13 Week Kitten Suddenly Stopped Eating

[MKitty]

Hello,

We have a 13 week old kitten and have had since she was around 5-6 weeks old. She has always been a good eater... loves and begs for her canned food twice a day and eats dry food during the day as she wants. She has eaten a few different brands and flavors of canned food until we settled on a brand called 4 health which is grain free and all meat, no by product canned food. She also gets blue wilderness canned food mixed in the rotation and different flavors every day. Her dry food is the extinct kitten brand. I warm her canned food as well.

So the issue is since Saturday she still begs for her food but as soon as I put down she might take two bites and then walks away never to return. She is also not eating an increase in her dry food. I have tried the 5 different brands I have in the cabinet since I had a from the regular chain store I had just stopped using to see if maybe she was just becoming picky but it's the same with all... and like I said she's doing the same with her dry food. I occasionally see her drink but it's hard to monitor this because we also have a dog. She is peeing and pooping and that seems normal. She did have her rabies and 2nd booster last Friday but I Called the vet and he didn't think this would cause the issue. I'm planning to take her into the vet if this doesn't improve. Outside of this she's acting totally normal... the only other thing I can think of is she was playing with a cicada that she brought inside from our garage on Friday and we couldn't find it so I suppose it's possible she ate it.

Just curious if you have any thoughts as I don't want to over react.

Thanks

 

[MKitty]

I also wanted to note that she has eaten in this time frame, just nothing like she usually does and like I said only takes a bite or two of her canned food and walks away. I have also tried pate vs shreds vs chunks... she laps up the liquid and leaves the food. I even tried mixing in water to make the pate more liquid thinking she might eat that and same thing... licked a few licks and then walked away. We do leave the dog food out, but I don't think she's trying to eat that (if she is I have never seen her do this). Also, right after we got her she took a nasty fall that separated her lower mandible so she had to have surgery to repair. This never affected her appetite whatsoever and she continued to eat like nothing was wrong which was amazing to me... thus why it seems so odd to me. I keep going back to the vaccines or the cicada, but that doesn't really seem like it would cause the issue. If she had worms (she was dewormed when she was 6 weeks), she would still eat I believe, just wouldn't be gaining weight. She has also been tested for feline luekemia, etc. and all was good. Finally she is an inside cat, though she has ventured outside with us on occassion, but never out of our site for longer than a few minutes.

Thanks again for any input. Mostly I am just curious if anyone else has gone through this and if so what the issue was and how it improved.

 

[red top rescue]

I would suspect the vaccine, because the modified live virus used in vaccines does give them a mild case of the things they are being vaccinated for, particularly calici as it has so many variations. Sometimes it isn't mild either. I just had an entire litter of 9-week old kittens come down with the limping form of calici after being vaccinated. Five of them came down with it within 24 hours and the sixth didnt get it for a week, but then got it. They were very sick, would not eat at all, had to be syringe fed, got pain medication and finally steroids. Two of them did get sores in their mouths so it hurt to eat. However, they were over it within a week. It was obvious that the vaccine was the cause, even though it's rare for that to happen. It's possible your kitten may also have a milder form and just not be feeling well. Usually this will pass within a week, so as long as she's eating something, enough to survive on, she should be OK. I ended up getting goat milk for this litter as it was something they would lap on their own after a few days.

 

[MKitty]

Hello and thanks for your reply! I just googled this and read about it and you might be right. I am going to check her mouth when I get home to see if perhaps she has any sores in her mouth - this might explain why she acts hungry but then barely eats. I have some kitten milk still stored in the fridge (powder) that I forgot about... I think I will also see if she is willing to drink that to get some extra nutrition in. Again, she isn't starving, but certainly not eating enough in my opinion so if it doesn't improve or if I find any sores in her mouth, we will make a trip to the vet for sure!

I would suspect the vaccine, because the modified live virus used in vaccines does give them a mild case of the things they are being vaccinated for, particularly calici as it has so many variations. Sometimes it isn't mild either. I just had an entire litter of 9-week old kittens come down with the limping form of calici after being vaccinated. Five of them came down with it within 24 hours and the sixth didnt get it for a week, but then got it. They were very sick, would not eat at all, had to be syringe fed, got pain medication and finally steroids. Two of them did get sores in their mouths so it hurt to eat. However, they were over it within a week. It was obvious that the vaccine was the cause, even though it's rare for that to happen. It's possible your kitten may also have a milder form and just not be feeling well. Usually this will pass within a week, so as long as she's eating something, enough to survive on, she should be OK. I ended up getting goat milk for this litter as it was something they would lap on their own after a few days.

 

[BeAtCause]

Hi it sounds like you are a hood meowmy. I would just add that kitty needs dewormer regularly if going outside. I recommend revolution as it treats both fleas and worms for a month then keep putting it on every 30 days. Worms make kitty feel sick and some can be deadly. I dont know about the vacvine but you already have a good answer on that. Also try gping to vitamin isle at pet store and buy the vitamin supplement that they lick off your finger. Its good stuff. Will give her strength. I wish you all the best.

 

[stephanietx]

Has her appetite returned? It's not uncommon for kitties to be "off" for about 24 hours after shots. If she's not back to normal by now, I'd definitely alert the vet.