# Puting condition on older cats



## Exploding Chestnuts (31 May 2015)

Hi, my moggies are both 12+ years  now and get wormed etc, little one has always been slimline and fatso has always been fine, he was 7.2kg and is now 6.8. Neither are carrying any spare condition. 
They have ad lib dry foods of various sorts, all premium, but are a bit fussy about foils and pouches so I have to ring the changes, they get a bit of chicken and fish once a week. Sometimes a tin of sardines.
But I still feel they are both losing weight, slowly, it looks like age related, what can I feed for fattening. , they are both very active [this is in between plenty of sleeping], [they both like butter, so I could just add some to their wet food].


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## ILuvCowparsely (31 May 2015)

Bonkers2 said:



			Hi, my moggies are both 12+ years  now and get wormed etc, little one has always been slimline and fatso has always been fine, he was 7.2kg and is now 6.8. Neither are carrying any spare condition. 
They have ad lib dry foods of various sorts, all premium, but are a bit fussy about foils and pouches so I have to ring the changes, they get a bit of chicken and fish once a week. Sometimes a tin of sardines.
But I still feel they are both losing weight, slowly, it looks like age related, what can I feed for fattening. , they are both very active [this is in between plenty of sleeping], [they both like butter, so I could just add some to their wet food].
		
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 In the same boat with one of ours, the vet said add lib dry food is bad for them as the food is designed to be fed in small portions due to high concentrated protein.  Also it swells in the stomach like sugarbeet and causes them to be sick.  

Mitch our cat  has lost so much weight his spine and hip bones our prominent.

 what about a few drops of soya oil?? or some full fat creme.

 googling shows this 

http://www.hillspet.com/products/pd-feline-ad-caninefeline-critical-care-canned.html

First step, I would think, would be to offer her the highest-quality (i.e. grain-free) canned foods you can get your hands on. Nature's Variety Instincts, Evo 95% Meat, some Wellness, Natural Balance, Felidae and Go! Natural are all good choices. A rotation through several of these would be better than a diet of only one or two.


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## Carlosmum (31 May 2015)

Have you taken them to the vet?  When our elderly cats started to loose weight we were told it was kidney problems which can be treated.


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## npage123 (31 May 2015)

My two elderly cats are both underweight and have chronic health problems, so we're frequent visitors at the vet.  They are tiny cats anyway but even so, they weigh around 3kg.  I do everything I can to make eating enjoyable to them.  One of them is on appetite stimulants (periactin).  It has definitely increased her appetite.  With dried food I've gone through absolutely everything which is available out there and pinpointed which ones they will eat, so they've always got 5 different bowls with different food in each one.  Also twice a day (or three times if me/OH can be there midday) they get wet food, and with this again I've gone through trial and error and now know what to buy which will be eaten.  They won't even eat cooked chicken breast, white fish like cod, kippers or sardines, crab sticks.  Their favourites are tuna and Sheba dome chicken breast.   Again with cat treats I've tried most things, and give them a lot of those they do like.  My situation might be a bit different to yours; yours probably just need a bit more condition whereas mine are underweight.  I think it helps a lot to monitor their weight accurately by weighing them regularly, or else it's just guesswork.


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## Exploding Chestnuts (31 May 2015)

Carlosmum said:



			Have you taken them to the vet?  When our elderly cats started to loose weight we were told it was kidney problems which can be treated.
		
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Yes they get a check up every so often, its not a rapid loss, they are just not as well conditioned as they were two years ago.
They look in excellent health to be fair and pretty much groom themselves which I consider a good thing.
I will try some of the diet tinned food, the dry food used to be offered as a snack, and only replaced when nearly finished, but as they come and go independently it is difficult to make sure they both have access to dry foods in summer as little one is out all day and half the night.
They both have to be in the house before the wet food is handed out [three times a day], I will try some cat milk and some vet canned feed but the more fancy feeds they get the more likely they are to refuse normal food.
My neighbour looks after them every so often and spoils them rotten, she fills their bowls to the top with dry food,  plus every treat known to man.


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## Ormsweird (31 May 2015)

My lil' lady turns 16 in August and has for the last two years suffered from bouts of pancreatitis, with occasional rapid weight loss accompanying those. So we've had something of a crash course and extended period of time watching and maintaining her weight!

We now operate on grain free kibble, which the vet (and our three other cats!) are very happy with as a stand by. But mostly she eats whatever sachet food we can get down her. Which is as meaty and high end as we can manage. We try to avoid the higher fat types, but typically this is what she likes. She is also fed separately (I keep her bowl in a drawer by me and she comes and asks for it!) from the others as I have two bouncing boy three year old norwegians (7kg each!) and an over enthusiastic two year old ragdoll, so this saves her trying to keep up with them. 

She is also very partial to the vitamin/meaty/yogurt style treats in tubes and the vet highly recommends them for her too.

Hope this helps!


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## Exploding Chestnuts (31 May 2015)

Ormsweird said:



			My lil' lady turns 16 in August and has for the last two years suffered from bouts of pancreatitis, with occasional rapid weight loss accompanying those. So we've had something of a crash course and extended period of time watching and maintaining her weight!

We now operate on grain free kibble, which the vet (and our three other cats!) are very happy with as a stand by. But mostly she eats whatever sachet food we can get down her. Which is as meaty and high end as we can manage. We try to avoid the higher fat types, but typically this is what she likes. She is also fed separately (I keep her bowl in a drawer by me and she comes and asks for it!) from the others as I have two bouncing boy three year old norwegians (7kg each!) and an over enthusiastic two year old ragdoll, so this saves her trying to keep up with them. 

She is also very partial to the vitamin/meaty/yogurt style treats in tubes and the vet highly recommends them for her too.

Hope this helps!
		
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Yes, that is little one just in from her daily excursion, they have both had a taste of Whiskas oh so fishy, left half of it, and had a little feed of kibbles, this is fairly normal. Of course if they run out of kibbles, any time of day or night they will come and tell me, I notice they often need fed at 2.00 am and/or 4.00am.
I will see if i can get these tubes.


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## wkiwi (2 June 2015)

Definitely get a vet check to rule out any health problems. 
Good suggestions above but i just wanted to add that it is important to read the packaging of products. Note that many products have a high percent of vegetable protein, whereas cats are natural carnivores and must have a high proportion of meat protein. 
Some 'senior' cat products (either dry or wet) are low calorie as many older animals are overweight, so watch out for those. 
If your cats don't like pouches, then you can always just add a bit of water to their ordinary dry food (although it does then go off and attract flies at the same rate as a wet food). Note that pouched tinned food can be about 80% water, whereas dried food is about 30% water, so it is cheaper to add your own water to the food rather than pay the supermarket for the water content!
Good luck


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