Emaciated cat

PurplePrincess

I'm fostering a cat at the moment who was dumped in a garden. He's suffering from alopecia, has a touch of cat flu and is underweight and mangy looking. Lovely friendly fella though considering!!

He's on antibiotics for a few days and is improving, has more interest in food and isn't as lethargic as he was a few days ago. He's eating Whiskas pouches and Science plan. I've also been giving him turkey/chicken.

My question is what can I do to build him up quickly and help his immune systen recover?

Thanks for any advice

The Sweeper

Leave dry food (Hills) out constantly so he can self-feed. Also look at upgrading to the kitten plan meals - they often have more metabolised calories/100g of food because kittens need more calories. You don't want him to turn into a fat bugger, so keep an eye on letting him self-feed, and as he just approaches target weight, draw back to set mealtimes.

Ask the vet if you may give the cat a vitamin supplement for his food and whether or not you can give him L-Lysine amino acid tablets crushed into his food (a health food supplement available in supermarkets or health food stores, recommended for humans suffering from cold sores. L-Lysine helps fight the herpes virus and also helps with cats who suffer URTIs, sneezes and wheezes). The vet may go the "You don't need to do that, don't fuss" route, but point out that you WANT to do it, and you want a medical opinion on whether it would be harmful (given the state of the cat's internal organs post-illness and so on - sometimes vets can be dismissive of your desire to feed your animals well and they respond with 'oh don't bother'.)

If you get the go-ahead, shop the supplements isle of your pet store for vitamins (the amino acid taurine is vital for cats, and vitamins B, E and C all help boost them but you need to get your dosing correct so a pre-made supplement specifically for cats is best).

Finally try some raw meat - where I live, I've managed to get a few cats that aren't eating (post trauma, post surgery and post illness) back on their feet through either raw kangaroo meat or tuna chunks in oil (yes, I know too much tuna is bad due to build ups of mercury). Kangaroo meat is gamey - like venison - smells strongly. They go bananas for it. Failing local availability something gamey, switch to a cheap cut of beef like beef shin. Cut it into bite-sized pieces and serve at room temperature. Better still if you serve in a bowl mixed with some warm water and some vitamin powder (not too much - they can turn their noses up at it if it smells more of supplement than meat). The water forms a sort of gross soup which helps hydrate the cat because they love to lap it up.

None of the above form a fully balanced diet by themselves, and are not suitable for exclusive long-term feeding, but they'll help get the cat's weight up.

Whiskas pouches - not the best, switch them out and substitute with Hills S/D kitten if you can. If you can't afford the Hills or it's not available near you, go for the best wet kitten food your supermarket has. Read the tins for protein content, and choose the brand with the highest protein and fat content relative to volume in the can. Chicken and turkey - beware the pressed-meat rolls that you buy for human sandwiches - these are often full of salt and because they're cooked, they don't have many of the nutrients that cats need in them. They're fine for an occasional treat, but not as a meal.

MsFifers

I can't add to any of the excellent advice above, but just want to say thank you for taking on such a little invalid! Not many would do it.

All I can say is to keep a close eye on him - someone I know started to feed a stray cat, and one day it keeled over and collapsed. It had gone into diabetic shock because its system was so used to surviving on very little food, that its system couldn't cope with all the rich food it was getting from my friend. They still have it, and give it its insulin injections twice a day.

doctor evil

I'd be wary of the whiskas pouches, loads of sugar in them. Good luck OP

PurplePrincess

Thanks so much for the advice. I gave him the tuna in sunflower oil and he nearly took the hand off me!!! (kangaroo seems to be in short supply in nth county dublin):D

I'll give the vet a bell tomorrow and ask about the supplements. They're a young modern practice and have been a great help since i started fostering the kittens.
I know the pouches are crap but he will not give them up. He was a pet and is well used to his comforts. We're not 100% sure how he came to be in such bad condition and ending up dumped but the main thing is that he won't be going back to where he came from.

Themadhouse

If the cat is uunder weight i would feed Royal canin babycat for a wee while, than switch onto kitten 34. Kitten milk is good too instead of water and maybe a bit of rc recovery which you can get from the vet, Lysine sprinkled on dry food twice a day will improve the imune system and will only help with over wll health. Small amounts regularly is the key with underweight animals.

The Sweeper

PurplePrincess wrote: »

Thanks so much for the advice. I gave him the tuna in sunflower oil and he nearly took the hand off me!!! (kangaroo seems to be in short supply in nth county dublin):D

Hehehehe - yeah I figured. Still though, on the offchance that you'd know someone who shoots and has access to venison, it's a similar meat - dark red, very gamey. Naturally I'm not suggesting you go to your butcher and bankrupt yourself with buying fillets of venison for your moggy.

Excellent on the tuna - just in case you hadn't, drain it first, but a little of oil in with it is good to help move furballs along (that's a general tip, may not be applicable in his case), but too much oil may have an excessive laxative effect. (I just said tuna in oil because tuna in brine isn't suitable really - too much salt, then I thought it might look like I was suggesting the full tin, tuna, oil and all...)

On kitten milk - I definitely wouldn't give it instead of water. Give a little of it as well maybe - I've given it to my lot once or twice as a treat, and they do love it. Whiskas kitten milk is basically UHT low-lactose milk, so it's a fairly processed product. Cats can be lactose intolerant, so there's a chance that your recovering cat could get the runs from the kitten milk (or from too much tuna oil, for that matter), and a dose of dehydration is the last thing he needs at the moment!