How should I feed my emaciated stray cat

[mazie]

She is so lovely.  I am sure someone must have mentioned this, but I will say anyway, her nose looks so much better than in the beginning!

 

[boobear27]

 
She is so lovely.  I am sure someone must have mentioned this, but I will say anyway, her nose looks so much better than in the beginning!

Thank you Yes the wound she on her nose is healing up nicely

 

[Mamanyt1953]

She looks wonderful!  I am sitting here with happy tears!  One of those days when I needed some good news!

 

[Willowy]

Aww, she looks great! I'm kind of thinking 10 pounds might be too much for her, maybe 8 pounds will be her correct weight. Well, you'll know when she gets there . Anyway, great job---she looks sooo much better now! And happier .

 

[boobear27]

Aww, she looks great! I'm kind of thinking 10 pounds might be too much for her, maybe 8 pounds will be her correct weight. Well, you'll know when she gets there

. Anyway, great job---she looks sooo much better now! And happier

.

I absolutely agree, since she does seem like a rather small cat..10 pounds was kind of a guesstimate of what we thought her actual size was suppose to be...We'll see how she looks at 8 pounds..Right now she's 6.8lbs and still feels pretty boney I can't wait til she's healthy again

 

[boobear27]

I think I might have to experiment with a different canned food for Bowie..She seems to be pretty tired of the friskies wet food she hasn't eaten much of it lately, but when I offer her dry food as a snack she seems more excited about it and runs straight to the bowl..I was checking out the 4health brand of wet food it seems to be good quality food that is reasonably priced.

 

[lokhismom]

 
I think I might have to experiment with a different canned food for Bowie..She seems to be pretty tired of the friskies wet food she hasn't eaten much of it lately, but when I offer her dry food as a snack she seems more excited about it and runs straight to the bowl..I was checking out the 4health brand of wet food it seems to be good quality food that is reasonably priced.

Have you tried Sheba pates and Fancy Feast "Classics" pates?      Decent price and decent quality.    No matter how much higher end foods I feed my 2 they still prefer the Sheba and the FF.  

Also most cats will always prefer dry.     You can run into a problem if they eventually refuse to eat wet so I very rarely buy dry and when I do I only give a small handful as an occasional treat. 

 

[mazie]

 
Have you tried Sheba pates and Fancy Feast "Classics" pates?      Decent price and decent quality.    No matter how much higher end foods I feed my 2 they still prefer the Sheba and the FF.  

Also most cats will always prefer dry.     You can run into a problem if they eventually refuse to eat wet so I very rarely buy dry and when I do I only give a small handful as an occasional treat. 

I second this remark.  Katie is a very picky eater, it took me forever to find a wet food she would eat.  At the shelter they gave only dry.  They say they occasionally gave wet, but I wonder.  Sheba and Fancy Feast pates are great, especially for a fussy  eater.

 

[boobear27]

 
Have you tried Sheba pates and Fancy Feast "Classics" pates?      Decent price and decent quality.    No matter how much higher end foods I feed my 2 they still prefer the Sheba and the FF.  

Also most cats will always prefer dry.     You can run into a problem if they eventually refuse to eat wet so I very rarely buy dry and when I do I only give a small handful as an occasional treat. 

Thanks:} I'll pick a couple of cans of fancy feast and sheba on my shopping trip tomorrow..I have about 20 friskies cans left hopefully she will like those again if not I will probably have to donate them to the shelter.

 

[tarasgirl06]

*Thanks either way!* 

 

[Norachan]

She looks great! She seems to be quite a small cat, how long is she from nose to tail? The skinny cat I rescued last year stayed tiny, in spite of getting quite chubby. She'll never make 10 lbs but she's healthy at a lower weight. I guess it all depends on bone structure, some cats can just carry a lot more weight than others.

 

[lisahe]

 
Thanks:} I'll pick a couple of cans of fancy feast and sheba on my shopping trip tomorrow..I have about 20 friskies cans left hopefully she will like those again if not I will probably have to donate them to the shelter.

Sometimes it helps to just set the rejected food aside for a month or two... then they seem new again! We feed our cats a rotation of various foods because they get bored with them so easily if they get the same thing too often. I've found that varying proteins, textures, and brands works wonders for them.

And I agree that Bowie might stay at a lower weight: we have a long, leggy, lanky cat like that. I'm sure part of her weight management secret is that she's a slightly nervous cat!

 

[boobear27]

 
She looks great! She seems to be quite a small cat, how long is she from nose to tail? The skinny cat I rescued last year stayed tiny, in spite of getting quite chubby. She'll never make 10 lbs but she's healthy at a lower weight. I guess it all depends on bone structure, some cats can just carry a lot more weight than others.

I just measured Bowie and it sure wasn't easy lol..She kept moving around, and gave me that look like silly human what are you doing?

  I'm not sure if it's accurate but I measured out about 32 to 33 inches from nose to tail..Would 8 lbs be a better ideal weight for her?

 

[boobear27]

 
Have you tried Sheba pates and Fancy Feast "Classics" pates?      Decent price and decent quality.    No matter how much higher end foods I feed my 2 they still prefer the Sheba and the FF.  

Also most cats will always prefer dry.     You can run into a problem if they eventually refuse to eat wet so I very rarely buy dry and when I do I only give a small handful as an occasional treat. 

Have you ever tried Sheba perfect portions? I saw those next to the Sheba cans and thought they looked like something maybe Bowie would like.

 

[Norachan]

 
I just measured Bowie and it sure wasn't easy lol..She kept moving around, and gave me that look like silly human what are you doing?

  I'm not sure if it's accurate but I measured out about 32 to 33 inches from nose to tail..Would 8 lbs be a better ideal weight for her?

Hi, sorry it's taken me a while to find my tape measure and get my tiny girl to cooperate.

Happy measures 35 cm, almost 14 inches from her nose to the base of her tail. She is very petite, but I think she's at a healthy weight for her size. She weighs 2.8 kilos, just over 6 lbs.

All cats have slightly different builds, but I think as long as Bowie's backbone and ribs are well covered and she doesn't noticeably either go in or out at the middle when you look down on her from above she's at the right weight. Almost all cats have a slight belly pouch, this isn't an indication of being over weight. A little paunch of loose skin is there to protect their belly if ever they get into a fight.

Are these the Sheba portions you've seen? My cats love these. They're quite small sachets but they're great as a treat or when you want to encourage them to eat a little more. They come in either a soup or a cream sauce. A few of mine don't like the cream ones, but the soup versions are very popular.

 

 

[Mamanyt1953]

Updated photos would be lovely.  I'm enjoying watching your girl's journey back to health.

 

[tarasgirl06]

Awww, what a cutie!  10 pounds sounds like quite a nice goal, since she's a lengthy cat.  

 

[boobear27]

Here are some updated pics of Bowie  She is now 8lbs and looking good.

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• boobear27
• Jun 12, 2016

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• boobear27
• Jun 12, 2016

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• boobear27
• Jun 12, 2016

 

[boobear27]

We are looking to get Bowie spayed and vaccinated this week...We are searching for low cost spay clinics..We tried the Humane Society in our area but they said they are completely booked.

 

[mazie]

She looks so healthy now!!  Good job!!