Guy is roughly 8 years old and has always been slim in appearance, ranging from 12-14 pounds. His biological brother has always been heftier, usually between 16-18 pounds, and is currently 17 pounds. In the last 6-8 months Guy has been losing a little bit of weight that we thought was from this last winter being so cold and how hard it was to keep our mobile home above 60 degrees. Another of our cats, Leo, who is a bit older at 10 years old, lost a few pounds during that time frame as well. Starting about four months ago I began feeding Guy and the other thinner cat higher quality food morning and night, primarily duck because it has a higher calorie content, and the other cat is back up in weight and is even pushing being chubby. But, Guy hasn't seemed to have gained anything. Each time we've been into the vet in the last three months he's been 10 pounds, so he's not losing anymore, which I think it really good, but he definitely needs to. He's been to the vet four times, twice with our regular vet, twice with a new vet because we weren't getting anywhere with our regular vet. He's had two stool samples, two general blood tests, and two blood tests for thyroid disorders. All of which have come back fine. My regular vets pretty much dismisses me anymore and I'm beyond frustrated with his service. The new vet was just as bad and suggested since the brother cat is so much bigger I'm basing how big cats should be and that Guy is at a good weight because 10 pounds is in the good range of the healthy cat chart she had on the wall. She never even touched Guy and had her assistant do all the handling. We only went back a second time because I hoped the last appointment had been a fluke.
Anyway, now it's been a month since our last vet visit and he's still slimmer than I would like. He eats most of the can he and the other cat split each meal time, which is a variety of duck based flavours from the higher quality brands I can get at petsmart. I also mix a hand full of Fromm's Duck a La Veg into each meal and usually the plate is cleaned off completely within a half hour. The other cat, Leo, usually only eats about 1/3 of the meal and wants out after about 10 minutes, leaving guy in the room with all the rest to eat. The other cats in my home have no access, so I know it's him eating it all. There also have free access to Eukanuba's Indoor hairball relief and another bowl of Eukanuba's sensitive stomach, but Guy very rarely seems to be interested in it anymore. He's just as active, eats a whole lot, no litter box problems, and is all around normal except for the weight loss.
Everyone I've talked to in person seems like I'm over reacting and that he isn't that slim, but I can feel every knob of his back bone and if I pet him without looking sometime I accidentally get my hand under his ribcage. I can feel all the bones in his skull and his tail and his hip. I've never had a cat that wasn't just taken off the street have this much bone sticking out. Even my boyfriend, who has had him since guy was a baby, says he's fine, but I'm really worried about him. Maybe I really am just used to fat cats?
What do you think my next step should be?
Anyway, now it's been a month since our last vet visit and he's still slimmer than I would like. He eats most of the can he and the other cat split each meal time, which is a variety of duck based flavours from the higher quality brands I can get at petsmart. I also mix a hand full of Fromm's Duck a La Veg into each meal and usually the plate is cleaned off completely within a half hour. The other cat, Leo, usually only eats about 1/3 of the meal and wants out after about 10 minutes, leaving guy in the room with all the rest to eat. The other cats in my home have no access, so I know it's him eating it all. There also have free access to Eukanuba's Indoor hairball relief and another bowl of Eukanuba's sensitive stomach, but Guy very rarely seems to be interested in it anymore. He's just as active, eats a whole lot, no litter box problems, and is all around normal except for the weight loss.
Everyone I've talked to in person seems like I'm over reacting and that he isn't that slim, but I can feel every knob of his back bone and if I pet him without looking sometime I accidentally get my hand under his ribcage. I can feel all the bones in his skull and his tail and his hip. I've never had a cat that wasn't just taken off the street have this much bone sticking out. Even my boyfriend, who has had him since guy was a baby, says he's fine, but I'm really worried about him. Maybe I really am just used to fat cats?
What do you think my next step should be?