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Join our community of cat lovers on the Mumsnet Cat forum for kitten advice and help with cat behaviour.

Helping elderly cat gain weight

5 replies

CaveMum · 09/07/2023 22:03

DCat is 17 and has been losing weight over the last 6 months (dropped from 3.7kg to 3.5kg) She’s been to the vet for a full blood work and liver, kidneys, thyroid, etc have all come back totally normal. She’s very well in herself generally - a very laid back cat, stays in the house despite having a cat flap. No issues with movement or sight, but has started to go a bit deaf and yowls in the night.

Vet has said to bring her back in another 6 months and if she’s still losing weight they will do an ultrasound. He couldn’t feel any issues with her tummy and her heart was perfectly normal when he listened in.

I want to get some more calories into her to try and get some weight back on, or at least stop the loss. From what I’ve read “senior” cat food won’t be much good for this as it is generally lower in protein, but I have read that kitten food can be a good option. Has anyone tried this?

DCat is one of those that nibbles at her food throughout the day, she’s not one for gorging herself so putting down extra food won’t make a difference: it needs to be higher in calories. She’s been on dry food (Hills Prescripton t/d) for years and I’ve been trying to offer wet food alongside it in the last few weeks.

Vet didn’t give any specifics on what to feed her, just said “see what you can do” - helpful!

Any tips/advice much appreciated!

OP posts:
Yarnorama · 09/07/2023 22:22

A drizzle of salmon oil can up calories.

mildlydispeptic · 09/07/2023 22:23

Hills do a wet food called a/d restorative that's used for convalescent care. It's high calorie and apparently very tasty. Some vets stock it, or you might be able to get individual tins online.

CaveMum · 10/07/2023 11:08

Thanks for the recommendations!

OP posts:
PinkFootstool · 10/07/2023 11:11

Definitely salmon oil. My old puss loved it and it gave her back her glorious coat on a month or so.

Defiantlynot41 · 10/07/2023 13:16

With you - DCat2 has dropped from 3.1kg to 2.7kg in the past 6 months so I'm trying to feed her up. What's working so far:

Offering kitten biscuits as a snack in between food (Purina kitten food)
Lick e lix between meals
Offering small meals more regularly eg half a tiny tin (such as Gourmet) offered as room service
Meaty sticks/cat salami in the evening
Small piece of cooked chicken or beef any time I open the fridge (watch out for this one, it soon becomes expected 😀)

She has always been teeny but I'm hoping to avoid the low point of 2.4kg we got to last year when she was poorly with a cat bite.

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