Wet food- weight gain

Hi vets, One of my cats has been diagnosed with IBD and is being treated with b12 shots. She has lost a lot of weight so now we're struggling to get her to gain weight. My vet advised she needs to be fed wet food at least 4 times a day. Which i started doing and within a week she went from 8.7lbs to 9.02lbs so I know the increased feedings helped.  However when she had her shot today and was weighed she was back down to 8.8lbs. I know not a huge loss but still a loss. Her doctor assured me 2 weeks ago that increasing her wet food meal Time will help her to gain weight.  I was so confident after last week's visit that we were on the right track but am feeling a bit defeated today with another weight loss The dry food they get is urinary so and she does nibble at it but hasn't really a lot of it since she had gotten sick. She loves treats and would eat those like dry food if I let her The wet food she's getting is EN from the vet and i will mix some wet food of petfromin from the pet store into it, to give her extra food I know wet mostly all water so is really increasing her meals to 4 times a day going to help gain weight? Her doctor did say it will help and I know it did because she did gain weight that first week I'm going to give her another week and when we go back next week for her shot, if she's lost weight again I'll have her doctor call me to see if I can maybe put her on a different dry food that she may be more interested in and will be inclined to eat more.  Are we basically on the right path to keep feedings to 4 times a day and I shouldn't be concerned about this little weight loss, or is there something I can start giving her for the week to see if he helps her gain weight?

Hello - I'm a little confused about the basics of this situation;  is your cat below a healthy weight for their size or not? There are actually quite clear guidelines about this.  The guidelines for cats' weights are well supported by scientific fact - they are not to do with aesthetics. The guidelines depend not just on the cats' weight overall, but on the muscle and fat coverings / lifestyle, age, health and body-shape of that individual.  Many vets' offices provide special weight consultations and we would strongly reccommend booking in for one, because you and your veterinary team (I say 'team' because nurses, with their typical attention to detail, often tend to take the lead here) need to be on the same page regarding goals for your cats' weight.  You need to understand why your team are setting the guidelines they are setting and rather than going in saying, 'I think my cat needs building up by X weight,' perhaps start by asking, 'Is my cats' weight appropriate, given where we are at the moment?  My perception is that they should look like this picture.  Is that the healthiest choice?  What do you reccommend that we feed in order to.acheive this?'

Of course as you suggest, weight loss in cats can be caused by disease.  Where appropriate, dietary interference to maintain weight, can be useful.  However, this is only useful if your cat is a) actually underweight and b) the IBD is causing the weighloss and the diarrhoea has happened for dietary reasons.  If your cat turns out to be diabetic or hyperthyroid, a different approach would be desirable.  'Is the IBD causing the weightloss you can see?  Would putting weight back on be the best thing?' is an important question.    'Does the IBD account for the pattern we are seeing here?' Is another. I hope that you are able to frame the situation for your specific pet with a professional at the practise.  It's worth mentioning that when cats are put on a special diet, even small dietary indiscretions (ie eating sonething else) can sometimes cause that diet to fail.  We would always ask you to speak to the vet who knows the case before chaging the food of a cat with ongoing gut issues and to be honest if they get hold of things that are not in the diet. I hope that something there helps.

I'm sorry; I have read back through your questions and my answers and I see that I have not thus far answered the question that you were asking.  I hear now that the IBD has already been established as the cause of the weight loss - and presumably potential secondary causes such as kidney disease etc recently ruled out - so you may already know where you are going with this case.  From this perspective and given the values concerned, its worth saying that weight does fluctuate a little, with things like hydration status, recent meals, reproductive cycle in those who have one, even the timing of the last drink / fullness of the bladder.  For me, it is overall trends that matter. It is easy to be disheartened by a single weight reading but improvements are often small; we would reccommend continuing with the plan unless told otherwise by your vet, especially with IBD conditions because small changes in diet can set feacal quality backwards.  However, always raise your concerns with your vet when you see them, because they can advise you better in context.  Like successful weight loss, successful weight gain can sometimes be slow. I hope that this is a more useful answer.