Skinny Kitten

[Scris129]

So my kitten is pretty skinny you can feel his ribs and hip bones when you pet him how do i pork him up a little bit (hes 12 weeks old and he only weighs 2.5 pounds is that normal)

[gail]

My cat is 2 years old and only weighs approx. 4.5 lbs. - a weight she did not hit until she was almost a year! I am also looking for info on how to get her to eat. I know little to nothing about cats - she is my first. I do know this however: I have learned that you have to be careful with what you do to get them to put on weight. Make sure what ever you do is under the direction of a good vet. Poor nutrition in cats leads to all sorts of other related issues - some you do not want to experienc. So be careful and good luck.

[queenie826]

I know that it is more expensive than most other cat food brands, but I swear by Science Diet! When the cat is under a year old, you should ALWAYS be using food designed for kittens. When we adopted my kitten, Stanley, he was only 1.3lbs at 8 weeks because the family had been feeding him "whatever's on sale" instead of a proper diet. We add a little water to the dry pellets, and some times treat him to the wet food, and he has caught right up. He now weighs 7lbs!
If you can't afford Science Diet, I totally understand. But regardless of the brand, make sure you are feeding him food made especially for kittens. Some food for older cats has things in it that kittens aren't able to digest yet, so they wind up lacking nutrition because they just poop it out. Give it a shot!

[Kendalle]

we also use science diet, and our cats are now huge, not fat, just large cats... 17 and 19 lbs at 3 years and 11 years.

[canadiancritter]

Give hm a high quality KITTEN wet food and dry.

[Dogaholic]

Start with a good quality food, even adding some canned salmon or mackerel. And, I use a product called dinovite feline with my cat. It actually keeps her not too fat but certainly not skinny. She likes the fish oil stuff too...i think there are two supromega, one fish and one salmon.

Cats can be finicky but if you give them a good meat based diet, you can get good weight on them. If the food is too full of carbs, you'll get an obese cat. So, go for meat protein and a good supplement.