Often, after suffering from serious illnesses, including infectious diseases, as well as during the postoperative period, the owners face the question of what to feed a thin cat in order to quickly return it to a healthy appearance. Let’s take a closer look at how the diet of an exhausted animal differs and what should be included in it.
Features of the diet of emaciated Maine Coon cats
Depleted animals lack nutrient reserves, as a rule, lack of vitamins and minerals is developed, and the digestive system does not work well. Therefore, the food that should be fed to a thin cat should have a number of features.
Increased calorie content
Adipose tissue is formed only when the amount of calories coming from food is greater than their consumption. The main source of energy for a cat is animal fats, and to a much lesser extent carbohydrates.
High content of high-quality protein
During periods of fasting, the body depletes its supply of amino acids, which is easiest to replenish with the help of whole protein sources, such as meat. It is undesirable to use vegetable proteins — they have practically no value for the predator’s body.
Easy digestibility
A lot of energy is spent on digesting food and its absorption, which a weakened cat may simply not have. In this case, specially prepared diets will come to the rescue, the components of which are previously split into simpler components that require less digestion costs from the body.
How to fatten a thin Maine Coon on natural nutrition?
Usually, veterinary specialists recommend ready-made diets for fattening animals during the recovery period. But this does not mean that there are no alternative ways to normalize weight. How to fatten a thin cat that is on natural nutrition? In cases where, for some reason, it is impossible to transfer an animal to ready-made food, it is permissible to independently make the right diet.
Here are the basic rules that should be followed so that a thin cat gains weight faster after exhaustion:
- it is better to exclude fiber;
- increase caloric content by increasing the amount of animal fats, not carbohydrates;
- the food should contain as much full—fledged protein of animal origin as possible (meat is optimal, but you can add fermented dairy products);
- the feed should be crushed — so the food is digested faster and better;
- it is necessary to introduce a vitamin and mineral supplement for cats.
What kind of specialized food to feed a thin Maine Coon cat?
If the cat is very thin, how to fatten the animal to normal indicators and restore health, the attending physician will advise. Most often, the main recommendation will be feeding with specialized ready-made diets, which can easily be found in large pet stores and vetapteks.
Among the most popular brands there are the following feeds:
- Royal Canin Recovery;
- ProPlan Convalescence;
- Hill’s a/d.
All these diets are produced in the form of pates, and it is no coincidence — it is in this form that the food is optimally absorbed without loading the gastrointestinal tract. In addition, if necessary, the homogenized mixture can be injected through a probe if the animal is unable to eat itself or refuses to eat.
These feeds are high in protein and fat, and also contain vitamins and minerals necessary for rapid recovery of the body. They are shown after serious illnesses, operations, with prolonged refusal of feed.
It is important to understand that such a diet will only help recovering animals. Cats suffering from leanness due to chronic diseases should receive appropriate therapeutic nutrition according to their main diagnosis.
Cats, without health problems, who need a highly nutritious diet (for example, yard cats after prolonged malnutrition), can be advised to eat cat food for the first time — they have an increased caloric content and contain more vitamins.
A properly selected therapeutic diet can quickly return the animal to good physical shape, but only if the diagnosis is correctly made. That is why it is so important not to use veterinary diets yourself.