M in Carolina
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Posts: 3,128 
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Post by M in Carolina on Apr 15, 2016 7:17:07 GMT
I have a 16 year old female shorthair/siamese mix, Gris, who is very healthy but also very underweight.
The vet recently put her on Royal Canine senior high calorie food, but she hates it. It's also making my 13 year old male main coon/russian blue/shorthair who is huge but a teensy bit overweight vomit.
Gris loves her Whiskas Purely fish cheap ass food. Other than being too thin, she's healthy, bright eyed, silky fur, happy. She's just finicky. She's also not liking the Glucosamine and Chondroitin capsules that we're supposed to sprinkle on her food.
I'm thinking about tempting her to eat more of the Simply Fish (which my cat specialist vet did say would be fine since we have tried all sorts of better wet foods that she turns her nose up at) by putting people tuna on it. She loves the juice when I make tuna fish sandwiches, and sometimes I give them a little tuna.
I've tried the cat tuna at Trader Joe's but she's a connoisseur.
I know that I can't just simply feed her people tuna because there's vitamins and minerals that she needs that she can't get from just tuna. I just want her to eat a bit more than she is.
Some days she eats her Simply fish and is happy, and other days she just doesn't want much. When I do give her tuna, she scarfs it up.
I asked about a supplement or oil or something to add, but the vet said since her bloodwork and everything was ok and she wasn't having absorption issues, she didn't need anything. The poor girl is just so skinny. She is still jumping up on the sofa and having no issues going up and down the stairs and patrolling the house. Her hips have bothered her before, but she's doing ok. The supplements help, but she doesn't like this new one we got. I saw a liquid one online I think she might like better--a few drops instead of a lot of powder. I buy Vit D drops from Whole Foods--I love them because I can drop them in my drink and so easy to absorb.
We also got a stainless pet fountain for downstairs because our cats loved the one we have upstairs in our bathroom. They LOVE it. They just had a check up last week, and both got clean bills of health. They drink a ton of water--I think they like the burbling, and the stainless steel keeps it cool. The sound is really relaxing, and the fountain is much easier to clean than the plastic one which was the only option when we bought it a few years ago.
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Post by gale w on Apr 15, 2016 8:38:04 GMT
maybe try some different brands? Our 15 yr old cat loves Earthborn Holistic (any variety but mostly we buy chicken cacciatori). He even eats it fine with the glucosamine powder added (we mix it in). Fancy Feast classic is also pretty good-I learned about it here.
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Post by **GypsyGirl** on Apr 15, 2016 8:59:03 GMT
We feed our old girl (19.5 yrs) Fancy Feast classic. Salmon or beef are her favorites. Our vet also said it was fine to give her the Wiskas Cat Milk. That is her absolute favorite now.
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M in Carolina
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,128
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Post by M in Carolina on Apr 15, 2016 10:04:48 GMT
maybe try some different brands? Our 15 yr old cat loves Earthborn Holistic (any variety but mostly we buy chicken cacciatori). He even eats it fine with the glucosamine powder added (we mix it in). Fancy Feast classic is also pretty good-I learned about it here. We have tried different brands. She doesn't like the pate like foods. She likes the packs of fishy pieces. There were some Solstice or something or other that was $1 each at Petsmart she liked. Then she didn't. Petsmart/Petco will take unopened packs back, which is nice, but they're not that close to us. I feel like a short order cook. I'm going to try buying some of the warehouse size tuna tin packs and mix some into her food--maybe I can get her to eat the Royal Canine--I think she doesn't like that because it says dog on the label...  Then the issue is that she knows there's tuna, so she'll pout and try to force me to just give her tuna. I just wish there was a powder or liquid nutrient product I could mix into the tuna--which I know she'll eat. I'm tired of throwing out bowls of her food because she won't eat today what she ate yesterday. When I had horses, we had nutritional supplements that were like a syrup that we'd just add to the horse's daily grain. Simple, easy way to make sure they got the nutrients they needed. It's definitely not that she doesn't feel like eating--she has no problems begging for our food or eating when she wants it. I have been giving her little pieces of cooked chicken or steak (she's never liked raw--weird cat). Tonight she begged for some of my Smithfield's BBQ sandwich. I don't care what she eats at this point. I just want her to eat! |
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uksue
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Posts: 2,500
Location: London
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Post by uksue on Apr 15, 2016 10:11:59 GMT
My elderly cat has all the signs of kidney disease ( drinking a lot and very thin) and on agreement with my vet, rather than put him through a load of tests, I have started him on Royal canin renal. He absolutely loves it! It is low protein and phosphorous ( so safer for his kidneys but not unpalatable like the proper prescription kidney disease formula) and has finally gained a bit of weight. It comes in chicken and tuna and I was lucky to get a few samples off a website before placing a large order.
