How to Help Your Cat or Dog Gain and Maintain Healthy Weight

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By Laura Chapman
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Help Your Cat or Dog Gain and Maintain Healthy Weight

Being underweight is as much of a risk for pets as being overweight. Here is how to help your cat or dog put on some healthy weight and keep it on.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Step 1

If your pet is drastically underweight, or exhibiting other signs of illness, you should first consult your veterinarian. Weight loss and eating troubles in pets can be signs of more serious conditions. If your pet's low weight is not caused by illness, you should try to observe her and her environment to find out what the problem is. If you live with multiple pets, perhaps there is fighting, stress, and food competition. If your pet is alone then perhaps her food just isn't interesting to her.
Step 2

Check the label. Make sure your pet's food contains all the nutrition he needs. View the articles in the resource section for help in choosing the right food.
Step 3

Make the food more appealing. Mix in small amounts of canned food to enhance the smell and flavor. If your pet is not eating because of difficulty chewing the food, you can add some water or pet food gravy and allow the food to soften up a little.
Step 4

Eliminate competition. Make sure that you are feeding enough food for all of your animals to get their daily intake. Provide a separate dish for each pet. If the underweight animal is particularly shy or so intimidated that she won't come to the food dish, you will need to provide a secure space for her to eat at feeding time. This may mean putting her dish on a high shelf away from the other pets, or closing her into a room by herself so she can eat undisturbed.

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