Cat-Sip: anyone experienced with this product?

In My Humble Opinion
1

Cat-Sip (link to its Amazon page, which shows packaging and lists ingredients) is a milk-based cat treat (NOT food, albeit, it is fortified with the vitamins that are hardest to get in a cat’s diet).

I’m considering getting it because we just adopted a shelter cat who really needs to put on some weight. The shelter vet said so, and had her on appetite stimulants when she first got to the shelter as a stray-- and I should probably note that it was right after a 4-day EXTREMELY cold spell, so, not entirely impossible she chose to shelter the whole time rather than venture out for food.

Anyway, she eats crunchy food just fine, but not in weight-gain mode, if that makes sense.

Her favorite foods are canned foods that say they are in a “creamy” sauce.

So, since most of the cautions about this milk are not to give too much to avoid weight-gain, I was thinking if I put out two ounces a day (one in the morning, one in the evening), the max recommended daily serving, it could help.

I’m not finding anything alarming online-- the negative Amazon reviews are nearly all about packaging, the price or “cat didn’t like it.” Yeah, I’m aware the cat might not like it. That’s why you buy only one the first time.

The positive reviews are great, and there are not alarming posts on the web I can find, where people say it killed their cat, or vets come out against it.

Still trying to decide, though-- I don’t want this to fill her up, so she eats less of her food. I’m hoping there are stories about cats gaining or losing weight.

No pix yet-- she was just spayed, and is confined to the bathroom, and not happy about it. Pictures when she is feeling better.

2

The nutritional info makes it look like it’s essentially flavored water. I think you’d get a better bang for your buck (since you say she eats well) in buying some top quality canned food with as few fillers as possible. If she likes the soupy stuff, look at some of the Tiki Cat foods. I used the pouched goopy food for a few of my elderlies when they were getting to the low-appetence stage of life. It ain’t cheap, but all of it will go to fueling her body, and once she’s gaining nicely you can back it off and just use as occasional treats if need be.

If there’s no underlying problem she should blossom pretty quickly now that she isn’t essentially fighting for her life. I’m so glad she’s got a safe place with you!

3

I’ve wondered about the Tiki stuff, because it has garlic-- or did a few years ago, when I looked at the label. So I’ve always avoided it, because garlic is on my list of things cats can’t have.

Am I wrong somewhere?

And, thanks for the encouragement.

This cat (still working on the name) was picked up as a stray, but I think she was abandoned. It seems pretty clear she’s been around people before.

4

Poor girl - cats are so delicate and so incredibly tough. They amaze me.

This is what I was feeding, and no garlic, thankfully:

There are several flavors, this was my ol’ lady’s favorite though.

5

Every time that we’ve had feeding issues, we were able to get them back on track with Churu tubes. It’s the only treat that has worked for us on cats that don’t normally like treats.

They have a product called Churu Nourish that might be worth giving a look for your particular issue.

6

Good to know-- never heard of it, because I’ve never dealt with an underweight cat before. Had a few chubsters, but mostly they’ve been right where they should be.

We have a vet appointment in a couple of weeks-- follow-up on her spaying, and general check-up.

I’ll ask about them.

7

What about giving her some kitten food for a while? It’s got more fat, calories & protein than cat food.

8

Garlic is indeed a deadly poison to cats. It is beyond belief that a commercial cat food would include it as an ingredient and put it on the label.

9

Some friends of mine had a cat with special needs, and catsip was the only way they could get her to eat enough. So it worked at least once.

10

I thought of that, but wasn’t sure if it was safe-- like, high protein foods aren’t great for the kidneys. I guess I could call the, vet, although, she hasn’t had her first appointment with our vet yet. They might not want to give me advice.

11

Thanks-- looking for anecdotes just like that

12

Is she actually too thin because she won’t eat enough, or is she only too thin because she hasn’t been able to get enough to eat; possibly contributed to by feeling too nervous to eat when she first arrived at your place?

13

She’s too thin because she hasn’t been able to eat enough. No one knows how long she was on the street, but she wasn’t spayed, although the vet said she was 4, and didn’t look like she’d ever had kittens, so it’s a little bit of a puzzle. She acts like she’s been around people, and 4 is pretty old for a street cat.

Probably either someone abandoned her, or she was “semi-owned” by someone who fed her scraps and maybe occasionally gave her shelter during really bad weather, but never fully took her in.

Anyway, we had a pretty serious cold spell, and the theory is that she chose remaining sheltered over seeking food for a while.

14

That makes sense. Maybe some kitten foods have less protein than others?

To answer your original question, I did give my late cat some Cat-Sip along with some kitten food for a short time because she was losing weight due to chemo. At that point, I was just trying to get any nourishment into her that I could. She really liked the Cat-Sip.

15

Cats are obligate carnivores, though, so in the case of a cat that specifically needs to GAIN weight I’d be surprised if a vet advised against it. (Usually they say not to give adults that kitten food b.c. it supplies more calories than grown cats need, since they’re not growing & causing constant mayhem.)

I’m happy to learn, if it turns out I’m wrong, though.

I’ve wound up adopting obese adults in the past a coupla times, so my experience is mostly with the opposite problem.

16

In that case I’d think ordinary good quality food will solve the problem, additional supplements probably not necessary at least unless the vet. says so. I’d feed free choice unless she repeatedly eats so much that she pukes, in which case offer a whole lot of small meals.

I suppose an occasional cat just isn’t fertile; but I wonder whether she was an indoor-only cat most of her life, but not fed enough either all the way through or just recently, and then wound up out on the street but hadn’t been out there long enough to go into heat yet.

If she’d been inside until recently, she also may not have had time to develop the thick winter coat that outdoor cats develop as the weather gets colder in the fall, which might well have made it more likely that she was too cold to go in search of food. She may also not have known how to forage for food; though sometimes the food supply to be foraged/hunted for is just not sufficient to go around.

17

That’s interesting-- she is all black, but her coat feels like a Siamese’s-- I’ve had two, so I’m familiar with their short, thin coat.

It did occur to me to wonder if she could have Oriental Shorthair in her background. I asked at the shelter, but no one was willing to make a guess. She has a slender muzzle, but her head is really just a typical apple head with normal ears and yellow eyes. Although, she is fairly long-bodied, and her tail is long.

But even if she’s part Oriental Shorthair, she needs to gain some weight.

18

There are apple-headed Siamese (often known by that term). That super-elongated head is a fairly modern change, and some people prefer the old round-headed Siamese, who have more room for a brain in there.

Though I gather she’s obviously not pure Siamese, even if there’s some in there.

ETA: and yes, while some cats are naturally more slender than others, there is still such a thing as too thin!

19

Oh, I know. I’ve had two different blue-point Siameses with normal heads, and also a color-point whose points were grey Tortie she almost just looked like a cream-colored Oriental Shorthair.

You know, this new cat isn’t that talkative (yet), but when she does, it’s a real yowl. Hm.

20

It takes a higher dose of garlic to cause toxicity than what’s in a cat food formulation. You can find dog with small amounts of garlic, too.