Helping Mia gain weight

Od3n

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Hi all, I need a little help getting my kitten, Mia, to gain weight so she can weigh enough to get spayed on the 11th.

She was born on April 26th, which makes her 17 weeks old. The clinic requires them to be four months old and weigh 4lbs, but Mia only weighs 3.5lbs. She isn’t really skinny, just very slim but well built. Her brother is twice her size and weighs a little more than my other kitten, who weighs 4.5lbs. I think it’s because she was the runt of the litter, so she’s having some trouble putting on weight.

I feed all my cats dry food mixed with wet (ToTW Lowland Creek for dry, Wholehearted variety flakes and gravy for wet). The adults get 1/2 dry per day with wet, and the kittens get each a little less than a cup with wet per day. Should I buy something a little more fatty for Mia or should I just continue feeding what they currently eat?

I can’t have them all on a pure wet diet, one of them will only eat wet if it’s mixed with dry and another has horrible diarrhea if he only gets straight wet food.
 

Furballsmom

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Hi!
You could obtain a more nutrient dense food just for her and also try feeding her more frequently.
 
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Od3n

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Furballsmom Furballsmom
Do you have any recommendations? I’ve upped what she gets fed but she doesn’t eat all of it
 

mrsgreenjeens

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Are you feeding her KITTEN food, or regular. I'm not aware of a kitten food in "flakes", but it's been a long time since I've had a kitten :wink: . If you can get her to eat it, feed her pate, kitten preferably. It's higher in calories and probably fat too.
 
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Od3n

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I’m using a dry food labeled All Stages, should I get a separate kitten food for the little ones?
The wet food (flakes) is also labeled all stages but I also have kitten pate of the same brand that I have been giving her.
 

mrsgreenjeens

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I’m using a dry food labeled All Stages, should I get a separate kitten food for the little ones?
The wet food (flakes) is also labeled all stages but I also have kitten pate of the same brand that I have been giving her.
I would definitely give her food for kittens, since you are wanting her to put on some weight. Normally we say that food labled "all stages" is ok for kittens, but this is a special situation, IMHO.

She is quite adorable, BTW :loveeyes:
 
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Od3n

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Alright, I bought some kitten dry for her and I’ll keep feeding her the kitten pates mixed with it. I weighed her this morning and she weighs 3.7lbs now!! She’s slowly gaining but surely 😊
 
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Od3n

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Update: her surgery is tomorrow but she’s only 3.9 😞 I don’t know if they’ll take her being .1 off, and their office is closed
 

Furballsmom

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Don't give up, she could still gain that little bit plus their scale might read her as weighing more. Keeping my fingers crossed!!
 
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Od3n

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Just picked her up post surgery - she was 4.4lbs!! 😁😁
 
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