Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i have a 20 year old, yes a 20 year old, and she has lost a pound from Feb to July. I recently took her to get her eyes checked. The vet said that since senior cats loose muscle mass their eyes will sink in their head and can cause some watery discharge. So that easied my mind on her water eye.

Now my concern is her loss of a pound in 4 months. He recommended finding some wet senior food to see if that will help her gain weight. I feed her natures receipt senior dry with some fancy feast. She loves the fancy feast. He also recommended moistening the dry to help her eat it better since she has alot of missing teeth. She still eats dry even though she doesn't have many teeth left.

Does anyone else have any thought on a can food that will help her gain some weight? I give her some nutra-cal occasionally and she is on a supplement for her joints.

A few years ago she had surgery to remove a mass on her liver. She has been doing great since. I'm just trying to get her to gain some weight now. Thanks

Janome, WOW! 20! That is amazing I don't know about how to get your kitty to gain weight, other than what the vet reccommended. Kitten food has alot of calories, but I can't say it would be preferred to feed a senior cat. They weightloss could be a result of what your vet said about cats losing muscle mass as they age. Muscle weighs more than fat, and I'm assuming that she isn't very active, so if you try to get her to gain weight, she'll be putting on fat, not muscle and that may not be very good for her. But I'm not a vet, nor an expert. Does she seem frail and skinny or otherwise unhealthy? Have you asked your vet if it's unhealthy for her to have dropped a pound? It could just be her normal way of aging and if she's lived this long, I'd stick to what you've been feeding her unless the vet feels there is a reason to change it. Just my opinion.
What's your kitties name? Do you have a picture?

Destany

'Smokey' will be 21 in September. I've had her since she was 8 weeks old. Got her from an animal shelter. She is in good health concidering her age.
5 years ago she had a mass removed from her liver. My vet saw other smaller lesions that indicated the mass had probably spread. I didn't know she had a mass 5 years ago. I just took her in for routine check-up, vaxs and my vet felt something. So I decided to do surgery, she was 15 at the time. From the looks of the mass my vet was SURE POSITIVE it was cancerous. But it wasn't! And she is still going 5 years later.
My regular vet was out of town so I saw his associate and he is the one that recommended getting a can food of some kind to help her gain weight. But after reading your reply I don't know if I should try to get her to gain weight. I will have to ask my regular vet when he gets back. I didn't think about her gaining fat. She is a bit frail. Only weighed 7 pounds 6 oz. She is deaf for the most part and sleeps alot. But she still has some 'play' in her every now and then. This is Smokey..(sorry if photo is big. I don't know how to resize it.)
Well, I did go get some Iams maturity cans to see if that helps. The ingredents sound better then fancy feast. I'll just change slowly to see what happens.
Thanks again and hope I have't draged on to much.

She is a cutie and looks great for her age.
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Jaime owned by
Mya the dog
and the cats:Crash, Moxie, Gabby and sometimes Tucker

What a sweetie! I would definitely keep on top of things with her - 20 is a very frail time for kitties. Talk with your vet about the weight loss - it's probably normal, although you may want to have some kidney/liver function blood levels done if she seems any more frail. Other than that, just feed her a premium diet and keep her happy!
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Smile, it will make them wonder what you are up to!