fattening up our kitty

[Brandi]

Our 16 year old kitty is loosing weight as she get's older and was wondering if anyone has suggestions on how we can help calorie wise without fattening up our other cats? She is fine health wise just getting old and has always been tiny but getting really to tiny. I can ask my vet too and will but want to hear if anyone has suggestions. Other 2 cats have to be on light food. They have body to spare.

[zoom-zoom]

Has she had her thyroid checked? She's the same age our Lola was when she was diagnosed. She's been on thyroid supressing meds for a few years, now. She was eating everything in sight and still losing weight. It's VERY common in older, female cats.

[chatnoire]

I have an almost 19 year old girl who has always been tiny, but in the last couple years dropped to the under 6 pounds mark. She held steady at 5 1/2 pounds, but I was worried about her, as you understandably are about your little girl.

I found a few things help with keeping her fed, and getting the nutrient levels she needs. There is a high calorie supplement gel that I got at PetCo that I give to her in her food bowl as a treat. It's tuna flavored, so she just licks it up. I also started buying the grain-free foods so that her food is mostly proteins. She does still eat a few foods with grains in them, but it's a mix. These foods are all moist, as well, in cans, and I pretty much feed her on demand (which has evolved to a schedule of 3 times a day - once in the morning, once when I get home, and once before bed.) I also give her treats whenever she wants.

If keeping the other kitties out of the food is important, you could shut her away, or feed her the extra food under supervision.

She may also be losing weight due to the "light" diet of the other kitties.

Definitely check with the vet, but these are the things that worked for us, and kitty actually gained a 1/2 pound recently, which is huge on a teeny animal! :)

[Brandi]

I bought her a an all meat food from the health food store yesterday. It is actually a frozen food. When I fed it to her last night she did not come back looking for more so that was good. I have wondered about her thyroid as well. Will have the vet check for that. It's hard with her though because she does not like in any way to be given anything other then food. She will hide knowing she is getting meds and stuff. Makes it hard knowing if she does have a problem that giving her anything is near impossible. Even flea stuff I have to sneak up on her when she is dead asleep and put it on her then she hides for a whole day. Once we had to give her antibiotics and she would spit them out or hide to where I could not find her and would miss doses. I can not hide it in her food either doesn't work. If she was only like my other two....clueless. It is a hard situation.
I should note that she is not hyper which I know is a symptom of a hyper thyroid condition. We had an older cat with it once. She was easy to treat though and lived another 5 years.

[zoom-zoom]

I bought her a an all meat food from the health food store yesterday. It is actually a frozen food. When I fed it to her last night she did not come back looking for more so that was good. I have wondered about her thyroid as well. Will have the vet check for that. It's hard with her though because she does not like in any way to be given anything other then food. She will hide knowing she is getting meds and stuff. Makes it hard knowing if she does have a problem that giving her anything is near impossible. Even flea stuff I have to sneak up on her when she is dead asleep and put it on her then she hides for a whole day. Once we had to give her antibiotics and she would spit them out or hide to where I could not find her and would miss doses. I can not hide it in her food either doesn't work. If she was only like my other two....clueless. It is a hard situation.
I should note that she is not hyper which I know is a symptom of a hyper thyroid condition. We had an older cat with it once. She was easy to treat though and lived another 5 years.

Our Lola is not hyper, either. Our vet had asked that...she's never been overly active.

Pill Pockets are amazing. They don't work well for bitter-tasting meds, but I think the thyroid pills must be kind of tasteless, like most hormone pills. She sits by the drawer where we keep her meds and demands them. She thinks she's getting a meaty-flavored treat.

[indysteel]

Don't rule out thyroid problems with anything but a blood test. Not all cats are restless or hyperactive with a hyperactive thyroid. I'd want to rule out diabetes, too.

[westtexas]

Get thee to a veterinarian :) Diabetes, kidney disease, hyperthyroidism, lymphoma, liver disease... these are things she should be checked for and ruled out before just increasing calories is the answer. While you are at your vet, ask for some a/d (or whatever brand they have's "recovery diet") once you know your diagnosis. a/d is a high calorie food fed to hospitalized patients that can help your kitty regain weight. And I will say for all of those diseases there are very classic symptoms, but I have diagnosed plenty of lethargic hyperthyroid kitties and diabetics who were drinking/urinating normally and eating very little.

[indysteel]

To follow up on what Westtexas said, I'd suggest talking to your vet about routine blood work for your geriatric cat(s). We get something our vet calls the "Senior 7" as part of our older cat's semi-annual exam. It won't catch everything that can befall an aging cat, but it keeps track of some major things (like thyroid and kidney function). Obviously, it's an additional expense, and your vet may only suggest having it done once a year. I sure wish I'd used it when my now-deceased cat was getting up in years. We would have caught some issues earlier and provided her with a better quality of life as she aged. Like your cat, she lost weight that I didn't detect at first because she was a very furry medium haired cat. And once I did, I just chalked it up to old age. She was hyperthyroid as it turns out.

