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Does anyone have any suggestions on what I could give my cat that would provide him with a large amount of calories in a small quantity of food, something that is also palatable?
I have a cat who has stomatitis which causes inflammation and pain in the mouth which makes it difficult to eat. When he has bad flair-up he won't eat as much as he should and as a result has lost some weight lately. I would really like to find something I can give him that would provide him with extra calories in a small quantity, maybe something I can add to his food.
He can't eat anything solid so that's out of the question. It has to be soft and very tasty. I can't force feed or syringe feed him anything so he has to eat it willingly and that's a bit of a problem. I've tried to give him Nutrical but Mr. Picky wasn't interested.
I can't think of anything that would meet all these requirements but maybe someone else can.
Does anyone have any suggestions on what I could give my cat that would provide him with a large amount of calories in a small quantity of food, something that is also palatable?
I have a cat who has stomatitis which causes inflammation and pain in the mouth which makes it difficult to eat. When he has bad flair-up he won't eat as much as he should and as a result has lost some weight lately. I would really like to find something I can give him that would provide him with extra calories in a small quantity, maybe something I can add to his food.
He can't eat anything solid so that's out of the question. It has to be soft and very tasty. I can't force feed or syringe feed him anything so he has to eat it willingly and that's a bit of a problem. I've tried to give him Nutrical but Mr. Picky wasn't interested.
I can't think of anything that would meet all these requirements but maybe someone else can.
We also have a cat with stomatitis and I know what you two are going through. Our guy, Caruso, ended up having all of his teeth pulled and it helped him tremendously. He has not had a flareup since the teeth were pulled (he was on pain meds and massive amounts of antibiotics for a very long time). Our vet recommended this : a/d® Canine/Feline Critical Care - Canned
and he loved it. It can be "thinned" down to almost a gruel consistency with a bit of warm water if necessary but it is very soft, highly palatable, and high in calories. Caruso has regained the weight he lost and no longer needs this stuff - but it got him over the hump and if he needs it again - I'll buy it again. Nutrical would not be palatable for a cat - cats are lactose intolerant and it wouldn't have all of the vitamins and minerals that cats need. You could get him some Catmilk made for cats - not as a main meal but as a means to get something into him. Have you talked to your vet lately about suggestions they may have for feeding him? Good luck to you guys....
I ended up using a lot of Hill's a/d myself the last couple months for Amber. She would eat it more consistently than anything else (although that wasn't saying much). Nice and soft, reasonably calorie dense, reasonably palatable. To buy this you'll need to get it at a vet or they carry at Petsmart but will require some kind of vet authorization. (This is not true for all the diets; they will sell Royal Canin vet diets without any authorization.)
The highest density food is Iams Maximum Calorie which is another vet diet. It has significantly more calories in, but it's pretty nasty stuff, don't think any cat is going to eat it on their own. It's very soupy at room temp and will gel up when you store the leftovers in the fridge. It's best suited for syringe feeding or a feeding tube seems like, but if you can get your hands on one can at a time (I ultimately mail ordered a case of 12 and didn't use them all) it could be worth testing to see.
This big pdf file http://catinfo.org/docs/FoodChartPublic9-22-12.pdf has a lot of calorie info for quite a lot of different cans of food. This could give you a few more to try. I had scanned this list to try to pick out foods that were high in calories and relatively low in phosphorous, which is also listed. None of them will be super low but the items down at 0.7-0.8% or thereabouts dry matter basis are not too awful. Phosphorous content might be an issue in kidney disease. Calories look for above 200 for a 5.5oz can. A few are close to 250. (The Iams Max Cal is 330 or so for a 6oz can. Hill's a/d is actually only about 180.)
A quick scan just now leads me to believe that if you ignore phosphorous for now the highest density (short of the Max Cal) is Artemis, which has a few cans at 248 calories. I'd go through the list looking for calories over 200 and then try to match some of those up with cans you can find in stores and buy a couple to try. You never really know what one cat will eat over another. You can also try sprinkling a bit of this or that on top, like crumbled treats or even catnip.
Goat's milk is a good idea, if your cat will have some. I bought some of this too at one point, didn't have any luck.
In a real pinch, you might try some meat baby food. What you want is meat and no veg, and no onion or garlic powder. Gerber 2nd meat-only foods in the glass jars don't contain anything harmful to cats. Chicken has the most calories, 100 in the little jar, although at one point ham was the biggest hit for Amber. I think ham and turkey only have 80 calories and beef 70, for some reason, so it does make a difference when going for the max calories. Anyway if you do this for any significant time you need to ultimately figure out a way to get the cat some other nutrients not included in that food, particularly taurine.
Good luck to you. Hang in there. There was nothing worse for me than the ongoing battle of how am I going to get this cat to eat, so I know the frustration all too well....
Everyone has given great advice, but I'd like to add that most of Evo's canned foods are higher calorie too. They come in several flavors--chicken, duck, venison. Have you tried slightly warming the food to increase the smell of it?
I give my cats Rad Cat, it comes frozen. It is raw and apparently delicious. My cats love it. Bob has stomatitis. Willy does not.
I also give both of the kelp to keep the teeth clean. Bob gets a few supplements for inflammation and the boost his immune system. So far so good but it has been only a few weeks since his teeth cleaning and diagnosis. He was a pretty sick kitty when he went to the vet a month ago. He turn around has been impressive, hope it lasts.
Does anyone have any suggestions on what I could give my cat that would provide him with a large amount of calories in a small quantity of food, something that is also palatable?
How is your cat doing?
Recently I discovered how much cats love canned sardines packed in water no salt added. It is high in calories and other goodies our cats need.
Hope your kitty is doing good.
How is your cat doing?
Recently I discovered how much cats love canned sardines packed in water no salt added. It is high in calories and other goodies our cats need.
Hope your kitty is doing good.
I am going to try the sardines. Single serving, low sodium tuna is going over well with my cat as he was not eating. I am going to slip some EVO (olive oil) into the fish though.
My guy is quite old, has a lung tumor, and recently my vet noticed a thyroid problem that he is on medication for. He just keeps losing weight though. I just have to give this the best go I can because what an active alive spirit!
The baby food was such a great suggestion!! Thank you! All of you.
He is okay with the goat's milk too, so far.
I have had him on EVO dry food and grain free canned food, a variety to keep him interested but he lost interest.
"Against the Grain" their 'Mango-Tango' duck is liked by all 3 cats, including the feral who now lives inside. good luck !
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It's best suited for syringe feeding or a feeding tube seems like, but if you can get your hands on one can at a time (I ultimately mail ordered a case of 12 and didn't use them all) it could be worth testing to see.
raw food
