My 2 year old shelter cat that I adopted 6 months ago has loss about 1 ounce per two weeks according to the last weigh in today since January. She is now just over 6 lbs. She is petite to begin with. My vet wants to do blood work within a week or two, of which I will do. They mentioned possible kidney issues, but was wondering if it may be something else and wanted opinions in this forum. I'm thinking cancer, hyperthyroidism, or nothing at all. She is eating with no interference from the other 3 cats in the household and is very active. I was thinking that since she was caged for 4 weeks prior to me adopting her and then going to a home and becoming very active might have something to do with her weight loss, but it has been 6 months and she is very well adjusted in her new home as of 3 months ago. Thank you for any insight on the weight issue I am having with Princess.
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Gradual Weight Loss
- Thread starter Mitsou
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What is she currently eating? Is it dry or wet food, and what type? Is she free-fed or has set mealtimes?
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- #3
Hi Karenkat! Princess is free fed with dry food. She does not like wet food, unfortunately. She eats science diet...oral, urinary, and hairball formula. I recently bought blue Buffalo...high protein, but she won't eat it. She eats treats once in awhile. She is very active and is very healthy in every other way.
I think I'm thinking on the same lines as you and KarenKat. It's very possible that she simply isn't getting enough food for all her new activity. Or maybe it doesn't have as much protein as she needs. And remember, every cat food contains differing amounts of calories. You might try giving her an egg yolk every few days to see if that helps. Can be raw or cooked. If cooked, you can give her the entire egg. If raw, just the yolk.
A young active cat can eat up to 35 calories per pound of their optimal weight per day. So if her optimal weight is, say 8 pounds, that would be 280 calories per day.
A young active cat can eat up to 35 calories per pound of their optimal weight per day. So if her optimal weight is, say 8 pounds, that would be 280 calories per day.
Hi!
Try bonito flakes as a topper, also try fortiflora. It is less effective as a probiotic but can work very well as an enticing topper.
Have you tried canned fancy feast? Pouches of Merrick Backcountry, tikicat, natural balance?
Try bonito flakes as a topper, also try fortiflora. It is less effective as a probiotic but can work very well as an enticing topper.
Have you tried canned fancy feast? Pouches of Merrick Backcountry, tikicat, natural balance?
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If she's free fed all that could be done is switching to a higher calorie food
Yeah, I was wondering if she was having trouble getting whatever energy she needs from the food.
Getting cats on wet food can be a huge pain (even Jackson Galaxy couldn't do it for one of his cats), we finally found on Gohan will eat but he still doesn't always eat a lot of it. His main diet is kibble (Nature's Variety Instinct LID Rabbit). Was the Blue Buffalo the dry or wet food that she wouldn't eat? Food switches (especially dry) need to be done slowly over time so the cat accepts the new smells as food.
I also wonder about the ingredients in the Science Diet. Chicken is listed first, but after that is "Whole Grain Wheat" and "Corn Gluten Meal." Another poster recently mentioned that when the first ingredient in dry food is "chicken" and not "chicken meal", the food might have the second or third ingredient as most prevalent since the chicken's moisture is removed in the processing. This means that the main source of protein might be the corn gluten meal, and maybe Princess is having trouble turning that into energy. When our cat Trin at a dry food with mostly corn gluten meal, he gained a lot of weight and was not active. Once we switched he became super active and gradually lost his weight. I think because his body had trouble converting the plant protein to energy? I'm not a vet, but this was my uneducated theory.
Catfooddb.com says that this only has 35% protein, 20% fat and 33% carbs. That's pretty low in protein and quite high in carbs. Have you tried switching the kibble to something with more protein and less carbs? I also think finding a food with no corn, soy or wheat would be better as well. Dr Elsey's cleanProtein kibble is great, and other members have liked Tikicat kibble.
Of course, keep working with your vet in case there is an underlying medical issue, and it's always good to try getting her on wet food if you can. But in the meantime, upgrading the kibble may help.
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- #8
thank you mrsgreenjeens!!
i never heard to try an egg. i will try that for sure!!
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- #9
omg! you are so right about the science diet!! why do vets recommend this? i will check out the other sources you mentioned. I was able to get my 8 year old Nickel on wet food when I adopted him from the SPCA. I was told he hated it, but finally found something he likes. He is now 12 years old and doing great. Unfortunately, I can't find anything Princess likes. She has energy, eats science diet, but is losing weight. I will try those sources you mentioned and also do the blood work as recommended by the vet for sure.
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- #10
ty! I will definitely look for higher calorie foods.
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- #11
hmmm...very interesting!! i will check these out. ty sooo much!! tried fancy feast cans and pouches. she does not like these.
If she likes the Science Diet, try crushing some if it and use THAT as a topper for canned food. Maybe that will help. Also, to switch to a better dry food, be sure to switch slowly, maybe 3/4 Science Diet to 1/4 new food, then half and half, and so on. Just don't let her eat less food, since she is already losing weight
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- #13
Great idea!! Ty so much! I will definitely do just that.
