Hi all,

I have a 10 year old cat that lives with my parents (they live in the deep countryside, and it would be cruel to move her to the city where I live). A couple of months ago, she was bitten badly at the base of her tail by a badger. My parents didn't tell me at the time because they didn't want me to worry, and she was given antibiotics which have cleared up the infection. She hasn't grown all of her fur back yet, so she has a bit of a poodle tail!

I saw her this weekend, and though I'm happy that the infection has cleared up, I'm worried that she's lost a fair bit of weight. She's much larger than your average cat, and though I'd have expected her to lose weight over the summer months, she's thinner than I'd like her to be. She's not too 'ribby', but when she lies on her side, her rib cage sticks out a little, and she can normally beat me up if she's sick of being cuddled, but I don't think she could now! What's more our smaller cat used to go in fear of her at mealtimes, but now she seems confident enough to come and try and steal from her plate!

My parents say that she used to be keen on two or three large meals during the day, but when she was on the antibiotics, larger meals would make her throw up. Now she's into the habit of more frequent small meals, and she no longer likes dry food.

I've looked it up, and have found small amounts of kitten food, certain senior cat foods (all dry, which I'm not keen on since she turns her nose up at it now), liver, butter, chicken skin and egg yolks all recommended. Does anyone have any tips I can pass on to my parents to help get her a bit fatter again?

For example, I couldn't find agreement on whether the egg yolks should be raw or cooked? Also, how much 'weight gain' food would be good for her? I had though that since she now eats around five times a day, maybe make sure that one or two of these meals are fattier and more nutirtious than normal?

i know how hard it is to get a cat to eat when they just dont want to, when my old girl started getting fussy i was literally buying one of everything in the supermarket to tempt her to eat...i found that she loved the small gourmet tins,
I have had a cat who loved raw egg i just whisked it and he would go mad for it and one who likes scrambled eggs, none of my others will touch eggs at all.

did she only lose weight after the injury? A lot of older cats can become hyperthyroid which makes them lose weight, ive had 2 with it myself, no matter how much they ate they lost weight until they were put on medication....also bad teeth can stop them from wanting to eat.

I don't think so as previously the vet said she was very youthful for her age. She does usually lose weight in the summer months (including shedding a cushionful of fur), but this has gone further than ever before. It's hard to judge because of her thick fur, but she seems to be less strong than she was before - like I say, our other little cat would keep a respectful distance at mealtimes, but now she feels happy to push in!

i noticed when my old girl went of her food ( she went off her food becasue of an illness and because of her age) ) my younger cats who had previously been scared of her became a lot more brave, i think they saw her as less of a threat so they pushed their luck with her quite a lot, she had previously rules the roost and they saw a weakness and took advantage of it...

i just thought i'd mention the thyroid and teeth thing just incase but it sounds like its just going to be trial and error and little and often,
if shes on wet food heating it up for a few seconds in the microwave can make it smell quite strong and that can get their taste buds going, i did that a lot for my cat.
im not sure how to get her to eat more dry food, ive poured the spring water from tuna onto my cats biscuits and they all love them like that.

Good luck x