10 month old kitten suddenly not eating

[stephanietx]

If you want her to lose weight, avoid dry food and find a high quality grain-free canned food she'll eat. You can always feed snack sized portions of grain-free dry, but not a whole lot.  I feed my crew wet food twice a day and supplement with dry food around noon, mid-evening and then just before bedtime.  When I say snack size, I'm talking 10 crunchies. 

 

[loonieluna]

Thought I would come back on TCS because Luna's eating wasn't getting any better and I noticed your reply! I'm so sorry for the late reply.

The problem is she is still barely eating wet food! We recently found a very specific flavour of a specific brand that she will eat: Fancy Feast Salmon and Shrimp. But the problem is that she will only eat a little. We are lucky if she eats a one can in a day and the can is a very small single serving can. And I know food with fish in it isn't that good but this particular kind is just fish chunks, broth and tiny shrimp. 80% protein and it's grain-free so it is healthier than most chunky/flaked wet food. We have tried so many different kinds of the Fancy Feast brand and of other brands but she will eat small bites of other flavours, if at all. She eats this the most, but still not as much as she should be.

Other than that, she is mostly eating her dry food. The only reason I give her dry food at all is because the small amount of wet food she eats is not enough for her and I don't want her to be hungry. But it does worry me because her main food source used to be wet food, with dry food being given as a treat. It was a good, healthy mix and she was thriving. Now its seems her wet food is the treat and the dry food has become the meal, which isn't good for her health or her kidneys. She is probably gaining weight and I know the dry food isnt making it better. It does give me a little solace knowing her dry food is a prescription dry food given to us by her vet so it is high quality and better for her. Still, how can I get her back to being a wet food cat??

She is active and hydrated despite the fact that she is mostly eating dry food. I make sure to offer her water every hour so she has been drinking enough water. She is also using her litter regularly. No diarrhea but instead of it being a well formed long-ish poop, she has been pooping balls of poops which may indicate that she is constipated, I think? I have tried giving her pumpkin in any way I can, by mixing it with wet food, with dry food, treats and on its own but she refused to eat more than a lick.

 

[stephanietx]

Dry food tends to cause some constipation. I would look at trying to switch her to a grain-free dry food and see if that helps. You might also try some grain-free canned foods and see if that works for her. I know you said she's not a fan of wet food, but it doesn't hurt to keep trying just in case she changes her mind.

 

[loonieluna]

I will look for some different brands the next time I go on a food run. Are there any you recommend?

 

[kashmir64]

You could try Pure Balance. It is a small can..2 oz, but it is grain free.

 

[loonieluna]

okay thank you!

 

[stephanietx]

We feed Canidae and Natural Balance Wild Pursuit canned and Taste of the Wild dry. There are many out there, though. Find one she likes.

 

[DeannaF]

She may just be picky with the wet food. I agree to keep trying different brands and see what she likes..

Another thing..do you think she could be in pain from her knees dislocating and this is why her she's just not interested in eating a whole lot? Has your vet talked about giving her pain meds or inflammatories regularly?

 

[loonieluna]

We got her some fish flavoured Pure Balance food. She loves the gravy and that seems to be all she eats of that! Very few of the meat chunks. She still prefers her Fancy Feast Fish and Shrimp Feast but she'll barely get through a can a day. And since we're giving her very little of her dry food (a few every now and then) she is likely hungry. BUT SHE JUST WON'T EAT! She'll be a year old in 2 weeks! This problem has been going on for way too long and nobody seems to understand why its happening because she seems healthy on all other accounts.

The vet hasn't talked to us about giving her regular medication for her knees. Probably because she is far too young and also because her case is very mild and does not affect her much. She was eating fine for 3 months after being diagnosed with Luxating Patella and when we took her to the vet at 10 months old, the vet said it had gotten better. So I don't know.

 

[kashmir64]

Shooting ideas off the wall here...have you checked her teeth?

 

[loonieluna]

Teeth are as healthy as they can be, according to the vet (and me!). Shiny, white, and sharp. Her dry food is also a hard dental dry food made for cleaning teeth and removing plaque. Again we haven't been feeding her much of the dry food lately but the teeth are still very healthy.

 

[loonieluna]

She hasn't used her litter box all day. She used it this morning and then I cleaned it and when I came back home at 7, it was untouched. I called the vet because I also noticed her stomach was quite squishy. It might be her fat pad but it seems squishier than normal, almost like its filled with water or something. I googled it and stuff about URIs and internal bleeding came up so I immediately called the vet. I'm taking her in tomorrow to get rechecked. She ate the normal small amount of food so far today - almost a can of FF fish and shrimp. I don't think she's been drinking her water much today though, not as much as she usually drinks. Other than that, she is active. I'm so worried about her.

