Some jerks in my street moved out and left their cat behind. I noticed when she started begging for food and was sleeping on furniture dumped on the street (probably her ex-owner's). So I started feeding her and put friendly "is this your cat?" notices in the neighbours' letterboxes. Got no reply after a few days, then saw she was badly scratched from fights and took her. When I felt her body I realised how anorexic she was under all her fluffy fur. Looks like she would've been a huge glorious fluff-ball once, but has become mangy, matted & skinny from neglect.
Took her to the shelter for a check up and they said they can't take her for another week. So I'm keeping her temporarily at my mother's, treating her wounds and trying to get her healthy and nice looking. She's loving the attention and is a real cuddly sweetie. We can't keep her though.
In the week that I have her I want to make her look super healthy so she'll have a better chance of rehoming. What should I feed her? :)
2007-09-06 02:35:44 · 16 answers · asked by Camperdown T 4 in Pets ➔ Cats
Such helpful answers so far, thanks everyone! I've treated her for fleas and worms and am brushing her lots. She even calmly lets me wash her cut eye lid with salty water. Don't worry, my sister volunteers at the shelter and won't let her get put down. We just want to make her gorgeous so she will be in a new home asap.
2007-09-06 03:05:47 · update #1
I applaud you for rescuing this innocent cat! Feed her a high quality cat food. I feed my cat Wellness Complete Health dry formula and Wellness Canned Cat Food Formulas.
Animal caretakers must exert strict self-control when attempting to nurse a starved cat back to good health. The natural and common tendency is to overfeed the cat “because he’s ravenous.” Serious consequences await, called Refeeding Syndrome, if an emaciated and starved cat is suddenly overfed. Signs of Refeeding Syndrome are described as muscle weakness, muscle cramps, heart muscle damage and rhythm irregularities, seizures, red blood cell rupture and respiratory failure. A sudden load of carbohydrates in a large meal fed to a starved cat can create serious shifts in potassium and phosphorus concentrations in all body cells and create life-threatening Refeeding Syndrome.
2007-09-06 02:59:11 · answer #1 · answered by ? 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Well, my mom is a psycho woman on the pet aspect. We got our first cat seven years ago. We adopted him from a shelter. Four years ago, we adopted a dog that was going to be put down if no one adopted him, because he is a show dog and he needed an operation. (although this is a cat question, I have to include him.) My mom saved two kittens (at the time) from a guy who wanted to get rid of them, or give them to a shelter which would have put them down anyway. Then, she comes home with a bunny. It was being abused at the store where it was living. Last year Valentine's Day, she got another kitten. He was on sale, because they were moving the store. If they didn't sell the cats, they were going to put them down. Finally, we rescued a cat last week. He was laying outside our house, on the pavement. He was almost dying, pretty much a bag of bones. Well, he is in my room and my roomate :)! My family currently has 5 cats, 1 dog, and a bunny. She likes to rescue/adopt animals that would only end up dying/getting put down anyway.
2016-05-22 08:29:55 · answer #2 · answered by ? 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
whatever you do don't give her large amounts of food right away. give her small portions multiple times a day. (1/4 cup 4 times a day). if you are worried about it then call the ASPCA/humane society in your area and ask how to go about feeding her. find a good quality cat food. no corn or by products. you wont find these in any grocery store, only in pet stores like petsmart or pets supplies plus, etc. make sure the first ingredient is a meat, and that the first 3 ingredients don't contain corn or by products. you don't want her to gain weight too fast or she could get some sort of medical condition (diabetes, uti's, diarrhea, etc). if possible see if you can find a vet who will give you a discount for saving her and being a foster home, that can get her in for an exam sooner
2007-09-06 03:01:36 · answer #3 · answered by g g 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋
A cat with food offered to them 4 times a day can put on 4 pounds in two months (had one do that!). Keep offering soft foods along with the dry food, and keep the dry out all the time.
2007-09-06 14:46:01 · answer #4 · answered by Elaine M 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
In addition to a good quality kitten food, try some Nutri-Cal for cats. It would be wonderful to rehome her on your own if you can. Cats (even kittens) are far more likely to be euthanized in a shelter than dogs simply because of the vast number of them that are abandoned and unwanted. Shelter workers do everything they possibly can to find good homes for the animals they take in, but sadly they can't do it all. Thanks for rescuing this poor baby and best of luck with her.
2007-09-06 02:50:17 · answer #5 · answered by Barb 2 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Get her some dry kitten food, as it's higher in fat & nutrients than adult cat food. Leave a bowl of it out for her to graze on, but at first don't fill it all the way so she doesn't gorge herself. In the morning, feed her a can of wet cat food, like Fancy Feast or the Friskies kitten-sized cans. Brush her thoroughly each day also to get her fur looking great. Kudos to you for rescuing the poor little girl!!
god I hate thumbs down trolls.
2007-09-06 02:51:07 · answer #6 · answered by Bex 4 · 0⤊ 2⤋
You can try a cat food that has liver (for iron) , Friskies is good. If it doesn't like canned food try Friskies dry, it has evaporated milk in it. And if she's not active, you can get this paste called NutriCal. It's VERY high in calories so be careful about how much you feed her. Call a vet and ask how much is good. There's also a supplemental cat milk. It's not kitten formula, it's like milk but not!!!
I wish you lots of luck. We just recently lost an abandoned cat that we found. It was just too far gone, poor thing.
2007-09-06 02:46:37 · answer #7 · answered by Kim P 2 · 0⤊ 3⤋
A good way to get some meat on those bones and to get her healthy again is to feed her a good quality kitten food ...
Kitten food is full of nutrients and tastes GREAT to adult cats and dogs =)
Also for a treat in the pets stores they have kitten milk ... I give it to my cat every once and a while just for a treat ... its very fatty ... AND they LOVE it
Good luck and good for you for helping that poor little cat
2007-09-06 02:42:35 · answer #8 · answered by Stephanie 3 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Getting her looking good and back on her feet takes time. Months usually. There is nothing that can rush that. Too bad you can't keep her. It sounds like you are getting attached. Maybe rethink the reasons why you think you can't and try to keep her. They homes these cats find are not always good ones and they end up back on the streets.
2007-09-06 03:13:35 · answer #9 · answered by catsaver001 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Not as much as she wants to start off. Put down a little, several times per day of wet & dry food. Brand doesn't matter, as long as it is decent food. Don't leave a bowl of dry food out, as she will eat it all at once & get sick. Leave water out at all times, clean & fresh.
Brush her, cats love that, & just treat her well till you can get her to the vet.
2007-09-06 02:42:19 · answer #10 · answered by fairly smart 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