Thread: Maine Coon not putting on weight

Originally Posted by ChriK8

I enjoyed reading about Martha. I found this thread after searching for weight gain of a Maine Coon kitten. I wanted to share my story of my kitten, as it's so similar to yours. My Maine Coon kitten was from a shelter at age 7 months. (I know he's perhaps not truly a Maine Coon, but he has so many of the characteristics, including the most important... not making my allergic husband sneeze!). He'd been in the shelter for many weeks and had chronic diarrhea just as you described (yellow and runny), his whiskers were also very broken off! The shelter tried all different things... de-worming, medications, vitamin supplements, with no results. (Fortunately they did not give up on him... I guess because he was so gorgeous!). Finally they tried a strict diet of no grains. This worked, but when we got him, he had diarrhea again. We were feeding him a dry kibble of no-grain duck. Then we tried a wet food, as this is supposed to be better anyway. This was the cure!!! Only a wet food of DUCK with NO GRAINS. Several brands are available. I think Martha might have very good results with this, and if anyone else finds this thread do try this. We were so upset that our beloved kitty might suffer with this chronic issue and for the last several months he has done really well! The tummy issue has so many potential causes, and can involve numerous tests -- many with inconclusive results -- this is an easy solution to try. You can also try a little canned organic pumpkin as a treat.

Beautiful kitty, glad you got him sorted out.
Actually it's the Siberian Cat that's suppose to non-allergenic , but they share many of the same wonderful traits as the MCC.

Thanks for the info. Yes he is a good looking cat! I will keep the advice you gave in mind. I've already seen a little fluctuation in the looks of the cans I give. (more moisture or less, etc.) I'm also hoping it might be a kitten thing, and now that he's older (a year) and not stressed from his difficult start to life that things will continue to get better.

Originally Posted by cooncatbob

Beautiful kitty, glad you got him sorted out.
Actually it's the Siberian Cat that's suppose to non-allergenic , but they share many of the same wonderful traits as the MCC.

Very true. The all important thing here is that we have him in the house and my husband THINKS he is non-allergenic! Therefore he is. Hubby gets quite allergic to some cats, actually most cats. After not having a cat in my life for over 20 years I am in heaven now! I did lots of research on Siberians and MC cats and they do have a reduced allergen, but scientists have not nailed down the specifics. Some Siberians are dramatically less allergenic, but there is no guarantee the offspring will be. Most people think that long hair means more allergens, but this is not true. There are many ways to live with a cat if you are allergic.