[Brandi]

Thank you everyone I will let you know what happens.

[sookiesue]

If your kitty does end up hyperthyroid, my experience was that they offered either liquid or pill form of the medication. My kitty did not take pills well so I tried the liquid. The stuff must have tasted awful because she would fling her head around, spraying the medicine all over, and sometimes even froth at the mouth to get rid of it. Not only was this a total mess, but then I never knew if she was getting enough medicine.

Finally a vet tech suggested giving her the pills and she gave me a little sample of these "pill pockets" made by the company that makes Greenies. The pill pocket is this malleable substance that you can tuck a pill into - you can even break it apart and wrap it around smaller pills. My cat LOVED them. I could get her to gulp down her pills, no problem.

So, short story long :D, if you end up having to medicate your animal and they don't like pills, try these pill pockets! My vet carried them (my cat liked the salmon flavor) but I also saw them at PetSmart...or PetCo...I always mix those up. I think you can even get them on Amazon.

They aren't cheap, but if the pills are small you can break apart one pocket and use it for two doses.

Good luck with kitty!

[sookiesue]

Whoops! I just re-read the thread and noticed that Zoom-Zoom already endorsed Pill Pockets. Sorry for the repeat of info!

[Brandi]

Repeat is not a bad thing. Thank you for sharing your experience with them as well.

[Savra]

I was having this issue with my older kitty. She's 15 and I figured it was just age. I got her a specific calorie inducing gel from PetsMart that I put on her paw to lick off. It helped really - she would eat well when I gave her that. HOWEVER - I also took her to the vet and they gave her an antibiotic shot and she's a brand new kitty. Come to find out - she's had a cold for the past few months and now feels MUCH better.
So - try the Calorie inducing gel stuff at PetsMart but also talk to your vet about the possibility that your cat may just not be feeling well.

[Brandi]

So it was interesting. The past week our kitty was acting like sleep was the most important thing and please don't touch me, (which is nothing new with her on the touch part). I was thinking she was going down hill. My husband was in denial but at one point said maybe we should take her to the vets. Then the last two days she has snapped out of it. I am starting to think she was hurt. Not bad but enough to where it threw her off. She wasn't grooming which made her look worse for one. But the last few days something has changed. I was ready to take her in but now she seems more like herself. Begging for her treats this morning and went outside. Maybe she had a cold, maybe she strained her back? If only they could talk!! I am just glad she is more herself.

[indysteel]

I would get her into your vet and, in the very least, have some blood work done. Kitties, even when in the middle of a steep decline, are expert at masking their distress. You sometimes have to go on the most subtle of clues and/or read between the lines. Given what you've shared so far, something doesn't seem right and the sooner you get a handle on what that something is, the better off you'll both be. Now with that said, with a cat that age, you may decide against any aggressive treatment if something is, indeed, wrong, but you'll at least know what you're dealing with and if there's anything you can do to make her more comfortable.

[Brandi]

She is doing good. Blood work is fine but it would have been nice if she had told us about her leg! She has torn a muscle or tendon. We are keeping her quite. She is much more perky now that she feels better. We are giving a different food then the other's plus a calorie booster. She is sleeping good and not as much as she was. Poor leg. She was unstable becuase she had hurt it. We thought it was that she was weak. Go figure.

[bmccasland]

Poor kitty! Glad you figured out what was wrong, and hope she heals quickly.

Chloe sends her sympathies - she didn't enjoy going to the vet today, and it was only for her annual check-up.

[Brandi]

It is a little hard for her she is so used to being nimble. She is the type of cat you don't hear when she jumps on something or runs down the stairs. Not like my two other house ponies. Lucky she likes to sleep. A hurt leg like that is hard to heal. And because of her age it takes even longer. We are giving her lots of love even though she acts like she hates it.

[indysteel]

Poor kitty. I'm glad you got her in and hope she's on the mend soon. My oldest cat started limping this spring. His knee has some additional movement in it that suggests something's going on. He needs to drop a pound; that will help. He's had a few doses of an anti-inflammatory and seems to be better now. The sad truth is that he's getting old.

[Brandi]

We have another kitty that has a knee issue too. It comes out of joint. But that is from an injury he had when he was little. His femur was broke. Someone kicked him (before he was rescued) his knee has never been the same. He has to keep his weight down as well. He has the cutest hitch in his walk and run though. And he is very strong in the shoulder's because of it. Sometimes he can't jump all the way onto a counter and has to pull himself up. :( poor boy.

[westtexas]

Brandi - so glad to hear about your kitty. I have been following the thread to make sure if you needed any advice or help I would be here for you guys. Hopefully with the calorie supplements and a little rest your baby will be on the mend in no time!