how to get an old ferell skinny cat to health?
Posted by admin | Under Cat Health Tuesday Sep 7, 2010Our old neighbors moved out about a month ago and they were feeding a ferell cat on a daily basis. they left the cat and the cat is an adult/old cat , and is now very skinny. Its sooo nice! ITS LOVEY DOVEY ! but anyways it is now very skinny, because its probally havent ate alot in the month. we are adopting it (: well just keeping it and we need to know how to get it back in health! like any formula.. special food.. vitamins?? please help!
The best food to get it back to a healthy weight is one that is closest to the natural food it would eat in the nature.
I can’t recommend feeding ANY dry food. Cats are designed to get their water from food. That’s the way nature designed them, they have low thirst drive. When fed dry, they won’t drink enough to compensate for the lack of moisture. They will only consume about 50% of the water they should be having. This can lead to kidney disease, UTI, crystals, blockage, renal failure and more.
Free feeding also leads to obesity. And the fact that dry food is over-processed means, that most of it’s little nutrition has been already destroyed, leaving almost no nutrients for your cat. It needs to eat more to meet it’s needs, and in the process consumes more calories from the fillers.
Btw wetting the dry food will not help. There’s bacteria on the kibble and the water would just allow it to grow.
The only way to give the cat it’s natural hydration is to feed it wet food only.
But some wet foods are junk too. That goes for most commercial foods. Just like the dry, they are often made with cheap fillers such as corn, wheat, soy, rice etc. These are not a part of cat’s natural diet (it’s an obligate carnivore – it eats meat!) and they are not designed to digest it. Grain is carbohydrate which the cats can’t process and it turns into blood sugar and fat, causing diabetes and obesity. In the wild, where cats only hunt for meat, diabetes and obesity are unheard of. It’s us who cause these by feeding a species inappropriate food.
The healthiest food to feed apart from raw feeding is grain-free wet food with no by-product. Learn to read the label and understand the ingredients. Some good brands are Wellness CORE, EVO, Merrick, Nature’s Variety, Blue Buffalo Wilderness and more. These will give your cat the proper hydration and nutrition it’s designed to get and it will be strong and healthy and regain proper weight.
If you switch it’s diet, do it gradually, by mixing the current food with the new one over couple of weeks until there’s only the new. This will prevent diarrhea and upset stomach.
More on cat nutrition below,
good luck!
if u really care about the cat, take it to the vet run a little health test. start with that
References :
start off with a trip to the vet. They need to give him a general clean bill of health and have him fixed. Then you can go from there. If he’s lovey dovey, I would hope that’s a good sign–an unhealthy or sickly cat might not be so lovey dovey due to not feeling well. Good luck. So nice of you to take in the kitty.
References :
We took in a cat from outside and it was very skinny as well. You could feel its ribs and spine. All we did was feed it cat food and we’ve had it for about 2 weeks now and he’s at a healthy weight.
References :
Bless you for wanting to take care of this cat! Being feral, his skinny nature probably has a lot to do with him being feral. I wouldn’t doubt he has a severe case of worms…and there are several types of worms (all treatable) that is an underlying cause for his condition. So, get a good, general deworming for the kitty. Another underlying cause might be fleas, as they can cause havoc on a kitty’s system, causing at least, anemia, so get a good flea treatment. Once you have handled those two issues, then just make sure he eats a well balanced diet with the best food you can afford.
References :
Feral cats can have a whole host of health issues. First, take it to the vet for a checkup. Second, make sure that there is a steady supply of dry cat food available for him to eat whenever he gets hungry. Unlike dogs, few cats will eat enough to make themselves sick. The vet should tell you if the cat needs vitamins or supplements, and if so, will give you the info you need.
Congratulations on deciding to take in a stray. It is one of the best things a person can do for an animal.
References :
Definitely feed it wet food and take it inside so it won’t get in any fights or get mites. Take it to a vet to get a check up, maybe some shots, and a pill for mite and flea protection. Check his teeth to see how they look. Basically, the vet will take care of everything else.
References :
I took in two really skinny cats, one you could see all the bones, we did everything I told you to do, and they are both really healthy kitties right now
The best food to get it back to a healthy weight is one that is closest to the natural food it would eat in the nature.
I can’t recommend feeding ANY dry food. Cats are designed to get their water from food. That’s the way nature designed them, they have low thirst drive. When fed dry, they won’t drink enough to compensate for the lack of moisture. They will only consume about 50% of the water they should be having. This can lead to kidney disease, UTI, crystals, blockage, renal failure and more.
Free feeding also leads to obesity. And the fact that dry food is over-processed means, that most of it’s little nutrition has been already destroyed, leaving almost no nutrients for your cat. It needs to eat more to meet it’s needs, and in the process consumes more calories from the fillers.
Btw wetting the dry food will not help. There’s bacteria on the kibble and the water would just allow it to grow.
The only way to give the cat it’s natural hydration is to feed it wet food only.
But some wet foods are junk too. That goes for most commercial foods. Just like the dry, they are often made with cheap fillers such as corn, wheat, soy, rice etc. These are not a part of cat’s natural diet (it’s an obligate carnivore – it eats meat!) and they are not designed to digest it. Grain is carbohydrate which the cats can’t process and it turns into blood sugar and fat, causing diabetes and obesity. In the wild, where cats only hunt for meat, diabetes and obesity are unheard of. It’s us who cause these by feeding a species inappropriate food.
The healthiest food to feed apart from raw feeding is grain-free wet food with no by-product. Learn to read the label and understand the ingredients. Some good brands are Wellness CORE, EVO, Merrick, Nature’s Variety, Blue Buffalo Wilderness and more. These will give your cat the proper hydration and nutrition it’s designed to get and it will be strong and healthy and regain proper weight.
If you switch it’s diet, do it gradually, by mixing the current food with the new one over couple of weeks until there’s only the new. This will prevent diarrhea and upset stomach.
More on cat nutrition below,
good luck!
References :
http://www.catinfo.org/
http://www.blakkatz.com/dryfood.html
http://www.bornfreeusa.org/facts.php?more=1&p=359
http://cats.about.com/cs/catfood/a/canned_food.htm