Why Is Your Cat Losing Weight
First, before adjusting your cats diet or feeding schedule, its important to check with the veterinarian to find out why your cat is losing weight or why your cat wont gain weight.
If your cat at home is losing weight and you dont know why then check with the vet first. Your cat may have an underlying health condition or the food you provide may not be nutritious enough.
Just as a quick reminder, here are a few reasons as to why your cat may lose weight:
- Toothache
- Boredom
A few more possible explanations as to why your cat might be losing weight, according to veterinarian Bob Pane can be found on this very helpful video.
Offering Treats Throughout The Day Or Inbetween Meals
Now, treats should not be used as a meal because they contain a high-calorie count and are not typically the most nutritious option. However, you could offer him a couple of treats between meals.
Some treat packages will have a serving suggestion. For example, the Friskies brand Party Mix cat treats recommend offering two treats per 1 pound of your kittys body weight. They also recommend not exceedingten treats per day.
Cons
Treats are not a meal substitute and may not increase his weight in a healthy way. Cat treats are typically about two calories per treat. While this may not seem like a lot, they can quickly add up!
Pros
Your kitty will likely enjoy them, and his weight should slowly increase.
Make Meal Time Enjoyable:
Believe it or not, cats have a preference, not only on what they eat but where they eat it from. Sometimes, cats develop a preference for certain bowls or areas to eat. If you are trying to get your cat to eat, it is important to make all the conditions right, to the best of your ability.
Also, try not to watch your furry friend eat. Cats are shy and usually like to eat alone, as they are hunters. So, your cat might be uncomfortable having company while they eat.
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How To Help Your Cat Gain Weight
It can be frustrating to watch your precious furry friend turn their nose up at food and lose weight in an uncontrollable manner.
Well talk about a few of the most common concerns cat owners have for their underweight cats and how to fatten them up to a healthy weight. Lets kick things off with some simple tips.
Indeed Hyperthyroidism Has Been Reported To Be The Most Common Endocrine Disease Of The Cat Since Shortly Following Its Initial Description In 1979
How to fatten up a cat with hyperthyroidism. Also, because starch is necessary to make the kibble, dry foods tend to have greater carbohydrate concentrations (carbohydrate > 25% on a dry. If disorders such as lung cancer, kidney disease or hyperthyroidism are detected early, your cat will have the necessary medical care that will help it stay healthy and fatten up. If such a checkup is neglected, it will be hard to make your cat fatten.
Hyperthyroidism is a disease found generally in old cat or senior cats. Dry foods tend to be energy dense. Metabolic activities and affects the digestive system of the cat.
Check a veterinary to fatten up a cat:. Feed several times a day: After all, more food translates to more calories.
Your veterinarian will need to run a blood test to determine if it is hyperthyroidism, diabetes or another cause. Heavy disease course and other kinds of nutrition malfunctioning can lead to anorexia, which is a serious illness for cats too. If you are wondering how to fatten up an old skinny cat, try these simple steps.
Tips to fatten up a cat. And if they dont work, it is time to take your furry feline to the vet. How to fatten up a skinny stray cat.
Fight anorexia if it is your cats case. It is a tumor in the liver of the cat that. Dry foods tend to be energy dense.
How can i fatten up my cat with hyperthyroidism? This will make it hard for your cat to keep weight on. How can i fatten up my cat with hyperthyroidism?
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Consult A Vet To Check Health Condition
You must consult a vet before starting fattening up your cat. Because sometimes, your cats underweight may indicate some health problems, including kidney disease, hyperthyroidism, and diabetes. A vet can help you identify the actual reasons behind your cats poor outlook. If your cats health condition is fine and it is skinny due to poor diets and food habits, you can start the fattening up journey right away.
How To Fatten Up A Cat That Needs To Gain Weight
There are tons of stories in the media about overweight pets but rarely are we told how to fatten up a cat that needs to gain weight.
Have you ever asked yourself, Is my cat too skinny?
In this article, we will look at the possible causes of weight loss in our feline friends. We will also explore options for how to make a skinny cat gain weight.
Products included in this article were carefully and independently selected by the Happy Cat Site team. If you decide to make a purchase from one of the links marked by an asterisk, we may earn a small commission on that sale. This is at no extra cost to you.
