How Fast Should An Emaciated Cat Gain Weight?

On June 19th, during a thunderstorm, a small cat ran in my garage. I was able to capture him and immediately realized he was starving. I could see all of his ribs and vertebrae. With two other cats in the house, I couldn’t bring him inside, so I kept him in a dog crate in the garage overnight with food, water and a litter box. I took him to the vet on the 20th, where to my surprise, I found out that this nearly adult cat was 9-10 months old. He only weighed 2.7 lbs.
To keep the story shorter, he tested clean of all major diseases, is now named Romeo, and is doing fairly well with the introduction to the other pets in the house. He is very friendly and has a furever home now.
I have seen the vet twice, for his initial checkup and a follow up for an eye infection, and in a weeks time, he gained almost 2 lbs, which the vet seemed ok with. His next appointment is 2 weeks away, but for anyone who might know, how fast is it ok for him to gain weight? Should I slow down the feeding now that he is in a better place then he was?

Thank you so much for rescuing sweet Romeo. At this point I would allow him to eat all he wants. A 9-10 month old cat should weigh 6-10 lbs depending on their frame. Allow him to eat and enjoy eating. He still needs to gain more weight.

I would try to feed him wet food if you can. When feeding only dry food, cats tend to gorge on it and love it so much they want it all the time. Wet food gives him water in his diet too which is really necessary especially for male cats.

Also I am sure you will be back to the vet soon for a neuter. He is nearing sexual maturity and will want to get out and try to find a mate.

shadowsrescue said:

Thank you so much for rescuing sweet Romeo. At this point I would allow him to eat all he wants. A 9-10 month old cat should weigh 6-10 lbs depending on their frame. Allow him to eat and enjoy eating. He still needs to gain more weight.

I would try to feed him wet food if you can. When feeding only dry food, cats tend to gorge on it and love it so much they want it all the time. Wet food gives him water in his diet too which is really necessary especially for male cats.

Also I am sure you will be back to the vet soon for a neuter. He is nearing sexual maturity and will want to get out and try to find a mate.

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Thanks for the response. I tried giving him soft food the first few days, but he won’t eat it now. He is eating at least small amounts pretty much every hour now, but doesn’t seem to gorge himself. As for the neuter, he will get that (and his microchip) as soon as the vet is confident that he is healthy enough for it. They didn’t want to put him through the procedure in his condition.

Try mixing a bit of the wet food with the dry, and see if he will eat it that way.

Hi!
Along with the great advice above, maybe this will also help a bit;
How To Get A Cat To Gain Weight

Thank you to all who answered. My little man has settled in well and has put on a little over 4 lbs since showing up last month.
He is doing well and getting the love he deserves now.

Thank you so much for the update! He is just precious!

Make a meat stock by simmering meaty bones in water to cover for several hours until the meat falls off the bone. But well before bone broth times. This is very nutritious and it will help entice him to eat wet food.

Wet food is better for him because the protein is of a higher quality and more available to him. You want him to gain lean body mass, not just a kibble belly. Any wet food is going to be better than your best dry. But look at pates over shreds or gravys. He’ll get the most calories and nutrition from a pate and you’ll get a better value for your dollar.

When Krista had her last dental extractions and eating very much in one meal was hard for her, I used to put out about 1/4 of a 3 oz can (about 21 g) onto paper plates and put several down. I’d give her four hours to eat what she was going to eat before changing out the plates for new food. If I was making meat stock for her back then, I think the recovery would have gone a lot faster and she would have been eating more sooner.

Snoopytroll said:

My little man has settled in well and has put on a little over 4 lbs since showing up last month.

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This is fantastic, thank you so much for the update!!