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senior feline and added calories.

Sent to Cat Experts August 16 10:06 PM

what food can be given to a 17yr old female himylayan? pearl girl is in good health, has always been on the thin side. pearl girl is finicky, has bowel upsets with certain foods. purina's inside cat food seems to settle with her but i want to put more weight in her. i have given her kitten food, she eats small amounts but this does not always sit right her bowels. i have 5 other cats who have more of weight problems. we lost pearl girl's brother sam recently and do not want to loose her any time soon. the vets here in yuma arizona are nothing to write home about, i get better info from the internet. mary

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August 17 1:16 AM (3 hours and 10 minutes and 15 seconds later)
         
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Hello there! Since your cat seems to like the Purina food and it does not upset her stomach, why not try Purina's Senior Feline formula? Feeding her kitten food will not sit well in her stomach, as kitten food is highly enriched and very difficult for an elderly digestive tract to digest. The senior food is formulated specifically for older pets and may be beneficial to Pearl.
I know you had mentioned that Pearl has always been a petite girl, but if she has lost a noticable amount of weight recently, I would recommend getting her tested for Hyperthyroidism, as this is very common in older cats, the key symptom being weightloss. This ailment is maintained by a simple pill daily and indefinitely. A geriatric blood profile would also be helpful to make sure that everything is still working okay!
To put weight on her, you can try canned food and see how she does with that. Any food change should be done gradually over a course of 5-7 days to avoid a stomach upset.
I hope this is helpful.
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