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Causes Of Weight Loss In Cats
- Sickness which causes aloss of appetite
- Stress, fussiness, inter-cat issues
- Weight loss despite a healthy appetite and no underlying disease
- Weight loss due to a medical condition but not related to loss of appetite
Medical
Medical causes occur most often in middle-aged to senior cats, the majority of which cause the cat to lose weight due to a poor appetite. Hyperthyroidism, on the other hand, speeds up the cats metabolism. Despite a normal to increased appetite, the cat continues to lose weight.
This list is by no means extensive there are many other medical causes. Read herefor more causes of weight loss in cats.
Increase The Amount Of Food And Frequency Of Feeding
You should gradually increase the amount of food you give to your cat. In most cases, a cat becomes skinny when it doesnt get a proper amount of food. So, to fatten it up, you should slowly increase the amount of food and the frequency of feeding.
Make sure your cat is exposed to food whenever it gets hungry. To put weight in your underweight cats body, you need to feed it at least four to six times a day.
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What Causes Weight Loss In Cats
There can be many reasons behind a cats weight loss. It is most likely that your cat is not eating the right amount of nutritious foods. Maybe your cat is not enjoying the foods you are offering.
The feeding environment can be noisy. The cat may also lose its appetite due to tooth and gum problems, or it can be depressed, facing physical illnesses, or discomfort.
However, constant weight loss may indicate that your cat is experiencing health issues like renal problems or hyperthyroidism. So, when you see your cat getting skinny day by day, you must consult a vet to identify the actual reasons behind it.
How To Control Your Cats Weight On A Dry Food Diet
Splitting the dry food into multiple small controlled volumes over the course of the day is most useful. That way, the cat is never full and never quite starving. With most cats, dropping below 1/3 to ½ cup of dry food per 24 hour day will make them too hungry even if adequate calories are being taken in. The actual amount needed by any given kitty is going to be unique to that cat and will likely change as the cat ages.
Using canned green beans can add bulk to the diet to make cats feel more full. This should not be done with cats that have a history of urinary tract crystals since the veggies raise the urinary pH, which predisposes to crystal formation.
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Choosing Between Dry Food Canned Food Or Both
In general, you need not offer multiple flavors and textures to cats. They get very good at training their owners to add something else to the mix if the cat shows any hesitation to eat what is given. If the cat is otherwise acting fine, a choice to not eat what is offered can be normal, or a test by the cat to see if something better will show up. Very, very few cats need any encouragement to eat. The opposite is usually a goal.
Spending More Calories Than In Taking
Kittens and adolescent cats have a lot of energy that they can burn off just running and playing. Don’t discourage Kitty from exploring her world or honing her abilities with healthy exercise.
Just feed her kitten chow, which is formulated to be higher in protein and fat content than adult cat food.
Get the high quality stuff without fillers that will make your cat feel full but won’t actually cause the weight to stay on. Once your cat is old enough, look into spaying or neutering, which can slow the metabolism.
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Have A Safe Environment
Sometimes, there is competition between cats for food. This is when you have more than one cat. One cat may be guarding the food and the other cat will be unable to eat its fill.
Providing an environment that is safe and non-threatening could allow your skinny cat to eat its food properly.
The food bowl may also be near an object that is rather scary to them such as a noisy pipe, air conditioner or barking dog. Moving the food bowl to a safe environment would be a very simple way for your cat to eat in peace.
A Cooked Diet: The Risks And The Rewards
The main risk of a cooked cat diet is that you can choose the wrong quantity and proportion of ingredients when making homemade food for your small favorite. But you can remedy that! Just be very careful because a cooked diet can be so beneficial for your pet. It can help you eliminate harmful commercial food from your cats diet. Homemade food also contains more vitamins, minerals and useful nutrients and that positively affects your cats well-being.
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Talk To Your Vet About Appetite
There are a few medicines available from your veterinarian that can help stimulate your cats appetite.
An hour or so after talking the medicine, your cat will feel the urge to eat. You can even ask if your vet can get the medicine in a transdermal form , so that you can avoid having to give a pill.
Your Cats Diet During Weight
To help your cat gain weight, its not a good idea to just give them more of their current food. Their system may not be able to cope with large portions, and their appetite is likely to be low so they may not eat it at all. Extra portions of food also may not provide the specific nutrient balance your cat needs to gain weight or recover after sickness. For example, they may benefit instead from a specific diet with added prebiotics to help rebalance their gastric microflora and strengthen their digestive health.Your cats weight-gain food should have a high energy density. This allows your cat to eat less but still get everything they need from their diet. It should also be highly palatable to stimulate their appetite, and easy to eat correctly sized kibble or softer textured food can encourage your cat to eat their food.
