Our (almost) 12-year-old female cat, Goo, weighs like 9 ½ pounds. Her thyroid T4 levels are on the high side of normal, and we’re taking her in for another blood draw in a month. She is active and happy, but we want her to gain weight.
What is a good dry cat food for weight gain?
I think a good place to start is with what will she eat? And is she getting enough hydration of course.
We have one shark-cat that eats everything so the reverse if anything is our problem. And one… lean cat, because they’re a very picky eater. If your cat is thin, is it because they aren’t eating enough of what they already have, the kibble you use right now isn’t getting her enough nutrition for gain before she’s full, or something else entirely?
One thing I did for our slightly-scrawny, but very picky cat, was to render down a spare turkey carcass in the slow cooker (nothing else but meat and bones) and then reduce it by about 1/3. Made an extra gooey and gelatinous stock packed with extra meaty goodness that I added to their existing kibble, and they improved their intake by nearly 25% while in use. Plus the extra nutrition in the stock itself.
Why the limit to dry food? A lot of cats like wet cat food, so if you are looking to add something your cat might devour, that seems like an option.
The cat I just adopted from the shelter, who is 3 - 4yrs, was underweight. She a small cat, so normal weight for her in only about 7 lbs, but she weighed closer to 5.
I added kitten food to her diet-- 1 tblsp dry kitten food in the am, 1 in the pm. She took to it like crack. She has unlimited access to adult cat dry food, and also gets a small can of wet food in the morning, which she eats right away.
She put on almost 2 lbs in 6 weeks. She looks great, and her fur is thick and shiny too-- much healthier than before.
I would check with the vet before giving an older cat kitten food, though, because the extra protein might be hard on her kidneys. But she will gain on it, and probably love it.
The kitten food bag does say in small print something like “for all cats at all life stages,” so no one thinks is poisonous to cats over 12 months, I guess, and worry about older cats in the house getting into the kitten’s bowl.
I had a cat on thyroid meds who tested on the high side of normal, but was losing weight. We increased the dose; she stopped losing, gained several ounces, and lived another couple of years. For that specific cat, “high side of normal” was too high.
If she’s eating well but losing weight anyway, that might be the issue. Or her levels might have changed since her last test.
– agreeing with others that the question might also be, what will the cat eat? I’ve had good response with elderly cats who just didn’t have much appetite by topping their food with a tiny bit of cream – not so much the calories in the cream, but that they’d then eat a good bit more of the cat food that tasted of cream. Check they don’t get loose stools, though; and the specific thing that works most likely depends on the cat.
(12 isn’t all that elderly in most cats; but some of them do start to get old-cat problems that early.)
Goo has never been picky about food. She eats dry food whenever she wants to. Catmom orders the kibble. If I go to PetSmart to get it, I just get the blue bag. Turns out it’s IAMS Proactive Health Indoor Weight/Hairball Care Dry Cat Food.
Catmom ordered a different kibble last night to see how it works out.