4 month old foster weighing around 2lbs - Ways to get weight up?

[bibi_Jiji]

We recently got a (supposedly) 4 month old female foster kitten. She is sweet but severely emaciated. Her records indicate her body is skeletal. At the moment, we are feeding her two variety of food blended with water - Purina One Healthy Kitten for nutrition and Fancy Feast Tender Chicken Feast Kitten for caloric intake. She eats well and is otherwise happy. Is there anything else I can supplement her with? She was considered too small for a spay as well and was indeed wormy but has been dewormed. She was the smallest in the litter of 4.

 

[Sarthur2]

Oh my! Poor kitten — she does indeed look emaciated. You can offer scrambled egg, boiled chicken chopped up with broth (no spices other than salt), kitten formula to lap, even high calorie nutritional paste available at pet shops or online.

The main thing is to feed 6 times a day and always leave dry kitten chow available 24/7 for snacking, along with fresh water.

Since she is still growing, my guess is this could take a few weeks of food and love for her to put on necessary weight. She is 2 pounds behind, and each month she should ideally put on another pound for the first few months.

Thank you for fostering and keep us updated!

 

[bibi_Jiji]

Oh my! Poor kitten — she does indeed look emaciated. You can offer scrambled egg, boiled chicken chopped up with broth (no spices other than salt), kitten formula to lap, even high calorie nutritional paste available at pet shops or online.

The main thing is to feed 6 times a day and always leave dry kitten chow available 24/7 for snacking, along with fresh water.

Since she is still growing, my guess is this could take a few weeks of food and love for her to put on necessary weight. She is 2 pounds behind, and each month she should ideally put on another pound for the first few months.

Thank you for fostering and keep us updated!

I will definitely see if she takes to eggs and boiled chicken! She has food available 24/7 and I am always checking on her to make sure she is eating and having normal bowel movements. Every time she wakes up from her naps she goes straight to her bowl. She is going through 1.5 cans a day as of now. She was 1.6 on 8/18 on the shelters intake records but she's closer to 2-2.5 (we need a scale badly). Thank you for your input and she is very well loved. We hope to keep her after her spay in 2 months.

 

[heatherwillard0614]

Do you have a digital scale thay weighs to the 10th (for example 100.1) for humans? If so you can weigh yourself holding the kitten then reweigh yourself not holding the kitten and subtract the 2 that will give you her weight

Sarthur2 has a good idea about adding kitten formula and high calorie nutritional paste. This will help

 

[bibi_Jiji]

Do you have a digital scale thay weighs to the 10th (for example 100.1) for humans? If so you can weigh yourself holding the kitten then reweigh yourself not holding the kitten and subtract the 2 that will give you her weight

Sarthur2 has a good idea about adding kitten formula and high calorie nutritional paste. This will help

We do! With the scale she reads around 2lbs exact. What kind of paste do you recommend? I want to make sure what I get is good for her and wont upset her tummy.

 

[StefanZ]

I want to add, goats milk is usually an excellent supplement, and is cheaper than kmr...

Raw goats milk has some extra properties, but is pricey.... Although almost any goats milk does works as food, as long its no funny diet low fat variant.

If you give nutritional paste, it wont hurt if this paste is also a vitamine rich paste... In healthy cats its seldom necessary, but with emaciated and reconvalescents its often useful.

If you would need a probiotic (stopping up problems with belly), BeneBac by PetAg is good... Otherwise, a cheap but good trick is to use human food;
Kefir or youghurt... Best are full fat no flavoring... Both are also low lactose, so cats manage them.

 

[bibi_Jiji]

I want to add, goats milk is usually an excellent supplement, and is cheaper than kmr...

Raw goats milk has some extra properties, but is pricey.... Although almost any goats milk does works as food, as long its no funny diet low fat variant.

If you give nutritional paste, it wont hurt if this paste is also a vitamine rich paste... In healthy cats its seldom necessary, but with emaciated and reconvalescents its often useful.

If you would need a probiotic (stopping up problems with belly), BeneBac by PetAg is good... Otherwise, a cheap but good trick is to use human food;
Kefir or youghurt... Best are full fat no flavoring... Both are also low lactose, so cats manage them.

I will get some goats milk and Kefir for her then. Her tummy is fine but since she so small, any bouts of tummy trouble could be detrimental to her weight gain. Thank you so much!

 

[Sarthur2]

Here is a vitamin gel available to order from Chewy online:

https://www.chewy.com/petag-vitamin-mineral-gel-cat/dp/146050

 

[heatherwillard0614]

Here is a vitamin gel available to order from Chewy online:

https://www.chewy.com/petag-vitamin-mineral-gel-cat/dp/146050

Sarthur2 In your personal opinion do you think this would work in this instance?

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08PML7NF5/?tag=thecatsite

 

[Sarthur2]

Sure, either my suggestion or yours will help.

 

[bibi_Jiji]

Sure, either my suggestion or yours will help.

Thank you! I will get some then.