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How To Feed An Under
Selecting a high-quality natural food rich in meat proteins is a great way of helping finicky eaters find a food they will love and eat. A texture your cat most enjoys will matter too, confirms WellPet veterinarian Danielle Bernal DVM.
A frail or ill cat may prefer to eat multiple smaller meals rather than being fed one big meal.”
But given that cats generally are nibblers and prefer to eat on demand, Bernal suggests that the main focus is ensuring that the cat gets the required number of calories needed in a diet to meet its nutrient requirements.
Young kittens generally require more meals in a day. However, if you are trying to boost the health of a severely under-nourished kitten, Bernal advises more frequent feeding.
A very young kitten will need to eat more frequently than just key meals, confirms Bernal. I usually suggest just ad-libbing it until eight weeks of age, dividing out their calorie requirements. Then four meals a day until 12 weeks of age before moving to an easier routine of twice daily. Given cats tend to eat multiple meals throughout a day however, and if you feed a wet and dry combo, I suggest leaving the allocated dry food amount out all the time so that a kitten can eat on its own schedule.
What To Feed To Fatten A Very Thin Cat
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Originally Posted by ahemHello to everybody. I am looking for suggestions on what to feed a very thin cat. He needs to put on a few pounds asap.I am considering only very good quality, canned, non-kibble foods price irrelevant.Thank you !!
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Originally Posted by ahemYes, he`s been seen by a vet or two. He is under regular observation. He should be a 9+ pound cat, yet he is around 8-.
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Recommendations For Owners Who Stick With Dry Food
Dry food can be fed but must be done by careful measure, specific meals and no snacking. Todays dry foods have much better ingredients allowing for a higher number of usable calories per cup, so even less is needed compared to the Little Friskies of 30 years ago.
Feeding multiple feedings a day is useful but can be a source of contention as the cat tries to get to be fed in between feedings. No open bowls of food should be available. Dry food is offered for a set amount of time, and any leftover food is removed until the next feeding. Sometimes, taking the bowls up, so there is no reminder of the lack of food is helpful to limit begging.
Supplemental: Kidney Vitalize Support Chews
An alternative or optional product to help prevent your cat from further weight loss while promoting kidney health function is the Scruffy Paws Kidney Vitalize Support Chews.
The active ingredients in the chews have been scientifically-proven to reduce proteinuria which helps to reduce weight loss in cats.
At the same time, the Kidney Vitalize Support Chews are designed to help maintain kidney function to prevent the onset of CKD which affects 1 in 3 cats over the age of 10!
Theres also the added bonus that these kidney chews contain tasty real chicken giving your feline a few extra bites of protein and calories to help with nutritional support in between meals.
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Is Commercial Cat Food Necessary For Cats
We keep dry food as recommended by our vet available at all times to our cat. He greatly prefers the wet food, and most weeks doesnt even touch the dry food. Still, I dont want to have to worry that Im not giving him enough, so I do have a feeder for Bob that always has dry food in it.
I dont think that a little dry food here and there is bad for cats, but I would always want to have raw meat, including organ meats, as the main part of their diet.
Rule Out Medical Problems
Its really, really important to get professional advice from a vet if you even have the slightest concern that a medical problem may be causing your cat to be underweight.
If your cat has suddenly lost weight, or if their eating pattern has drastically changed then you should get them checked up. Even something like a trouble urinating can cause a cats appetite to plummet, leaving you confused and in the dark about why theyre refusing to eat.
There are many factors that can effect their appetite, but having peace of mind that they dont have kidney disease or liver problems is the first thing you should aim for.
It may even be parasites or worms causing them to lose weight, something that can be remedied fairly easily.
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Reasons A Cat Is Too Skinny
Cats can be difficult to figure out. Sometimes, they eat normally, and yet, they still lose weight. Sometimes, youre not sure exactly how much your cat eats, because they are private, but you always have food out for them when they decide to make an appearance.
Regardless of your cats specific habits, there are many common reasons your cat is too skinny:
Offer Human Food On An Occasional Basis
Human food should only be offered to the felines after taking permission from the vet. There are a lot of human food items that should not be served to your cat as they can cause damage to your felines health but there are certain foods that can be offered to a cat like canned sardines, yogurt, and scrambled eggs.
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