New Young Kitten Not Gaining Weight As Quickly As I’d Like

Richard2121

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So I’ve posted about the new little fur ball already in a separate forum. Harry is an 8 week old kitten who we found last week. We took him to the vet, got him set up on Revolution, gave him his first vaccines, had a general health exam and everything else was fine!! The issue is we have 4 other cats who are now adults and are not allowed any dry food. Especially overnight. Harry doesn’t even like dry food that much and he’s so small he can barely chew one piece. Because of this fact he is on pretty much all wet food and when he does eat it seems like he gets distracted or gets full and stops eating. My girlfriend and I both work Monday - Friday for 8 hours and leaving food out is not much help because either another cat will eat it or it will go bad if it’s wet food. So we are stuck with timed feeding more frequently about 4-5 times. I just weighed him 8 days since his vet visit and he was the same weight, 1.9 pounds. This makes me nervous because I don’t want him malnourished and not gaining weight so I don’t know how to handle the situation. I don’t think he’s eating enough at meal times no matter how frequently I try to feed him. Any ideas?
 

jefferd18

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So I’ve posted about the new little fur ball already in a separate forum. Harry is an 8 week old kitten who we found last week. We took him to the vet, got him set up on Revolution, gave him his first vaccines, had a general health exam and everything else was fine!! The issue is we have 4 other cats who are now adults and are not allowed any dry food. Especially overnight. Harry doesn’t even like dry food that much and he’s so small he can barely chew one piece. Because of this fact he is on pretty much all wet food and when he does eat it seems like he gets distracted or gets full and stops eating. My girlfriend and I both work Monday - Friday for 8 hours and leaving food out is not much help because either another cat will eat it or it will go bad if it’s wet food. So we are stuck with timed feeding more frequently about 4-5 times. I just weighed him 8 days since his vet visit and he was the same weight, 1.9 pounds. This makes me nervous because I don’t want him malnourished and not gaining weight so I don’t know how to handle the situation. I don’t think he’s eating enough at meal times no matter how frequently I try to feed him. Any ideas?

He should be two pounds by now. I suppose that is not written in stone and he could have been the runt in the litter, but it is the fact that he hasn't gained ANY weight in the last eight days that puzzles me. Does he act sick or weak? What does the vet say?
Can you isolate him in a room (bathroom), while you're gone?
 
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Richard2121

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He should be two pounds by now. I suppose that is not written in stone and he could have been the runt in the litter, but it is the fact that he hasn't gained ANY weight in the last eight days that puzzles me. Does he act sick or weak? What does the vet say?
Can you isolate him in a room (bathroom), while you're gone?
He seems completely healthy so maybe he just needs more freedom in his eating schedule right now. We may try leaving him in the bedroom during the day while we are at work!
 

EmersonandEvie

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We had to make our own anti-older-cat system when Dexter was little! We took an old Sterilite lid top and cut a hole big enough for Dexter, but not big enough for Evie and Emerson. Then, we got a dog cage and zip-tied the lid over the front so only Dexter could squeeze through. Then, we put an old sheet over the cage so no paws could stick through the slats and snag the food. We had his dry food in there (we don't free-feed, either). It worked pretty well, considering how weird it looked! He will eat more dry food as he gets older. Dexter was 3ish months when we got him and he was chomping away by then.
 

jefferd18

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He seems completely healthy so maybe he just needs more freedom in his eating schedule right now. We may try leaving him in the bedroom during the day while we are at work!
He may just need a private area to eat, one without any distractions. I like your idea of putting him in your bedroom.
 
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