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-   -   Senior cat losing weight after switching to feeding times (http://www.pets.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=85585)

Rebecksa June 21st, 2014 07:48 PM

Senior cat losing weight after switching to feeding times
 
Hello,

I have a 16 year old cat that's always been free fed, and about 11 lbs since she's been an adult cat. She always portioned herself and exercised well enough, since she's gotten older she gets less exercise, sleeps more and eats less but it all balanced out.

She went to the vet October 2013 and was 10.8lbs still, I got a kitten about a month ago and had to switch them to feeding times since the kitten has to eat kitten food, and my older cat is on Fibre Response.

I took my older cat (Ebenee) to the vet May 29th for a check up, they said she's healthy and everything is sounding normal, except she's down to 10lbs and gave me mirtazapine to try her on, it's supposed to make her more hungry. All it did was make her meow non stop the first day, and yes she was more hungry, but never for more food at feeding time, she wanted to eat more frequently. I already feed her 4 times a day, I work during the day so I can't feed her more than that many times. I gave her two pills 4 days apart, but without me home to feed her more times in the day it wasn't doing anything, so I stopped that.

It's June 21, and now she's down to 9.2lbs. I'm going to call the vet on Monday to see what I can do. Just wanted to check here to see if anyone had any experience with this. Any advice?

lindapalm June 21st, 2014 08:56 PM

Our cat was prescribed Cyproheptadine Hydrochloride when she lost her appetite. It worked very well, but the dose she was prescribed was too much, it made her want to constantly eat and she was very wired. We cut the dose to one fourth tablet every twelve hours, as needed, and it worked fine. She quickly got her appetite back. Maybe you have to try a different dose of your meds, or switch.

Rebecksa June 21st, 2014 09:35 PM

Well her issue isn't that she's 'lost her appetite'. She's always been a picky eater, she won't eat if you're watching her (so I now have to put her in the bathroom to eat). When she was eating before - being free fed she would only eat maybe 10 kibbles at a time, but since there was always food out she could do that 10 times a day. So now she still eats 10 kibbles at each feeding, but only gets to do it 4 times a day. She eats around 1/4 cup, sometimes less, but never more a day. The vet said she should be eating 3/4 a cup a day based on her age and how many kcals she needs. I'll ask the vet about that medicine though. I'm just scared of her losing more weight while we try and see what works.

sugarcatmom June 21st, 2014 11:02 PM

How come Ebenee was prescribed the Fibre Response kibble? Is changing her food to something else (i.e. more suitable for her needs) an option? Perhaps a wet food that's higher in protein would be better. Fibre Response has an awful lot of plant material and not very good quality meat ingredients.

Rebecksa June 21st, 2014 11:49 PM

She was prescribed Fibre Response because of IBD in February 2013. It's been wonderful for her since she's been on it. She's always had dry food to eat, I wish I could get her to eat wet food because the moisture is obviously better for her digestive system. I bought canned Fibre Response and she won't even go over to smell it.


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