How to bring a cat's weight up?

[Snoof]

I know this is asked every so often, but I'm worried I might not be able to remember everything :roll:

Sweep being very skinny (although he seems perfectly fine within himself and would look like a perfectly fine cat if he didn't keep getting muck in his coat :roll: :lol:), I'd like to feed him up. Ninja is a lean cat, but as we all know there's a world of difference between lean and skinny, and Sweep belongs under the latter category.

The main problem I have is that Sweep doesn't seem to be very interested in wet food (otherwise I suspect he would be gaining at a decent pace). I have some kitten wet food, but I'm not sure he'll take it (I will try this when he's been to the vet's, so I can get the vet's advice).

Would the Felix kitten milk type thing help, if he'll take that? I'm going to end up having to feed them separately until Sweep equalises his weight a bit, just because Tiddles can get to their food normally and she's already overweight :roll:, and I want to know how much he's taking in so I have a handle on whether he needs more, less, and how his weight gain is going.

[Booktigger]

I would get him weighed by the vets first and see what they think he should weigh compared to what he is. I give underweight cats cat milk - Whiskas etc, and you could also try a/d once a week. Dry food does help with weight gain as well, so maybe increasing that? Have debated with kitten food on mine, but never got round to it.

[Hreow]

Won't kitten *dry* food have the same effect as the wet? It must be the same complete diet designed for a kitten, i.e. a cat that needs extra energy, either to grow, produce milk (kitten's mum, then. :-)) or just fill out skinny cats.

[Snoof]

Ok, that occurred to me just now rereading this thread, Hreow :lol:

Booktigger, what's a/d? I can't increase his dry food as such, since the dry is sitting out all day and they take what they need and leave the rest... I can, however, separate them for dinner (once he's been to the vet) and feed him the kitten dry food if he'll take it. I'll get some kitten milk, too :-)

Thanks for the advice, both :-)

[Booktigger]

a/d is a Hills prescription diet available from your vet, used for convalescence and for HL. It is full of higly digestible nutrients and very few cats can resist it - could tell you more, but Molly wont let me get up to check the can!! It is quite a soft consistency. Ah right. Mind you, the vet might suggest soemthing different, but just going off things I have been suggested - one other one was to mix PEbbles dry food with gravy, but she didn't like that!!

[Hreow]

*Any* time you want the obvious stated, I'm your girl! :-)
Have the cats agreed to be separated for dinner, or can you get someone to film the proceedings otherwise as I think that it may make for some high-class comedy. :-D

[smudgley]

If I were you I would put Sweep on a very high quality dry food ie Purina proplan. (it is VERY expensive) but is so full of protein (quality protein) & will without a doubt put weight on him on no time.
You could use the Pro plan adult & I'm sure he will look better on it within a few weeks. Trust me. ;)

Also has he been wormed recently?

[CJK]

I fed princess on royal canin (persian and kitten mixed) as suggested by my vet. Kiten as she was pregnant at the time and persian cos she's a persian lol. it helped her put weight on.
But I dont know if that sort of diet would be recommmendable to all cats. Smudgley's suggestion sounds the best so far, a high quality food.

[Snoof]

Also has he been wormed recently?
I'm going to have the vet worm him, since he really doesn't know me well enough for me to do it yet. He's getting pretty comfortable, but I suspect he's going to be a bit of a loner (from humans) at the very least until he gets neutered, and possibly after, too.

And I don't mind buying expensive food for him until he gains weight. It might be a problem if I had to do it indefinitely (because then I'd have to feed them the same thing - I don't like separating them to eat unless it's necessary as it probably will be, here) but he's going to need to be separated for a little bit anyway so I can monitor how much he's taking in and get his fur sorted out (you wouldn't believe how fast that cat can undo a brushing and get crud stuck in it again :roll:).

Thanks for the advice, everyone. CJ, I can only hope he'll make as brilliant of a recovery as Princess did in your care - although, to be honest... Can't complain! Here he is, this morning, making his happy kitty smiley eyes for the camera:

http://www.snoof.co.uk/pets/sweep/pics/18-6-2006/1.jpg

I need to beat those boys into doing something useful and putting in the catflap - if I talk to Mark he can put it on the company calendar and then they can't escape :lol: - and I need to go talk to the catlady down the street about a possible alternative plan to getting kittens... Depends on her, though, so I haven't told anyone but Hreow about it yet :-)

Hreow, I don't know if I can get film footage, but pictures I can do... With captions... Like... "Tiddles! STOP EATING THAT YOU FAT MOG!" :lol: :roll:

I was holding her earlier and talking to Matt about her, and said something about how big she is, and when I put her down she (purring contentedly) decided the appropriate course of action after being so insulted would be to finish the wet food and make a dent in the dry :roll:

Herding cats, eh? We're all mad, that's what I think :lol:

[smudgley]

CJ ~ Royal canin is also a very premium quality food & would be as good. :cool:

[Hreow]

I'll settle for a commentated slide-show of the circus. :-D

All mad, but in a sociable way. At least we're here licking our wounds, agonising about Sooty's evil looks and Ragwort's measles, rather than wandering the streets wringing hands and speaking in tongues. :-D
CP should be funded for this public service! :grin:

[Booktigger]

I wonder whether he will improve a lot once he has neutered?

Edited to add: Just foudn this on anohter forum Canned kitten food is fine. It's the most high protein, low carb, high moisture cat food you can get without the high calories of dry kitten food. Dry kitten food is fattening.

[Snoof]

I wonder whether he will improve a lot once he has neutered?

Edited to add: Just foudn this on anohter forum Canned kitten food is fine. It's the most high protein, low carb, high moisture cat food you can get without the high calories of dry kitten food. Dry kitten food is fattening.
Thanks again. I don't know if he'll improve a lot. I suspect he may gain some weight more easily simply because he'll maybe stop being quite such a monkey :roll: and if he becomes a little less wanderlusty he might even stop getting stuff in his coat :lol:

To be honest, I think the latter will happen anyway, since he won't be sleeping in a shed anymore (we're keeping him in for a month at least).

[Kay]

Snoof, dried food is the best to put weight on rather than wet and as already pointed out a high quality one. Royal Canin Persian is excellent for putting weight on ( even though he isn't a Persian ) so much so that a lot of Persian breeders will not solely feed that but tend to mix it with Royal Canin Fit. It may be worth using that until his weight is better. The worming will probably help as well. The Hills ad diet is excellent and can be fed everyday not just once a week although not permenantly. I use it to wean my kittens as it is highly palatable, which encourages eating, and rich in nutrients.

[Snoof]

Thankyou Kay. I just want him to put on some weight and then switch him back to the food they get now (James Wellbeloved plus Whiskas wet, but he won't eat the wet). He does also spend a lot of time doing things (although he's getting better about staying in, now that he's realised he can be in the lounge at the same time as people - will start a picture thread about that shortly :-)) so obviously that helps him keep the weight off. But you can see his ribs, he looks like a feline whippet, and I'm pretty sure he shouldn't be doing!

Thank you heaps for your advice :-D I'll remember it when I go shopping for Things To Fatten Up The Sweep.

[Kay]

Good luck, Snoof.

[Fran]

Another thing to consider Snoof is - I am assuming he is still entire? Some entire cats do not hold their weight so well. We had this problem with Clooney. Now he has been neutered he is starting to fatten up a little...Just a thought

[Snoof]

Yeah, Fran, I'm thinking that factors into it as well. Cheers :-)