My other cat often eats it as well, which as he is high risk for kidney disease being a Birman, probably isn't such a bad thing. I also have a large bag of the dried renal formula which they both love, but I can't get my head around giving dried food to a cat with kidney disease when for many years here, the vets have advised not to give dried food to cats at all as it CAUSES kidney disease.
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M in Carolina
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,128
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Post by M in Carolina on Apr 15, 2016 10:49:21 GMT
My elderly cat has all the signs of kidney disease ( drinking a lot and very thin) and on agreement with my vet, rather than put him through a load of tests, I have started him on Royal canin renal. He absolutely loves it! It is low protein and phosphorous ( so safer for his kidneys but not unpalatable like the proper prescription kidney disease formula) and has finally gained a bit of weight. It comes in chicken and tuna and I was lucky to get a few samples off a website before placing a large order. My other cat often eats it as well, which as he is high risk for kidney disease being a Birman, probably isn't such a bad thing. I also have a large bag of the dried renal formula which they both love, but I can't get my head around giving dried food to a cat with kidney disease when for many years here, the vets have advised not to give dried food to cats at all as it CAUSES kidney disease. The Royal Canin is what I just got that little miss picky refuses to eat. The vet gave us the wet and dry and only wanted me to feed Gris these for the next few weeks until her next weight recheck. We got different kinds. Other cat is vomiting up the dry kibble, which he eats a lot more of--and if I left it down for her highness, he'll eat it too. Even though Gris is 16 and drinks like a fish, she has no kidney problems or diabetes--I was afraid it was diabetes. Her only issue is that her gastrointestinal tract is a bit off--not that she can't digest food, she just needs a bit more and higher calorie. I'm just going to ask my vet if feeding her tuna would be ok. I'm tempted to just put down bowls of tuna and let her eat her little heart out. I know she needs other nutrients, so I'm going to try to mix the tuna water into her Royal Canin and mix some into the food to see if she'll eat it that way. If she doesn't, I'll mix it into the Simply Fish. My fear is she's just going to want straight tuna. Trying to get her to eat this food is like mixing crack into a crack addict's food and them holding out for straight crack. |
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Post by compwalla on Apr 15, 2016 13:32:33 GMT
maybe try some different brands? Our 15 yr old cat loves Earthborn Holistic (any variety but mostly we buy chicken cacciatori). He even eats it fine with the glucosamine powder added (we mix it in). Fancy Feast classic is also pretty good-I learned about it here. We have tried different brands. She doesn't like the pate like foods. She likes the packs of fishy pieces. There were some Solstice or something or other that was $1 each at Petsmart she liked. Then she didn't. Petsmart/Petco will take unopened packs back, which is nice, but they're not that close to us. I feel like a short order cook. I'm going to try buying some of the warehouse size tuna tin packs and mix some into her food--maybe I can get her to eat the Royal Canine--I think she doesn't like that because it says dog on the label... Then the issue is that she knows there's tuna, so she'll pout and try to force me to just give her tuna. I just wish there was a powder or liquid nutrient product I could mix into the tuna--which I know she'll eat. I'm tired of throwing out bowls of her food because she won't eat today what she ate yesterday. When I had horses, we had nutritional supplements that were like a syrup that we'd just add to the horse's daily grain. Simple, easy way to make sure they got the nutrients they needed. It's definitely not that she doesn't feel like eating--she has no problems begging for our food or eating when she wants it. I have been giving her little pieces of cooked chicken or steak (she's never liked raw--weird cat). Tonight she begged for some of my Smithfield's BBQ sandwich. I don't care what she eats at this point. I just want her to eat! My cat is 19 and she also will not eat anything pate. It has to be chunks. And it's hard to tell sometimes from the label whether it's chunks or pate. And she much prefers dry food. So since whether she'll eat the moist food is a total crapshoot, we feed her only dry kibble. She's on the prescription renal diet and doing pretty well. I have noticed that the older she gets, the more sporadic her appetite seems to be. Some mornings she eats a teaspoon of kibble, other days the whole bowl. And she will meow for food at random times during the day. Since her weight has been an issue (she was also way too skinny) we have a policy of feeding her whenever she wants. When we pass by the pantry and she meows, we put a bit of food out. She might eat twice a day, might eat five times. We never know. I figure that since in cat years she's creeping up on 100, she can do whatever she damn well pleases. |
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desertgirl
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 2,646
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Post by desertgirl on Apr 15, 2016 13:50:55 GMT
You are habituating her to eat people tuna by giving it to her. So be it. Mix it in and be done. She's lovin' it and Virginia nailed it. She should be eating what she damn well pleases. Our elderly cat only eats FF Classic.