 

[heatherwillard0614]

Thank you! I will get some then.

Thank you for fostering this sweet baby. You are going to be able to turn her life around. It will take some time and serious commitment but before you know it she will be looking like a normal healthy little kitty. You are this kittens guardian angel. Did I read your post right? You might be keeping her? I hope so I really do. You are going to be who she comes to trust and love for all you are doing for her. Please keep us posted.

 

[bibi_Jiji]

Thank you for fostering this sweet baby. You are going to be able to turn her life around. It will take some time and serious commitment but before you know it she will be looking like a normal healthy little kitty. You are this kittens guardian angel. Did I read your post right? You might be keeping her? I hope so I really do. You are going to be who she comes to trust and love for all you are doing for her. Please keep us posted.

We do want to keep her yes! My previous cat suddenly disappeared 6 months ago and I’ve been mourning and wanted to fill that hole in my heart. Because Jiji is so small and not fixed the shelter would not adopt her out to us so we will foster her till she is bigger and on Oct 27 after she is fixed we will officially adopt her. We really do love her she is a sweetheart and we’ve only had her for less than a week but she purrs and cuddles up to us. She has no fear from our dogs who simply adore her and she just had the most perfect little personality I have ever seen in a kitten.

 

[heatherwillard0614]

We do want to keep her yes! My previous cat suddenly disappeared 6 months ago and I’ve been mourning and wanted to fill that hole in my heart. Because Jiji is so small and not fixed the shelter would not adopt her out to us so we will foster her till she is bigger and on Oct 27 after she is fixed we will officially adopt her. We really do love her she is a sweetheart and we’ve only had her for less than a week but she purrs and cuddles up to us. She has no fear from our dogs who simply adore her and she just had the most perfect little personality I have ever seen in a kitten.

I'm so glad you took her in for real you gave her a chance to live basically. With all the love time and commitment you are making to her, you guys will watch her grow and blossom. That will be the best part for you and her. I'm glad she has a loving family. Yea it's not official yet but that's just a technicality.. once she is of weight and spayed she will officially be your baby.

Do they know where she came from and what happened to her like her background? She is sooo tiny..

Please provide updates periodically. I can't wait to see her blossom into a healthy little lady.

 

[bibi_Jiji]

I'm so glad you took her in for real you gave her a chance to live basically. With all the love time and commitment you are making to her, you guys will watch her grow and blossom. That will be the best part for you and her. I'm glad she has a loving family. Yea it's not official yet but that's just a technicality.. once she is of weight and spayed she will officially be your baby.

Do they know where she came from and what happened to her like her background? She is sooo tiny..

Please provide updates periodically. I can't wait to see her blossom into a healthy little lady.

So we got her from Baton Rouge, LA and from what they could tell me, some lady brought in 4 feral kittens. She was by far half the size of her siblings (3 girls 1 boy) and all were really hissy besides her. The shelter only had her for like a day before we came by. We have so many strays and kitten season has been super bad down south. They did not find a mom nearby and they don't drink milk anymore but all are pretty tiny black cats.

 

[StefanZ]

We do want to keep her yes! My previous cat suddenly disappeared 6 months ago and I’ve been mourning and wanted to fill that hole in my heart. Because Jiji is so small and not fixed the shelter would not adopt her out to us so we will foster her till she is bigger and on Oct 27 after she is fixed we will officially adopt her. We really do love her she is a sweetheart and we’ve only had her for less than a week but she purrs and cuddles up to us. She has no fear from our dogs who simply adore her and she just had the most perfect little personality I have ever seen in a kitten.

Previous disappeared 6 month ago, this one is 4 months... Connection??

Does she has other alike behavior to your loved previous, than the sweetnes to you and being friend with your dogs?

 

[bibi_Jiji]

Previous disappeared 6 month ago, this one is 4 months... Connection??

Does she has other alike behavior to your loved previous, than the sweetnes to you and being friend with your dogs?

If her spirit entered this little ones body than possibly!
Just the want to be around people, mainly me, is definitely something that reminds me of my previous girl. The only thing that's so so odd is this kitten does not meow? Is that normal?

 

[Sarthur2]

She will meow eventually. So glad you are keeping her. Do not ever let her outside and she’ll never know the difference. I have an all black cat and he is such a lover! I find that black cats have incredibly sweet personalities!

 

[bibi_Jiji]

She will meow eventually. So glad you are keeping her. Do not ever let her outside and she’ll never know the difference. I have an all black cat and he is such a lover! I find that black cats have incredibly sweet personalities!

I will not she will be 100% indoors. We have too many coyotes, owl's, and just terrible people. I love her to death and I want her to be with me for the next 15-20 years if possible!

 

[StefanZ]

If her spirit entered this little ones body than possibly!
Just the want to be around people, mainly me, is definitely something that reminds me of my previous girl. The only thing that's so so odd is this kitten does not meow? Is that normal?

Some kittens are late with meowing... Its as something which must be learned by some...