 

[DeannaF]

Please get her checked with a titer done for coronavirus.

Feline infectious peritonitis - Wikipedia

 

[loonieluna]

I didn't end up going to the vet after all. She used her litter box again in the evening and shes been using it regularly since. She still isn't eating her wet food. At all. I've left the wet food out for the last two days but we're also giving her dry food because thats all she'll eat. Its a good thing she like water. I know she isn't dehydrated because we are always giving her water - atleast once an hour - and she is always drinking it. I'm going to keep leaving her wet food out and getting her to eat it. But since she's finally eating and drinking a sufficient amount of food for her body, even if it is dry food, I'm going to let her eat dry food, at least for a few days. I know it isn't the best by far but shes finally eating enough! Any pointers to reintroduce her to wet food would be greatly appreciated!

 

[kashmir64]

I've left the wet food out for the last two days

Don't leave it out for more than a couple of hours. It's a bacteria magnet.

 

[foxxycat]

some cats just won't eat any fancy foods. My girls only eat kibble from Tractor supply. 4Health. no corn in it. We have tried every wet food at the fancy pet food store but they wont touch it. Wervura is the only one that they actually sniffed and licked at. the one I tried was Chicken. it smells like REAL chicken. Look up Wervura- we have a Pet's life store that is a specialty store. They also carry frozen raw food. Rad Cat is another brand that is raw-some cats have a mixture of both raw and canned. The trick is to find something they will eat.

Sometimes we drive ourselves crazy buying food and they won't touch it. The best food for a cat is one that they will EAT.

With the fancy feast-when you empty the can into a bowl=fill the can with HOT water (I nuke a coffee cup of water for this) the heat from the water helps make it smellier. I mash it with a fork- my angel Floey loved her turkey and giblets fancy feast or the seafood pate ones.

there is also freeze dried treats- Orijen has them-my young cat LOVES them but my older kitty HATES them. they all have their own food likes-it's like running a restaurant with them! Each one has their own food and sometimes it's a headache!

 

[loonieluna]

Don't leave it out for more than a couple of hours. It's a bacteria magnet.

Oh! I havent left the same food out lol! I've thrown away 2 cans of food trying to get her to eat some. I do throw it away after a few hours, don't worry!

 

[loonieluna]

Thank you! I've been meaning to try Weruva. Its not avaliable everywhere here but it is at a store near where I live and I keep forgetting to go there. I've also really been considering trying The raw diet with her. I have the ingredient list ready and everything. I just have to go out and buy some stuff for the trial. I will probably do it today actually. Till then, I will still offer her different kinds of wet food alongside her dry which is a mix of Whiskas Hairball Control (horrible, I know) and Hills Prescription Diet Dental Care. I'm going to try to find her a grain-free dry food and see how that goes.

 

[loonieluna]

Hi! Thought I would update you guys a little on how Luna's diet has been going. She still won't eat any wet food other than the Friskies Fish and Shrimp. I have tried SO SO SO hard trying to find other types other types of wet food that isn't fish and also in our budget that she will eat with no luck at all! So instead, I tried to find the best dry food I could get for her to eat. I bought her the Purina One dry food. I know, I know, Purina is not good. But at my local Walmart Purina One was a better option that most of the grain-free/high-end options because it had more protein than all of the dry food I looked at. Turkey is the first ingredient and it has no fillers in it which makes me feel a little better, but it still not as good as it would make me feel if she ate wet food. But I can't really do anything because its all she'll eat willingly and I don't want to go insane. She still drinks a ton of water though. Tried feeding her some raw food samples that i got with no luck. My problem now is trying to get her to lose a little bit of weight. She is only a few pounds overweight and she's perfect to me but I want her to live a long and healthy life and that starts with her losing a little of her fat pouch. Right now I'm feeding her 1/2 a cup of the dry food a day, 1/4 in the morning and 1/4 in the evening. Also giving her a few of the Hills Dental Dry food as treats and as exercise inducers. She likes running around the house and up and down the stairs chasing the big chunks and tossing them everything before she eats them. But my question is, should I be feeding her less of the dry food to get her to lose a few pounds? Still have hope for the wet food and I give her some usually once a day but she only eats a bit of it.