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Post by scrapmaven on Apr 15, 2016 15:09:26 GMT
I'm sorry that I can't be of help. My recently deceased elderly cat was always on a diet, because he ate anything that didn't eat him first.
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Post by susancinpa on Apr 15, 2016 16:27:27 GMT
I'm curious, has she always been thin or has she started losing weight?
Our oldest is 16 and has always been little. She weighs 5 - 5.5 pounds. The vet is fine with her weight as she's always been tiny. In fact, he thinks most cats are overweight and he tells me how great I've done with her. She is healthy, active and does not look anywhere near her 16 years. He has told me that if we didn't know her age, he'd put her at under 10 years. She still gets around like a 2 year old, our other two don't have her grace and energy.
My other two cats are 9.5 and were both overweight. Xander has dropped from 20 pounds to 10-11 pounds in 6 months due to his diabetes. We have been working with the vet to keep him from losing any more, but the vet says he doesn't feel the need to put more weight on him. We're just trying to keep him from losing any more. We think we've finally got him at a stable weight.
Mia (his littermate) is 15-16 pounds, even though she doesn't eat much. She eats very little canned food & prefers dry. She is very lazy & that seems to be why she is so heavy.
Dry food is more calorie dense than canned food. My vet would recommend more dry food and less wet food if they need to gain weight. However, it's generally not good for them to gain or lose too much too quickly.
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Post by katiekaty on Apr 15, 2016 19:06:48 GMT
We have a 23 year old little old lady kitty who has trouble maintaining her weight and we feed her Wellness Selects SkipJack Tuna and Shrimp in Broth wet and supplement with Beyond Ocean Whitefish and Tuna. She is doing much better since she started on that twice daily. She is very picky about what she eats but when she finds what she likes we don't deviate. The Wellness selects looks exactly like tuna and shrimp. She is face down and doesn't stop eating until it is gone! And she is much healthier since she started that about a year or so ago. It is expensive but little baby is worth it.
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Post by compwalla on Apr 15, 2016 19:25:06 GMT
We have a 23 year old little old lady kitty who has trouble maintaining her weight and we feed her Wellness Selects SkipJack Tuna and Shrimp in Broth wet and supplement with Beyond Ocean Whitefish and Tuna. She is doing much better since she started on that twice daily. She is very picky about what she eats but when she finds what she likes we don't deviate. The Wellness selects looks exactly like tuna and shrimp. She is face down and doesn't stop eating until it is gone! And she is much healthier since she started that about a year or so ago. It is expensive but little baby is worth it. Yep. Our old lady needed a renal diet and her vet wanted her on moist food but it was hit or miss if she'd eat it, even the same variety one day to the next. She will always eat the dry kibble even when she only eats a little so we decided that her eating dry food was better than watching her starve to death so dry kibble it is. She's doing ever so much better and went from 5.5 lbs to 7.5 lbs over the past year, back to where she was before her kidneys went wonky. It's such a relief. |
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Post by flgirlatheart on Apr 15, 2016 19:27:20 GMT
We have a 12 year old kitty who also doesn't like canned cat food. Before we got her she spent a few years outside as a barn cat and I suspect she doesn't like the texture, etc. after having "the real thing" LOL. She does love the juice part of Brothfuls - slurps it down when I give her one. Brat leaves all the fish pieces but drinks every bit of the juice!
