My 9-10 month old has stopped eating out of her dish!

[mservant]

There are many people on the site who worry about this, and it is quite right that cats should eat mainly protein, but if your cat won't eat the other stuff and is loosing weight I don't know how much more you can do.  Mouse, as I think I've said, is on a prescription dry diet and so far staying very well on it  but he is good at drinking plenty of water.  I try and top it up with 100% protein snacks within the daily ration allowance, and trying to tempt him with little tastes of 100% protein wet food more like treats but it's hard to get him to take more than a spoon full of wet food so I end up freezing like teaspoons of the stuff even from tiny little cans otherwise it all gets wasted.  The only time he eats soft food willingly is when his mouth is really painful and he can't tolerate harder stuff in his mouth, but he struggles getting it out of the dish. 

Next time you offer KaliBaby a little food from your finger see if she will lick at it and what her tongue feels like, or if she ever lick-grooms you think about it.

It's cute how she knees and suckles her blanket, and with many cats that suckling as well as kneading indicates being separated from their fur moms when they were very young and looking for security so maybe this also fits with some of her feeding habits.  Cats are very complex creatures, just as much as we humans are I feel, and it can take a long time with great care and attention to get to know them well.  She is lucky to be living with someone who wants to get to know her and care for her knowing she is well.  

 

[psychocat0604]

This was as close as Tom ever really got to her. This was still a good 2 weeks after he rescued her. She was REALLY tiny... If I were smarter I would have taken her in then and fed her myself but it was still good for her to get mommas milk when she did... 

This was when she was 7-8 weeks and her first vet visit (she ended up being too small for any shots) So she still couldn't come live with me yet. I didn't want to expose my 2 other babies to any potential illnesses

Baby 6-17-13 a.JPG

• psychocat0604
• Mar 10, 2014

(Tom called her Baby) I renamed her Kali and moved Baby to her middle name

and then this was about 1 month later... Ivory checking out Kali Baby... Ivory was definitely NOT happy when Kali came to live here... Now they are crazy friends lol... always running around chasing each other...

You can see the size difference even then... and then look back to the ones of her eating she has grown so much 

Baby and Ivory 7-18-2013.JPG

• psychocat0604
• Mar 10, 2014

 

[mservant]

KaliBaby really is one lucky kitty to be with you after such a rough start!!!

  Thanks for the kitten pic's, they are adorable and show that she has been eating well enough to grow in to a fine young adult so it is strange how she is now so finicky.  What a cute little ball of fluff she was, and so vulnerable; she must be a resilient little girl to have pulled through loosing her siblings like that, the separation from her momma and then all the changes that followed so I hope that same resilience helps her with what ever is happening now.

Please keep watching and making sure she is eating, even if it is with you assisting and mainly dry food: what ever you can get her to take.  I wonder if there is anything going on with the older male maturing and perhaps even Ivory intimidating her more? If she continues to loose weight I would get her along to your vet for a check up as you don't want her weight to go down more.  She is a youngster and should still be growing.  

 

[psychocat0604]

Kali and Ivory oct 22nd.JPG

• psychocat0604
• Mar 10, 2014

IMG_20131217_103616.jpg

• psychocat0604
• Mar 10, 2014

 

[mservant]

  She is so cute and fluffy and big boy is just SO not interested.  

 

[psychocat0604]

Hahaha yeah... Calling him Big boy is being very nice lol. It can be rather uncomfortable when he wants to sleep on you at night... I tend to have to roll to get him off... I wish he were the one losing a bit... 18.5 lbs is way too much... if I could get him back to 15 even the vet would be happier... Perhaps he wouldn't squeak err wheeze? when playing... not trouble breathing but just tires himself out... and the little snoring I know is not good either... 

I thought the canned food was better for him because I would do pate generally no gravy or sauces that have extra calories... meat product as 1st ingredient... I even looked up Friskies nutritional info...

I've also considered making my own kitty food... I don't think raw totally because raw meat just ick... not sure I could handle giving it to them... I have read a few books on it... copied a LOT of recipes... Tips, things to avoid and all that... it is just hard being so financially strapped because the big cost would be the initial shopping trip to make homemade kitty foods.... once you have a lot of it you can freeze stuff... and you would have the extra supplements and stuff... I don't know...

Kali does like people food meats... gosh chicken lunch meat she went CRAZY after... I didn't plan on sharing it because lunch meat is not best for kitties... but I okayed it because it was roasted with no additional seasonings or anything...