Kitten gaining, but enough?

[EclecticArt]

We have a kitten who is now 14 weeks 1 day old. He isn't yet 3 pounds. The picture of him on the stairs was him at 12 weeks, the picture of him curled up is him at 14 weeks. He was the runt, and when we got him from the rescue at 10 weeks he was 1 pound 6 ounces is all. He has grown considerably since then obviously, but is eating constantly. I am having to sleep on the floor in my husband's office because he will be up every 2 hours, won't eat hard food still, and won't eat soft food if it is starting to dry out. He wakes me up multiple times through the night to eat. The vet was sure he had worms in spite of having been dewormed by the foster, because when he eats he is like a big round water balloon with long skinny legs tacked on. His head is all eyes and ears. He doesn't have any extra padding anywhere like most kittens I'm used to do. He is still not quite to the size our other cat was at 10 weeks. He is a very happy kitten except when he gets overly tired and then he throws a tantrum, and except for being tiny and skinny he seems very healthy. I am just wondering how small is too small and how you convince a kitten to eat hard food when he is extra picky so he can free feed. Given his choice I think he'd still be nursing.

 

[Furballsmom]

Hi
Can you, unless you are, give him extra calories in some kitten glop?

I don't know if there's anything here?
Weaning: How To Get Your Kittens To Eat On Their Own – TheCatSite Articles

 

[EclecticArt]

Hi
Can you, unless you are, give him extra calories in some kitten glop?

I don't know if there's anything here?
Weaning: How To Get Your Kittens To Eat On Their Own – TheCatSite Articles

I haven't tried glop because I have been wanting to get him into hard kitten food so he can eat as much as he wants whenever he wants without needing my help. I might try putting hard food in a bit of it though, maybe that would get him more into the idea of it. Thank you for mentioning that!

 

[Norachan]

Is he getting KMR as well as food? Kittens will nurse from their mothers well past 14 weeks if they can, so he would probably benefit from this.

 

[Sarthur2]

Agree with Norachan . Supplement him with dishes of kitten formula. He is still a baby and it will supply tons of nutrients. I would not rush the dry food, but feed him wet 6-8 times a day. He’ll learn on his own to eat dry when he’s ready.

Runts eventually catch up, but it takes time!

 

[StefanZ]

Dry food is very comfortable, but wet food is really better. Its easier to make decent wet food, than to make decent dry food...
so dont be sad he loves wet food. We others must fight to get our cats used to eat some wet...

I too give the advice of supplement, but I would suggest goats milk rather than kmr. Its cheaper if nothing else.

If you can find raw goats milk it may be an extra plus. Raw has also some potential healthy properties. Although raw tends to be pricey.

Another tip is full fat unflavored yoghurt. Which is also an probiotic.


Last; what is the content of fat? Wet is usually with normal fat content; but if you happened to get some low fat version...
Kittens needs lotsa of fat, and fats gives them also the feeling fo being saturated...

So if you try again with dry, be sure you give a full fat dry, with fat content of 20+.... Orijen is good if you can get it. (Orijen is really an all life stage, but it has full fat contend, so its good for kittens too; and its tasty).

 

[StefanZ]

Ps. And fat makes the food taste better; its possibly why he refuses the dry you give him (if its dry with low fat content??)