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Post by STBC on Apr 15, 2016 19:36:50 GMT
You are habituating her to eat people tuna by giving it to her. So be it. Mix it in and be done. She's lovin' it and Virginia nailed it. She should be eating what she damn well pleases. Our elderly cat only eats FF Classic. That's what we did with our kitty when she was that age. She was terribly thin and nothing was going to get her to put the weight back on. She ate whatever canned food she wanted, as much as she wanted. Guy at the store thought we had an army of kitties with all of the food we bought - nope, just one hungry girl. Miss her... |
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Deleted
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May 19, 2024 16:08:01 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Apr 15, 2016 19:49:14 GMT
My older cat is 13 and has thyroid issues. I have to give him medicine twice a day and he's still skinny as a rail, but otherwise healthy. He is very picky with food and drives me crazy. He'll like one kind of food (say, shreds) one day, and the next day he'll look up at me indignantly, like, "What's THIS crap?"
Literally the only food he loves consistently is whipped cream in a can. He gets some of that twice a day. I figure I spend $25 a month on whipped cream for this cat. And lately he's been into this Stop&Shop brand food that comes in pouches. It's probably not considered to be great cat food, but as long as he eats I'm not going to sweat it.
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Post by Zee on Apr 15, 2016 20:12:13 GMT
Try the tuna packed in oil. My old man cat loves it, and it has the extra calories. He also likes cream cheese but he can't have it too often or it bothers his GI system.
If you can mix them together he should still get enough of the nutrients cats need. And I'd try all sorts of different things, not sure what you've tried but I figure we've been through half the brands Petco and Petsmart. Royal Canin Babycat (not the same as Kitten) went over very well for a while. It's finely ground and had a bit more calories than other wet foods.
Kitten foods in general tend to be higher in calories. Someone makes a Duck catfood that is higher in calories than anything else I've found, and that went over well for a while too. Might be Blue Buffalo, might be Wilderness, I can't remember.
I've stood in the cat food aisle comparing labels more than anyone I know, but in the end, he really just prefers Fancy Feast.
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Post by birukitty on Apr 15, 2016 20:37:27 GMT
My 15 year old Siamese was diagnosed with kidney disease in 2012 and my vet prescribed a Royal Canin food made for kidney diseased cats. Biru hated it and it smelled horrible. Eventually he would eat it but he was losing even more weight on it. I hit the internet searching for a better food for him. Through my research I found out that Royal Canin and Science Diet are actually very low quality pet foods. This was according to www.dogfoodadvisor.com, and yes while it was a dog food website it had the best analysis of pet foods including those two brands and tons of others. I found two sites that covered Feline Kidney Disease and found that there wasn't a commercial food for cats at all other than the vet prescription diets. Meanwhile my poor Biru was down to skin and bones as he continued to lose weight. They suggested looking for a cat food that was low in ash and potassium but in searching those foods I wasn't happy either with the quality or the low potassium if they were good quality. Finally after 3 weeks I found the answer-a raw food diet. I stumbled upon this site www.felineinstincts.com and the first thing that came up was a video explaining why a raw food diet is the healthiest for our cats (and dogs). It has now been moved to the left side of the intro page. It is made by a holistic vet and makes so much sense. Watch it and you'll see what I mean. This company makes a powder base of organic vitamins and ingredients that you mix with raw meat at home to make a raw food for your cats. That way you get the 100% daily nutrition that your cat needs. They have a kidney disease formula, and a natural cat formula that is for healthy cats, plus a dog formula. We ordered the kidney support formula and mixed up a batch for Biru and for his brother cat who was 16 (the site said it was fine for elderly cats). After 2 weeks of eating this the change in both cats was shocking. Biru started gaining weight back immediately-they both loved this food and were gobbling it up. Their eyes sparkled and their coats got glossier. After 3 weeks they were chasing each other around the house vs before where Biru was mostly lying around. At this time we stopped the horrid fluid therapy that you have to do with a kidney diseased cat-you hang a bag of IV fluid up and insert a needle under the skin of the cat and let it drain into the cat for 4 minutes or so every other day. He hated that! I hated hurting him and making him suffer the indignity of it. Once he was eating this raw diet for over 3 weeks we never had to do it again. His kidney disease got so much better that he healed from it, and it never bothered him again-as long as we continued this diet. I talk about this diet a lot on here. I have no connections whatsoever with Feline Instincts. I just want to share what I learned because what I learned saved my cat, and it is the opposite of what most vets tell their clients. I did tell my vet what I discovered especially when he was so shocked to see Biru's recovery. I gave him the brochure and being the wonderful, open minded, caring vet that he is, he got all excited and said, "This is wonderful! I'm going to share this with all of my patients who have cats with kidney disease" Biru passed away in December of 2014 of a blood clot while undergoing a twilight sleep procedure for an enema. He suffered all of his life from constipation due to a deformed spine. I miss him so much, but I know he's waiting at the Rainbow Bridge for me. Debbie in MD. |
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Post by bothmykidsrbrats on Apr 15, 2016 21:49:13 GMT
When my big guy was still around (he passed at 20), I used GNC (got it at PetSmart) High Calorie Booster. He loved it, and would lick it off my finger. My mom just started using it for her 18 year old, and her highness hates it, but doesn't notice it if it's mixed in with her wet food.
