okay so I don't own a cat but a ferret which have the same diet.Basically ouch has lost alot of weight despite being her usual crazy little self and no signs of ill health. I have a feeling these couple of weeks of cold weather, the stress she had when living with my other ferret (was obsessed with protecting the other) and insisting on sleeping in her hammock despite it howling a gail has made her get so skinny. So what I am after is a high fat cat food to supplement her current diet off ferret bisquits (ad-lib) and now half a egg a day (to bulk her up), shall be getting some pork liver on tuesday but have to be so carefull with all these flies. Any help would be greatly appreciated as cat foos should attract as many flies as the fresh meat I would imagine?

You may be able to get more help in the ferret forum.

The A-Z of wet food stickied will be able to help you with regards to the fat contents of the various wet foods out there. I had a quick look through and petnatur and tigercat, some german brands, seem to have the highest fat content at 6.8% ish

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Don't know anything about ferrets, sorry, but it's often suggested to add e.g. goose or duck fat (like you buy for roasting potatoes) to cat food to increase the fat content.

Failing that, could you give high-fat foods like cheese?

Laura x

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I came, I purred, I conquered...

If her weight loss has been as dramatic as you describe than perhaps it would be prudent not to second guess the cause (I don't think the past weeks have been any colder that the few weeks before but than again I don't know where you live) but to take her to the vet to rule out any underlying medical cause (not sure how old ouch is or whether indeed they could get hyperthyroidism...).

While there I think your best bet might be to get Hills A/D, which is a highly palatable food that contains the nutrients cats need as well as a little more fat.

Personally, I would not give her liver. Liver is full of Vitamin A, which is a fat soluble vitamin that gets stored in the body. It is therefore easy to overdose on vitamin A. Cats need tiny amounts of liver to cover their Vit A need, I should imagine that ferrets need even less...

If you want to feed her some meat, in addition to the Hills A/D, than perhaps get her some lamb meat and feed her some of that.

the raw food from natural instinct is about 12.5% fat!

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Thank you for all your help, I shall keep all your suggestions in mind

If it is just a case of building her up then I've always found raw minced rabbit to be the best. It isn't high fat but it does keep my stud and nursing queens in fantastic shape. I pay a fortune for it from Woldsway but if you have working ferrets then you'll probably find it easy to acquire.

ah great idea, mince it and portion it....although would never pay for it lol, we used to end up chucking alot away after feeding dogs, ourslves and the ferrets. I am just concerned about flies and maggots as she likes to store things in her bed. But if it is minced she can't, thank you, god knows why I never thought of this