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Lady Muck
Original Poster
1,097 posts
78 months
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My little Mabel has Hyperthyroidism and is on the right dosage for her (5mg day 1, 2.5mg day 2 and so on) BUT she is not gaining weight.
Can anyone recommend a good healthy wet food that will fatten her up. She doesn't do much at all these days and rarely ventures out, I have her on 3-4 sachets of felix/whiskers a day and as much dry food as she wants but it is hard to get her to eat.
Is there a cat equivalent of Weightgain 2000...? She needs to Beefcake up a bit!
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S10 GTA
2,485 posts
36 months
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Has she been wormed lately?
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Lady Muck
Original Poster
1,097 posts
78 months
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Good Question, no. I haven't seen any evidence in her litter tray or would such things not be visible?
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Superficial
743 posts
43 months
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With all pet food, it's quality not quantity that matters. You can be feeding twice as much supermarket rubbish as a decent, quality food.
For weight gain I'd recommend a RAW diet, but you will have to research this and be comfortable with what it entails. It's a great diet if you have the inclination to substitute a couple of nutrients.
If RAW isn't your thing then applaws do a good quality wet food. It isn't cheap but it's all natural with no nasty chemicals etc, and due to the quality of it you should find yourself feeding less than you would on whiskas etc.
If you're really struggling to get her to eat then try putting some warm, smelly meat on her front paws for her to lick off. I've never tried it myself but was taught that it was a good way to get reluctant cats to eat.
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Jasandjules
45,368 posts
98 months
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Superficial said: For weight gain I'd recommend a RAW diet, but you will have to research this and be comfortable with what it entails. It's a great diet if you have the inclination to substitute a couple of nutrients. I can't help but agree with this (but we feed raw). I can give you names of people who supply raw food - our cats get raw chicken mince, raw chicken wings, raw beef, raw beef mince and then some organic cat food as a mixer. I can also provide you with the names of a couple of books which might help you get started and also a website or two if you want to read up on it.
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otolith
19,345 posts
73 months
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Unlimited access to a dry complete feed seems to be the best (worst) way of getting a fatter cat - we have the opposite problem to you.
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killingjoker
360 posts
62 months
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When i was a lad my parents always had big house cats. Yes, they ate cat food but pretty much anytime they wanted, cat biscuits left out for them all the time, and also the remains or leftovers of our own dinners etc. Now i'm older its the same as its always been. The 'boys' enjoy cat pouches and crunchies but have a particular taste for human food - especially KFC and chinese - the phall hot curries dont seem to agree with them for some reason. Ah, one has a particular love of strong cheddar cheese as well. Also, we sometimes cook up different meats from our freezer and let them have that as a treat. They are big cats but not obese. Human food really does the trick i think.
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Mobile Chicane
14,005 posts
81 months
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Lady Muck said: Is there a cat equivalent of Weightgain 2000...? She needs to Beefcake up a bit! Applaws natural cat food. It's like crack cocaine for cats - Bob will eat this even if he isn't hungry. However it isn't a complete food, so shouldn't be fed exclusively. Not that many people could afford to given the cost of it.  I've started making my own version of Applaws, with frozen part-boned chicken breasts. I defrost these and put them in the slow cooker with an inch or so of water on the 'low' setting until they're done. Then I remove the skin and bones, shred the meat, and leave it to cool in the cooking liquid - this forms a delicious jelly around the meat. I make big batches and freeze it in meal-size portions. Yes, my cat probably eats better than I do.
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Munter
23,672 posts
110 months
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otolith said: Unlimited access to a dry complete feed seems to be the best (worst) way of getting a fatter cat - we have the opposite problem to you. We have to weigh out Alans iams. We didn't to start with and he got a tad porky. Whiskers biscuits are available to him all day, but he's less interested in them so only eats a few of them. I guess OP you need to find something irresistible to your cat.
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otolith
19,345 posts
73 months
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Mobile Chicane said: I've started making my own version of Applaws, with frozen part-boned chicken breasts. I defrost these and put them in the slow cooker with an inch or so of water on the 'low' setting until they're done. Then I remove the skin and bones, shred the meat, and leave it to cool in the cooking liquid - this forms a delicious jelly around the meat.
I make big batches and freeze it in meal-size portions. Yes, my cat probably eats better than I do. I make chicken stock in the slow cooker from the carcass after we've had roast chicken. A few times I've then gone to the trouble of picking the remaining bits of meat off the bones to give to the cats. They invariably look at me as if I have just laid a large turd in their bowls, so I've stopped bothering. Ungrateful little sods.