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Post by **GypsyGirl** on Apr 15, 2016 21:56:08 GMT
I have noticed that the older she gets, the more sporadic her appetite seems to be. Some mornings she eats a teaspoon of kibble, other days the whole bowl. And she will meow for food at random times during the day. Since her weight has been an issue (she was also way too skinny) we have a policy of feeding her whenever she wants. When we pass by the pantry and she meows, we put a bit of food out. She might eat twice a day, might eat five times. We never know. I figure that since in cat years she's creeping up on 100, she can do whatever she damn well pleases. This is how Xena is. Some days she eats better than others. We have also started giving her bits of ham or other meat. If she smells a steak on the grill, she comes and camps out in the kitchen until she gets her fair share. Funny thing is, she refused to eat any people food until just a few years ago. I know we won't have her much longer, so I just try to make her happy and let her have what she wants. |
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Post by birukitty on Apr 15, 2016 22:13:01 GMT
My elderly cat has all the signs of kidney disease ( drinking a lot and very thin) and on agreement with my vet, rather than put him through a load of tests, I have started him on Royal canin renal. He absolutely loves it! It is low protein and phosphorous ( so safer for his kidneys but not unpalatable like the proper prescription kidney disease formula) and has finally gained a bit of weight. It comes in chicken and tuna and I was lucky to get a few samples off a website before placing a large order. My other cat often eats it as well, which as he is high risk for kidney disease being a Birman, probably isn't such a bad thing. I also have a large bag of the dried renal formula which they both love, but I can't get my head around giving dried food to a cat with kidney disease when for many years here, the vets have advised not to give dried food to cats at all as it CAUSES kidney disease. Yes, this is true. Feeding cats dry cat food for their entire lives does cause kidney disease because nature made cats to get part of their moisture needs from their food. They physically cannot drink enough water each day to satisfy what they need on a daily basis. Which as UKSue mentions above makes absolutely no sense when vets prescribe a prescription kidney diet like Royal Canin and say, "oh yeah, either dry or canned is okay". No it's really not. It should be canned only. That is what my vet told me when he prescribed Royal Canin for my Siamese Biru. Luckily we chose the canned. But the thing is they tell you dry is okay and then they want you to do the fluid therapy on kidney diseased cats to get more fluid in their systems. By feeding Biru a raw food diet (specially formulated for kidney diseased cats) I was able to stop the fluid therapy altogether, and reverse his kidney disease. But, again a diet of solely dry cat food does eventually cause kidney disease in cats. This is true. Debbie in MD. BTW, I do believe all of this Royal Canin and Science Diet promoting from our vets comes from those companies contributing so much money to the vet schools and then putting these foods (my guess) at a huge discount into the vet clinics. Also I also believe the vets simply don't know any better. They only spend a few weeks on animal nutrition in vet school from what I have heard. It is up to us (as pet owners) to do our own research. |
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Post by gale w on Apr 15, 2016 22:13:39 GMT
I have noticed that the older she gets, the more sporadic her appetite seems to be. Some mornings she eats a teaspoon of kibble, other days the whole bowl. And she will meow for food at random times during the day. Since her weight has been an issue (she was also way too skinny) we have a policy of feeding her whenever she wants. When we pass by the pantry and she meows, we put a bit of food out. She might eat twice a day, might eat five times. We never know. I figure that since in cat years she's creeping up on 100, she can do whatever she damn well pleases. This is how Xena is. Some days she eats better than others. We have also started giving her bits of ham or other meat. If she smells a steak on the grill, she comes and camps out in the kitchen until she gets her fair share. Funny thing is, she refused to eat any people food until just a few years ago. I know we won't have her much longer, so I just try to make her happy and let her have what she wants. I thought I read somewhere that cats lack a certain enzyme or something to digest pork? We've quit giving our dog and cats pork for this reason. I guess if they're older and they tolerate it well I would give them whatever they want. |
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Southern Side eyed Pea 
