Anyone Know How To Rebuild Muscles. ..?

[farscapekitties]

My 13 year old lady, Zombie, has lost quite a bit of weight due to a bad tooth I didn't catch until a few weeks later (yes, I know I'm a bad cat mom for that but she's always been very picky but anyway...). She's down to a good weight, being fat to start with, she went from 17# to 12# over the span of a year, and my vet didn't seem concerned.
Now, though, she's very bony I the shoulders! It wasn't all fat she lost but muscle in her shoulders. They're like little saucer bowls . My question is does anyone know what I can do to help her build those muscles up? She's eating Purina One True Instinct now, and won't eat any other brand. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

Has she had bloodwork done lately? Sometimes muscle wasting can come from other reasons/health reasons. And seniors are the most likely to have health issues.

Other than that, I really good source of easily digestible protein and very low carbs would be my suggestion. You can even try giving her eggs a few times a week. If cooked, it's ok to give the entire egg. If raw, then only the egg yolk, or only the egg white, but not together. The yolk as many more calories,but the yolk has more protein, I believe. So I cooked egg would probably be best, if she'll eat it. You could even cook it up in a little unsalted butter.

 

[carebare]

She needs more calories. Check her for dehydration. I think when dehydrated, they feel sick and won't eat. If they aren't eating, they will lose muscle mass. When my cat got very sick, treating for dehydration perked him up, but when he would not eat I ended up having to force feed him Hills i/d food to get him to eat. He had bad teeth and IBS, which may possibly be related.

 

[arouetta]

This thread discussed several things to help rebuild muscle mass.
Rebuilding Lost Muscle Mass....

 

[orange&white]

Quality protein will rebuild muscle protein. So a high animal protein and animal fat diet should help her if you can get her to eat something instead of, or in addition to, the Purina. Cats need 2g protein per pound of body weight per day, and seniors can use 2.4 grams per pound to prevent "skinny old cat" syndrome.

Scrambled eggs or raw egg yolks, as mrsgreenjeans suggests, would be a good supplement. Any raw or cooked unseasoned meats should help. Meat muscle will provide protein and the fats are high in calories.

Is she eating the kibble or the canned? The kibble will be high in carbs, and the canned would be better. If she's a kibble-addict, a food like the new Dr. Elsey's Clean Protein would be a good high-meat protein choice. They've somehow managed the impossible and formulated a dry kibble which is not glued together with carbohydrate-laden vegetable flours. lalagimp sampled it with two of her cats and did a review here recently.

Of course, if you can't get Zombie to eat anything but her current food, you may have a bit of a struggle, but you need to get her to eat more of it.

 

[lalagimp]

We still feed Dr Elsey's cleanprotein dry chicken kibble in addition to the daily large can of Nature's Variety Instinct chicken. I leave it in my signature since it's one of the higher quality options in a dry food that I've seen. It's now available through Chewy.com as well and on sale through tomorrow. The 6.6 lb bag is usually $45, but is currently $29.60. Chewy has an answered question about the carb content:

How many carbs does it have.
The carbohydrate content of this food is 4.69%

It is very high calorie so you may be able to use it to gain. My two girls end up just eating less than their old food and haven't gained anything. They are free fed with 1/8-1/4 cup each day.

I was very concerned about getting all of my cats on a more natural diet, but the ladies weren't taking to the same raw that the boys get. So, I ended up getting them on this combo diet.