How do I fatten up my skinny cat?

Question

She's an indoor cat and about 8 months old and so skinny! Her butt is to the point of being bony! I had her dewormed and her first set of shots at 6 months. But I'm just unsure what else to do or give her to fatten her up. Her mama was skinny so maybe that's it? I've changed her to higher quality dry food (at petco) and still nothing. I give her the wet food occasionally. She's bony. And she isn't very cuddly except when she's alone with me and the kids are gone. She pounces and bites and everything... is she playing or just irritated because she isn't being fed well?

Answer 1

If she checks out well with the vet, it may just be in the DNA, and there's nothing you can do about it. What you CAN TRY is: Start feeding her both canned and dry KITTEN FOOD. This has a lot more vitamins, minerals, protein, essential fats, and calories + she'll probably love it. Now, therein lies a problem---if it does start putting weight on her, it will be difficult to switch her back to regular adult cat food. What you might need to do in this case is to mix them, and feed her this way.

Now, have you had her spayed yet? If not, getting her spayed should, in itself, start to put some weight on her. And finally, has your vet done lab work on her to insure that she has a properly functioning thyroid, and that she is NOT diabetic? I am assuming it's YES to all the above, but one never knows. Other than feeding her kitten food for a while, I know of no other way. You may need to take this up with your vet---unless, unless. . . .she happens to be some kind of Siamese breed (or mixed with Siamese). Then, in this case--it's in the genes, and there's nothing you can do about it. Good luck to you in trying to fatten her up a little. But, if your vet professes her to be completely healthy, don't worry about it. Oh, finally, do NOT do as "Monkey01" is advising and give her ANY KIND of cows milk. Most all cats are lactose intolerant, it will give her a tummy ache and diarrhea.

Answer 2

If she was only wormed the one time, at 6 months, there's a slight possibility it could be worms - they're supposed to be dewormed every 2 weeks til 3 months old, then monthly until 6 months old and every 3 months thereafter. As long as you're feeding a high quality food, at the recommended daily amount, a healthy cat should gain the right amount of weight. If she's not, I would take her to the vet to find out what the problem is. There could be a number of things causing her to have these problems - she could have a virus which is debilitating her, or it could be any kind of problem with her metabolism that she was born with - really there are so many possibilities I can hardly start. Go to a vet.

Chalice

Answer 3

Cats r finicky eaters so maybe try another food. But that being said, some cats r just naturally very thin (like people). If she gets hungry enough, she'll eat. If she's not hungry, then she won't. And yes, she's probably just playing. Get her some mouse toys, or a string with a feather on the end to play with. And kids can b very overwhelming for cats, so she's going to want to b as far away from them as possible. Wouldn't u if u were that size?

Answer 4

i don't think there's anything you can do to fatten up this cat. she has a fast metabolism and she comes from a line of skinny ancestors (genetics). as long as she's healthy and happy and pouncing around then don't be worried. keep feeding her a lot and making sure she gets plenty of water. if you are still concerned, call the vet.

Answer 5

The pouncing and biting are playing so everything sounds fine. Cats should not be fattened up. Also high, quality dry food is an oxymoron as contrary to what you keep hearing, dry food is not an appropiate diet for cats

Nutrition since there are so many bad things out there is very important to your cat’s health
Contrary to what you may have heard, dry foods are not a great thing to feed a cat.
Dry foods are the number 1 cause of diabetes in cats as well as being a huge contributing factor to kidney disease, obesity, crystals, u.t.i’s and a host of other problems. Food allergies are very common when feeding dry foods.
The problems with it are that they are loaded with carbohydrates which many cats (carnivores) cannot process. Most of the moisture a cat needs is gotten
out of the food and 95% of it is zapped out of dry foods in the processing. Also, most use horrible ingredients and don't use a muscle meat as the primary ingredient and use vegetable based protein versus animal. Not good for an animal that has to eat meat to survive.
You want to pick a canned food w/o gravy (gravy=carbs) that uses a muscle meat as the first ingredient and doesn't have corn at least in the first 3 ingredients if at all. Fancy feast is a middle grade food with 9lives, friskies whiskas lower grade canned and wellness and merrick upper grade human quality foods.Also, dry food is not proven to be better for teeth. Please read about cat nutrition.
http://www.newdestiny.us/nutritionbasics.html
http://www.catinfo.org/feline_obesity.htm
http://maxshouse.com/feline_nutrition.htm#Dry_Food_vs_Canned_Food.__Which_is_reall

Answer 6

is she spayed? usually, cats gain weight after they're fixed, because their metabolism slows down. My cat is 11 months old, and is the same (small and skinny), even though she eats a lot. Don't worry about it, cats will get fatter with age. About the pouncing, she's most likely playing. She's still a kitten, and they love to play and run around.

Answer 7

if her mum was little and kept haveing litters it makes them small,my cat is like this and i tryed to fatten her up as people said she was skinny,but you cant make them eat lots.my vet says she fine and healthy.in summer she bony,but bit bigger in winter,then goes skinny again next summer.you cant really do anything as long as she well and been fleed regular and wormed

Answer 8

Hi try giving her some cat treats i.e Whiskas temptations,my kitten loves these.Make sure to leave plenty of dried food out all the time too.

Answer 9

ummmm give her wet food to make her fat but REMEMBER it is much harder for a cat to gain weight thatn to lost weight.
trust me i have a 15 pound cat and she needs to lose at least 3 pounds (she is maine coon lol)

Answer 10

here is a good site

http://ask.metafilter.com/21801/Skinny-kitty

hope it helps