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Mobile Chicane
14,005 posts
81 months
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otolith said: Mobile Chicane said: I've started making my own version of Applaws, with frozen part-boned chicken breasts. I defrost these and put them in the slow cooker with an inch or so of water on the 'low' setting until they're done. Then I remove the skin and bones, shred the meat, and leave it to cool in the cooking liquid - this forms a delicious jelly around the meat.
I make big batches and freeze it in meal-size portions. Yes, my cat probably eats better than I do. I make chicken stock in the slow cooker from the carcass after we've had roast chicken. A few times I've then gone to the trouble of picking the remaining bits of meat off the bones to give to the cats. They invariably look at me as if I have just laid a large turd in their bowls, so I've stopped bothering. Ungrateful little sods. I can't say I blame them  Would you eat flavourless boiled meat?
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otolith
19,345 posts
73 months
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Mobile Chicane said: I can't say I blame them Would you eat flavourless boiled meat? Fair point - although, if we run out of food and have to buy them emergency pouches from the corner shop, they eat the jelly and leave the lumps, so maybe I shouldn't take it personally  "Eat that up, there are kittens starving in Africa"
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bexVN
9,502 posts
80 months
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Royal canin do 2 makes of food that could help your cat gain weight. One is a px diet but you'll prob be able to get it over the internet Royal canin sensitivity control and their Royal canin Vet senior cat stage 2 high calorie. If you cats treatment is under control and correct it should theorectically be gaining weight. This is a new diet, launched this year, seems to be getting excellent results. Will need vet monitoring for it though. http://www.hillspet.com/products/pd-feline-yd-dry....
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sleep envy
59,279 posts
118 months
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Lady Muck said: Is there a cat equivalent of Weightgain 2000...? She needs to Beefcake up a bit! Hills do a pate' type meat that is made for convalescing cats - we got it from the vets when mrs envy's cat had two teeth removed the fat b  d put on 200g in less than 7 days
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Lady Muck
Original Poster
1,097 posts
78 months
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Thanks for all the tips. I will start looking onto them and try and find something that works.
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Shannon Mac
126 posts
48 months
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Superficial said: With all pet food, it's quality not quantity that matters. You can be feeding twice as much supermarket rubbish as a decent, quality food.
For weight gain I'd recommend a RAW diet, but you will have to research this and be comfortable with what it entails. It's a great diet if you have the inclination to substitute a couple of nutrients.
If RAW isn't your thing then applaws do a good quality wet food. It isn't cheap but it's all natural with no nasty chemicals etc, and due to the quality of it you should find yourself feeding less than you would on whiskas etc.
If you're really struggling to get her to eat then try putting some warm, smelly meat on her front paws for her to lick off. I've never tried it myself but was taught that it was a good way to get reluctant cats to eat. I agree with the raw feeding recommendation here, though if you look into DAF minces (Durham animal foods) they are extremely good value and an easy way to raw feed. However I would recommend it's not their soul source of food, but if can give your kitty about 50-80g a day of that plus a commercial food it should help loads. A good commercial food for cats is Smilla red tuna, huge meat content and cats love it. Only trouble is that as far as I'm aware you can only get it on Zooplus here (it's the top choice 'tuna') > http://www.zooplus.co.uk/shop/cats/canned_cat_food...EDIT: if you can drop dry food all together it would be brilliant. Dry food is not good for cats and should be avoided where ever possible.
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bexVN
9,502 posts
80 months
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Try telling my 17 and 15 yr old cats that dry is bad. Their ages seem to suggest it can't be all bad!
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Mobile Chicane
14,005 posts
81 months
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bexVN said: Try telling my 17 and 15 yr old cats that dry is bad. Their ages seem to suggest it can't be all bad! Which dry food do you use, Bex?
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Shannon Mac
126 posts
48 months
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bexVN said: Try telling my 17 and 15 yr old cats that dry is bad. Their ages seem to suggest it can't be all bad! I didn't say bad, I said not good  I also never said it kills cats at a young age. My great granny lived to 101 years of age, she smoked and drank more than a little up until her final days. I wouldn't recommend anyone else do the same though. Cats systems are not built for dry food. Problems with water works and teeth are common in cats that are fed dry food. It's a myth that dry food helps keep teeth healthy in cats, and the dry food absorbs more water in a cats body than they can possibly drink in one day. This eventually can lead to urine infections and all sorts, repetitively for the unlucky ones.
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eybic
1,944 posts
43 months
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wet food makes their s t stink though. Mine is an indoor cat and gets fed Science plan, he certainly has no issues with being underweight.
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