I have an almost 4 month old persian kitten that I've had since she was between 9 and 10 weeks old. Wish I hadn't been so eager to take her home, because I'm getting the feeling that maybe she wasn't properly weaned off her momma's milk. The reason I'm saying this is that, although she does like licking all the juices off the food I provide for her, she almost never touches the solid bits. I'm seeing almost the same with her kibble: she starts eating, but soon stops because I see her struggling to get it into her mouth. Because she's a Persian she does have a pretty flat face, although not extremely flat like the "modern" ones. She does have somewhat of a snout to her. A few times now I've tried picking up a handful of the kibble after she's "done" eating, and helped her get it into her mouth one by one. And yep, like she'd never eaten before, she would let me hand-feed her until she was full. She eats quite a lot more of the kibble than she does by herself, when I do that.
I know kittens need to eat more (or more frequently) than adult cats, but Elfie just doesn't seem to have that much of an appetite. Or she does...? But doesn't actually want to get into the effort of putting it into her mouth and chewing. Lately more than before. She will lick all of the juices out of the bowl, and when I feed her pate-like stuff she also leaves the bigger pieces. Is she teething, is this because of her short jaw, is she not weaned by now, or is it something entirely different?
Vet says she's a bit underweight: she's a little over 1kg (approx 2.5 pounds)
Leaving out a bowl of Orijen kitten & cat kibble around the clock
I have all kinds of food, because first I thought she just didnt like the foods.
Which is true, some foods she won't even touch. But I've got a good selection now that she seems to like. And give her treats after combing and eye-cleaning. Sometimes that's regular little treats and sometimes I cut up pieces of chicken. She would go crazy for the chicken up until like, two weeks ago. Now I need to cut the chicken into extremely small bites sizes. Some brands that I give her are Grau Kitten (which is what she seems to like the most atm), Feringa, Bozita Kitten (she doesnt like that at all, it has huge chunks and she only licks up the gravy) and am now also trying Thrive and GranataPet. Thrive is shredded which she likes but after having fed it to her about 4 times now she also just sucks up the juices and leaves the rest. I do also give her cat milk, just a little, every day. Vet suggested one without sugar and with added taurine.
She does play a lot, runs around and still gets the kitten crazies. Doesn't seem to be sleeping more than usual. I feed her 4 times a day, but at least once out of those 4, she will take two bites and come to me not 10 seconds later. Barely having eaten anything. Every single meal she leaves food in the bowl. And I only put in about three tablespoons because by now I know she doesn't eat much. She eats maybe a bit more than half a cup of dry food a day, mostly overnight. My concern is that she isn't getting the needed nutrition and I'd love some suggestions, because at this point I'm really worried. Should I be worried?
I know kittens need to eat more (or more frequently) than adult cats, but Elfie just doesn't seem to have that much of an appetite. Or she does...? But doesn't actually want to get into the effort of putting it into her mouth and chewing. Lately more than before. She will lick all of the juices out of the bowl, and when I feed her pate-like stuff she also leaves the bigger pieces. Is she teething, is this because of her short jaw, is she not weaned by now, or is it something entirely different?
Vet says she's a bit underweight: she's a little over 1kg (approx 2.5 pounds)
Leaving out a bowl of Orijen kitten & cat kibble around the clock
I have all kinds of food, because first I thought she just didnt like the foods.
She does play a lot, runs around and still gets the kitten crazies. Doesn't seem to be sleeping more than usual. I feed her 4 times a day, but at least once out of those 4, she will take two bites and come to me not 10 seconds later. Barely having eaten anything. Every single meal she leaves food in the bowl. And I only put in about three tablespoons because by now I know she doesn't eat much. She eats maybe a bit more than half a cup of dry food a day, mostly overnight. My concern is that she isn't getting the needed nutrition and I'd love some suggestions, because at this point I'm really worried. Should I be worried?