the spot where my PC tower normally sits. My friend has that computer [I'm one of dem geeks... I gots three computers... on the Mac right now] and is working on it. She's sitting there, expectantly... waiting... waiting... wanting lots of attention. She's never been this demanding... Normally, when I'm at the desk, she sits next to my chair and meows at me for a few minutes... then goes and curls up in her chair. She's being so needy and clingy... She's never been like this after a vet visit. oh well... I'll go sit on the couch and give her some TLC.. that's what she usually wants.

Off to pamper a kitty...

The human's job is never done

Amanda

Amanda, I can empathize with your efforts to get Jack to gain weight. My oldest cat is still in the process of gaining weight - it's been very gradual, but we're getting there.

I wouldn't recommend either Science Diet or Iams dry food - both contain preservatives and by-products, ingredients that aren't healthy. Science Diet especially is overpriced for the ingredients it contains. The only exception I make is with their prescription food called A/D. It's a palatable, fairly high calorie, rich food. Most cats like it. It's not meant for long-term feeding, but it might help Jack gain weight in the meantime. Get a can from your vet to try it. Another good brand that's high calorie is Petguard, in particular the chicken & wheat germ flavor.

Though not a fan of dry food (IMO it should only be fed as a treat), if you must feed it try a high quality brand like Innova, Wellness or California Natural. All my cats, both house cats and ferals, love Cal Natural especially.

I would make the majority of Jack's diet canned food since it's healthier. Many cats become dry food "junkies" unfortunately, and sometimes lose their preference for canned. Even though Jack doesn't seem to be crazy about canned food, try some new brands (the ones mentioned above all make canned food too), and put a "bribe" food on it like a little baby food or bonito flakes (even a few pieces of his dry food).

Good luck with both your little ones!