Cat needs to put on weight - how much olive oil and lik-e-lix is too much?!

[OoohLovelySlippers]

Hello all,

18yr old female has early kidney disease and hyperthyroidism (controlled by Thyronorm).

Her weight is slowly decreasing and the vet says to try and get more food into her. She mostly eats katkin/untamed/blink wet food.

By far and away the thing she loves the most though is lik-e-lix. I see on the tube it's made of fats and oils and only 1-2 tubes are recommended per day. Not sure of the reason for that. She currently gets 2. What are your thoughts on increasing this?

And she gets a few drops of olive oil. Thoughts on increasing this?

I understand fatty food might not be good for cat tummies.

I'm due to speak to the vet next week after her next urine test so might run it past them then but just wondering meantime.

Thanks

I'd look at getting some high calorie food to try - Royal Canin & Hills definitely have some for post surgery recovery and for senior cats. Do read the descriptions to make sure they are OK with the kidney problems in particular. There are also food toppers that can encourage eating. Thrive do some freeze dried chicken peices which most cats like (just not fussy bugjers like mine!).

I buy the RC food TempCat needs from Pet Drugs Online as it's the cheapest. Animed is worth checking as well as the usual Zooplus & Pets At Home too. Shop around basically.

I'd be careful adding too much olive oil as it can lead to runnier/more frequent poos.

Goat's milk. Absolutely makes my dcat go bonkers... Worse than Dreamies...

Ours is also on thyronorm and I make her poached chicken using skin on thighs. She loves the skin and I chop it up very small.

Am I right in thinking cats cannot really digest olive oil? So it will just go through?

I also cook up turkey mince and beef mince for her and she loves that. She is certainly doing well on it.

The skin and fatty bits of meat off the underside of a roast chicken is much appreciated by our cats, and we manage to keep weight on our senior lady by feeding her extra protein like that.

Thanks everyone! DCat used to LOVE eating fresh meat/fish that I'd cooked but now she's not bothered. Doesn't even bother with tuna/prawns which she used to love. Or cheese.

It's only the lik-e-lix that she goes wild for these days. I can see us getting to a point where she lives off those. Maybe I should try one myself!

I honestly think that, at 18 years old, you're very unlikely to get her to put on any significant amount of weight.

I personally wouldn't go down the road of increasing treats because you risk causing other issues - pancreatitis, for example.

I believe blink have a kitten option? Kitten food generally has more calories so you could give this instead of the adult version for a few extra calories without changing much.

How much does she eat when she does eat? At 18 with renal failure the best you can probably achieve is slowing down the rate of weight loss and helping the cat enjoy life.

I used the tips from this blog on how to get your renal cat to eat (although she does go a bit overboard beyond what I think most cat owners would consider)

http://felinecrf.org/persuading_cat_to_eat.htm

Absolute winners were raising the food bowl, me sitting next to the cat while she ate and on occasion, me pretending to eat the food. Plus just feeding her only what she wanted to eat - this was definitely not renal cat food, she would choose death rather than eat it.

It's worth asking your vet about anti-nausea meds and also mirtazepine which does really make them hungry.

I used Liquivite cat soup ( can buy from Amazon) when I needed my cat to gain weight.

When I was younger I remember our cat falling I'll through eating a mouse that had been poisoned, she lost a lot of weight and our vet recommended evaporated milk, she loved it and it put weight on her in no time.

@Peedoff24 you have reminded me that the cat loved Sheba Cat Soup.

Wasn't what I wanted her to eat but it was that or nothing so she basically lived on it.

Thanks everyone. She normally eats about a tablespoon of wet food every 2 hours or so.

That truly WAS a comprehensive article, thanks @AnnaMagnani ! I will look again in more detail.

Thanks @OoohLovelySlippers

Some of the advice on that website is beyond anything I would ask - i am not giving my cat sc fluids! but the advice about food and spotting signs of nausea is great.

@AnnaMagnani yes, sub-c fluids and feeding tubes are further than I would go!

I've put a little warm water in DCat's food tonight.