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.