High-Calorie Weight Gainer for Dogs & Cats - Multivitamin Nutritional Supplement Gel, Omega Fish Oil, Calcium - Puppy, Senior, Prenatal Cat & Dog Vitamins, Supplements for Weight Gain

My cat, like most cats, is extremely picky about the flavor and texture of her food which has made syringe feeding her a very not pleasant experience until I started adding this product into her recovery/critical nutrition food mix. Before I had to wrap her up in a towel to restrain her and she would spit up most of the syringe food while growling at me, now as soon as she tastes the bacon flavor from this liquid she relaxes in my lap and cooperatively swallows every last bit of her syringe food - it now feels like a bonding experience for us rather than me torturing her by force feeding her. I am vegetarian and normally gag uncontrollably when I smell any strong meat scents but this stuff is honestly not that bad in terms of smell (it's infinitely less worse smelling than the bacon flavored kidney support gold liquid supplement, my cat could not stand the taste of it). You do really need to mix it up well before serving though, a simple shake of the bag isn't enough but if you gently squish the bag for a few seconds then shake it everything mixes perfectly/there's no ingredient separation.As for its nutritional benefits, it does seem to be working at helping my cat recover, her body score at the vet went from 4 (slightly underweight) to a 5 (perfect body score). She has kidney disease and her creatine has gone from 4.4 to 2.5 - I am not saying this product has anything to do with that but I am saying is that it hasn't worsened her kidney disease. She was recently diagnosed with IBD that brought on a pancreatitis flare which I believe elevated her kidney values, getting the IBD and pancreatitis under control through supportive care instead of with steroids is likely the reason for her improved kidney values - making sure she gets her calories and nutrients was the toughest part of her recovery that we're still going through but this product has made that part so much easier. Every day she is getting stronger, is more active, and engaging more in her normal daily activities. I will absolutely be continuing giving my cat this supplement for as long as she decides she still likes it because it is so much easier to give to her than those high calorie nutritional gels that stick onto everything and are impossible to clean up if they dry up on my cat's fur.

Sadly when I bought this because my cat was losing weight, his health was already out of control and he didn't make it long enough for the paste to arrive. So it sat in the fridge in hopes it would still be fresh when needed.We recently were sort of forced to adopt a cat who got run over in front of our house. He has a pelvis fracture, vet said 15K to do surgery which we couldn't do even for one of our own beloved cats, BUT, the vet said cage rest for 2-4mo usually works ok (the advantage of surgery is they recover faster and have less chance of a limp) so that's what this little guy is doing, just lying in a dog crate on pee pads, getting pain meds and waiting for his bones to knit. We've had a lot of little milestones along the way but a biggie was eating. He had a couple licks of food once, but otherwise fasted for an entire WEEK after his injury, and I was getting pretty nervous so I broke out this paste. I hesitated so long because wrestling a sore animal to get stuff crammed down their gullet seems like it would risk aggravating the injury. But he didn't fight! Apparently it's not tasty enough for him to eat it voluntarily (I did try first, plain on a plate and also mixed with hot water to make a broth) but when I shoot it in with an oral syringe he doesn't hate it enough to fuss! Smells like bacon to me.Not only was it a great tool while he was refusing food, to help prevent starvation or malnutrition, I think it actually woke his digestive system up, because the day after we started this (2.5mL or half a teaspoon, every 12h) he finally started accepting meals! YAHOO! I am continuing the paste though, figuring he needs the extra nutrition, and since it's open I may as well use it up.Some tips for doing oral syringes: I like to kneel behind the cat so they can't back up without hitting my thighs, and I bend forward over them til I can see their face, thus pinning their body down somewhat with my chest and restraining side movement with my elbows. With one hand squeeze the corners of the mouth, or in other words the jaw hinge, and the mouth pops right open. With the other hand shoot the liquid in, aiming at a slight angle so it hits the inside of the cheek, do not aim centrally or it can go down their windpipe! And only shoot in maybe 1mL at a time, let them swallow and have a couple breaths, then do another bit. If they feel overwhelmed by too big a mouthful, like they're being waterboarded, of course they will develop a fear of the procedure and become difficult. I'd also suggest if you have a very sore cat like ours, and you're not experienced with oral syringes, practise with just some water, on one of your healthy cats, so as to not be manhandling the one with broken bones or incisions or whatnot. I find that being graceful and fast gets it over with in a split second, before they have a chance to get upset. But it takes practice to get graceful and fast. While you're in the stage where you're not great at it yet and it's a bad time, remember to try to bring calm energy to the situation. No matter how frustrating it is or how badly they scratch, acting upset will only make the task harder, so breathe deeply and don't tense up, murmur cheerfully no matter what! Channel your inner Mary Poppins or Mr Rogers LOL.But maybe you'll be lucky and your pet will eat this voluntarily! The texture and smell are VERY nice compared to most pet supplements I've tried.