Kitten Pigs Out All Day But Still A Tiny Amount Underweight

[ldy71]

One of my four-month-old kittens can eat like there's no tomorrow. I took her to the vet to get her 16 week booster and the vet said that while she's healthy, she's just tiny bit underweight. She's been on antibiotics and all of her fecal samples have ruled out parasites. Is there any other reason this could be the case? Could she just have an incredibly fast metabolism? She is incredibly energetic and I play with her twice a day for 15-20 minutes. It's just weird because she seems to stay thin despite eating twice as much as her brother, whose weight was at the high end of normal.

 

[mwallace056]

hm i have no idea, maybe one of the more knowledgeable members will have an idea, in the meantime what exactly are you feeding her? is it kitten food?

 

[ldy71]

hm i have no idea, maybe one of the more knowledgeable members will have an idea, in the meantime what exactly are you feeding her? is it kitten food?

She's eating IAMS wet kitten food at morning and night, and gets IAMS kitten kibble and treats throughout the day. I've done a little more research and I'm hoping she doesn't have pancreatic insufficiency, as that would also explain the diarrhea/soft stools problem she's had since before I adopted her.

 

[Sarthur2]

She’s growing, and may have a different body type and metabolism than her sibling.

Give her two more wet food meals per day instead of just two.

Also, her soft stool may be from the IAMS. It’s possible it doesn’t agree with her system.

Try Fancy Feast Classics. The pates feature meat as the first ingredient. Stay away from fish and stick with chicken and turkey.

If she continues to have a soft stool, try a round of metronidazole.

Keep us posted on her progress. We’d love to see pictures of the kittens too!

ldy71

 

[ldy71]

She’s growing, and may have a different body type and metabolism than her sibling.

Give her two more wet food meals per day instead of just two.

Also, her soft stool may be from the IAMS. It’s possible it doesn’t agree with her system.

Try Fancy Feast Classics. The pates feature meat as the first ingredient. Stay away from fish and stick with chicken and turkey.

If she continues to have a soft stool, try a round of metronidazole.

Keep us posted on her progress. We’d love to see pictures of the kittens too!

ldy71

I've dreaded the thought of giving her even more wet food as the vet told me that can make her stools even softer.

She's had an issue with soft stools/diarrhea since before I adopted her, and the foster parents fed her beef Friskies I believe. She occasionally has a bowel movement that is decent and relatively tootsie-rollish, but they're still softer than they should be.

They've only been eating chicken. The wet food, dry food, and treats are all chicken flavored.

We actually finished a round of metronidazole about seven or eight days ago...

 

[Sarthur2]

Sounds like you’ve tried everything!

Some cats have sensitive systems and will have soft stools more often than not throughout life. I have a cat like that, and I’ve had to learn to live with it.

 

[StefanZ]

You could also give her goats milk - raw if you can (may be costly).
Cats that age normally doesnt need milk any longer, but its a good extra nutrition. And raw has some potential positive properties, may even help with these stools...

Be sure she gets some extra salts, as she often has diarrhea / loose stools. Diarrheas cause a bigger lose of salts and electrolytes than otherwise.

 

[ldy71]

You could also give her goats milk - raw if you can (may be costly).
Cats that age normally doesnt need milk any longer, but its a good extra nutrition. And raw has some potential positive properties, may even help with these stools...

Be sure she gets some extra salts, as she often has diarrhea / loose stools. Diarrheas cause a bigger lose of salts and electrolytes than otherwise.

You have any tips on how to get enough salt into her diet?

 

[ldy71]

Sounds like you’ve tried everything!

Some cats have sensitive systems and will have soft stools more often than not throughout life. I have a cat like that, and I’ve had to learn to live with it.

Well darn, not what I wanted to hear, but I love her regardless. If she could just learn to bury it/not step in it, it wouldn't be as much of an issue. When should I be concerned about her weight?

