Cat looks a bit skinny - advice please

[5amcrew]

Hello

We have a 5 year old indoor cat that we adopted 3 years ago. When we got her, she was quite a skinny thing and weighed 2.2kg. She had been spayed shortly before we got her and got an infection hence why she was so tiny. She’s a petite cat anyway but we managed to get her weight up to about 3kg and she padded out a bit. Last vet visit was last year for a check up and vet said she was fine. Since last year it feels like she has hollowed out a bit and my mum saw her over FaceTime and said she looked a bit thin.

She’s always been a grazer when it comes to food but we always leave fresh wet and dry food (Sheba fresh choice in grace and royal canin indoor dry food) food for her. She’s really particular about her food and won’t touch anything else unless we are eating yoghurt or chopping up raw chicken then she hovers about waiting for the right moment to get at it.

She hates food in jelly. Doesn’t seem to like whiskas, felix etc. Doesn’t touch other types of Sheba that isn’t the fresh choice pouch.

We have had a child over the past two years but she seems to get on with him and nuzzles him/sits next to him. If he bothers her she just scoots upstairs otherwise she just sleeps in the same room while he charges about so she doesn’t seem stressed by him.

Any advice on how I can get her to eat a bit more? She seems healthy and is playful and we are going to take her to the vet for a check up anyway but would appreciate your advice and experience.

Kitten food is higher calorie if she will eat it, dry or wet
Salmon oil on food
I also give mine some raw as a top up so if he wants turkey mince/chicken he gets it! Mine is 3.2kg

Thank you for those tips! Will definitely look into kitten food and I’m more than happy to share the raw food. Wasn’t 100% sure if it would be good for her. Will look into salmon oil too - had no idea it was a thing! Thanks!

It sounds like she is just a naturally skinny cat. If she is healthy and playful I'd leave her be. We have one like that too. I'd prefer she had a bit more meat on her, but she is healthy and happy, and the vet is happy with her.

Has she been wormed? She might just be one that drops weight easily, mine has eaten the best part of £50 of wet food in a month and his idea of exercise is walking to his bowl, yet still, tiny cat

@Shadysback thank you. She seems happy but we will take her to the vet to make sure she is ok.

@QueenPawPaws she was wormed at her last visit and the vet said she didn’t need to be wormed often as she was an indoor cat. We don’t wear shoes in the house either and the vet said this reduced the risk of her getting worms.

She is a tiny cat so she may just be her ideal weight. I always think other cats are giants compared to her but they are just normal sized 😂

Wow £50 a month!! Wish I had your cat’s metabolism 😂😂😂

I would get her checked out, the vet can give you feeding advice and rule out tooth or mouth problems that could be another cause of weight loss.

If she likes yoghurt, she should love Webbox lick-e-lix treats, have you tried her with those? A couple of those a day will help boost her calorie intake

If she's genuinely underweight her spine will be sticking out like a razor and will be very noticeable when you stroke her. If you want to help her fill out a bit you probably need to feed her less filling but calorific foods like cat soups, rather protein, I would have thought.

If you have baby scales at home, those are ideal for weighing cats. Or otherwise you can do the weighing yourself holding cat method.

It's often hard to estimate a cat's weight by just looking at them.

If she is underweight then wet can rule out medical causes and you can look into higher calorie foods.

This is what my boy has eaten in a month (yes that's 48 tins of the almo nature!) plus another 8 pouches I had to buy
And a pic of the cat with the ridiculous metabolism