I know cats should lose weight very slowly if they're overweight, but is there a limit on how fast they should gain weight if they're underweight?

We've found a food that Milly seems to get on with and she's gained 0.4kg in under 3 weeks. Is this OK, or is her weight gain faster than it should be?

Edit: Milly is 12 and the vet has diagnosed her with IBD. She had been losing weight, and was down to 3.2kg. She is now back up to 3.6kg.

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Proud Mummy to:

Sam (born June 1999, found August 1999)
Milly (born May 1999, adopted September 1999)
Eva (born 2010, adopted us August 2011)

Nearly a pound in three weeks, this sounds OK to me. Glad to hear she's putting on weight as opposed to losing it particularly with IBD. If on steroids or B12 this would also influence weight gain.

Which food is this then? What are the feeding guidlines as some have different recommendations according to how under or overweight the cat is. You can lower the amount once she reaches her target weight-obviously.

It's Grau grain free with rabbit, beef and duck. She's eating that exclusively now, in very tiny meals about 12 times a day. The feeding recommendations for a 3-5kg cat are 210-400g, and she's having 400g. Her weight is up, her poo has gone dark, small and firm, she seems happier and more active.

After your advice the last time I posted, we tried her on the RC hypoallergenic, but she refused to touch it whatever we did to it. Since there isn't a wet alternative, we showed the vet the foods we had (and could get easily), and he suggested trying just Grau. We tried turkey, salmon and mackerel first because that was her favourite, but that made things worse.

The other problem we had was she started being sick again on the omeprazole treatment, so we had to give up on that. We were talking about going over to something that was given by injection rather than being ingested, but we started to see improvements first, so she isn't having any medication at all at the moment.

I just hope it lasts. It almost seems too good to be true.

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Proud Mummy to:

Sam (born June 1999, found August 1999)
Milly (born May 1999, adopted September 1999)
Eva (born 2010, adopted us August 2011)

Oh no, it's far better having a 'normal' food-the only difficulty (without knowing the exact trigger ) is replicating it hence the need for prescription food to give the inflammation a chance to calm down. Appears you've hit on the correct one straight away, you're lucky though. And no, best to avoid medications if at all possible. How long before you saw those excellent results?

Not sure what you fed before which resulted in weight loss but do you think it's fish or grains or a combination of both she's allergic to. I assume she's had beef, duck and rabbit before in the past? So not a novel protein?

Yes, she's had all of those before. She was having that flavour of Grau before, but it was just one of a few different foods. She's been completely grain free since last summer, so it isn't just grain, although I think that's part of it. The vomiting after meals that she had been doing stopped when she went onto the grain free diet.

I also suspect fish. I do remember, back when this all started, that the first thing she had problems with was Gourmet Perle ocean delicacies. It's a rare fish pieces in gravy food, and we though at the time that it was just too rich for her. We spent a long time thinking that rich food didn't agree with her, so we gave her things that were as bland as possible (which often meant fish) and got frustrated that she got progressively worse rather than better. I now think we were completely barking up the wrong tree and doing more harm than good.

I noticed her poo starting to change within a couple of days of putting her on the food she's on now. We didn't weigh her before because we didn't expect such a dramatic change. She didn't seem to be getting any thinner, and we even thought we could feel a little bit more padding over her shoulders and hips, but we didn't really expect to see a 0.4kg weight gain in such a short time.

We've had times before when we thought we've cracked it and she's started getting ill again after a few weeks, so I don't dare get my hopes up quite yet, but we've never had such "normal" poos from her before, so I think there is something different - and better - going on this time.

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Proud Mummy to:

Sam (born June 1999, found August 1999)
Milly (born May 1999, adopted September 1999)
Eva (born 2010, adopted us August 2011)

That is great news and hopefully will last!

If, at one point in the future, you should feel the need to add a little more variety into her diet then check out the likes of the grain-free macs. No grain, no fish. Or petnatur, the fish-free ones.

I also swear by Protexin enterogenic probiotic powder to keep the gut balanced.

Fingers crossed that you have cracked it and that she will go from strength to strength now.

I am SO glad that Hobbs put this in here as I am starting to feel like I have shares in this product I have recommended it so many times!

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Nellie Paddy Mitzy Milo Peggy Murphy

Millie and Monty, the White Devils!