 

[She's a witch]

Fecal flotation method, which I’m guessing had been used to check the samples, do not rule out parasites, but only indicates that there’s no parasite/cyst in this given sample, not in the whole organism. If you really want to know if any pathogen is involved, you could ask the vet to send out the sample to do fecal PCR test to confirm 100%, but this method is expensive. There are other less expensive methods if any particular pathogen is suspected (like Elisa test for giardia).

In my cat’s case it took months for his stool to get healthy after he had giardia. It’s possible that your girl had some kind of parasite that metronidazole took care of, but stools do not improve overnight. In my cats case Royal Canin Gastrointestinal helped a lot, they were given both wet and dry for a month and then slowly transitioned to better, high protein low carb food.

 

[Sarthur2]

Just keep feeding her as much as she wants to eat and her weight should catch up over time.

 

[StefanZ]

You have any tips on how to get enough salt into her diet?

The standard advice could be, to give her some pedialyte as part of her drinking water. Flavorless clear pedialyte the same as for human babies. This has the extra plus, it contains some glucose sugar, and this by itself will give her a few extra calories for free...

A good source of different salts is otherwise, some good mineral water. You see on the label if it contains different salts. Let the gas out, and use it as part of her drinking water.

OR simply, sprinkle a little minerale kitchen salt over her food twice every day... She will probably drink more water getting more salt, but its no problem.
You can begin with common kitchen salt this with NaCl, but its better with minerale salt, containing NaCl, K, Mg.... ie more different salts, whom are all useful for the body. Not least, K is useful and sometimes lacking.
Ps. Similiar advices are for humans! If we have diarrhea, or its very hot, or we do train hard. Or have low carb diet...


Im thinking, its fully possible she eats so much mainly to get into her more of salts... As she does loses salts in her runny poo... If my guess is right, giving her more salts will by itself diminish her craving need of eating more extra food.

 

[jen]

She will eat until she is full and that is how it should be at her age. I also second the idea of more canned and less dry. Much healthier in the long run and keeps her hydrated.

Why was she on antibiotics?

 

[talkingpeanut]

You might want to try a different protein, too. She could have a chicken allergy.

 

[ldy71]

She will eat until she is full and that is how it should be at her age. I also second the idea of more canned and less dry. Much healthier in the long run and keeps her hydrated.

Why was she on antibiotics?

She has had an issue with soft stools/diarrhea since before I adopted her and the vet gave her a round of antibiotics to kill any potential parasite she may have, despite testing negative at all of her vet visits. It's VERY gradually get better, although I don't know if that's from the antibiotic or the probiotic I'm giving her.

 

[kittenmittens84]

A half teaspoon of Nutrical per day helped my kitten a lot when he was underweight. Also check out the calories in the food you’re feeding, some kittens foods are higher calorie than others. For example I know that blue wilderness kitten food is around 125-130 kcal per can, but purina proplan and royal canin kitten are both around 100 kcal which is a significant difference for a little kitten!

 

[jen]

She has had an issue with soft stools/diarrhea since before I adopted her and the vet gave her a round of antibiotics to kill any potential parasite she may have, despite testing negative at all of her vet visits. It's VERY gradually get better, although I don't know if that's from the antibiotic or the probiotic I'm giving her.

Don't you want to give probiotics AFTER antibiotics? Not at the same time? Or am I mistaken.

 

[maggie101]

One of my four-month-old kittens can eat like there's no tomorrow. I took her to the vet to get her 16 week booster and the vet said that while she's healthy, she's just tiny bit underweight. She's been on antibiotics and all of her fecal samples have ruled out parasites. Is there any other reason this could be the case? Could she just have an incredibly fast metabolism? She is incredibly energetic and I play with her twice a day for 15-20 minutes. It's just weird because she seems to stay thin despite eating twice as much as her brother, whose weight was at the high end of normal.

My vet said the same thing when Maggie was 4 months old. She is very energetic. She is now 7 yrs old has gained a few a pounds. She eats a lot. 9 pds now
Dont remember her weight as a kitten