Six week old kitten picky eater not eating enough

ndahl

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I’m currently fostering three 6 week old kittens. Two of them are doing great food and weight wise but the third seems to be fluctuating in weight a worrying amount. I’ve noticed that she isn’t quite as ravenous as the other two which is weird to me for a kitten. The shelter gave me royal canine mom and baby wet and dry food. I leave them with kibble all the time but I’m not sure any of them are eating it yet. They get 4 wet food meals a day. I noticed the third one, Kitt, would only take a couple of bites then run off and start playing. She likes the fancy feast bite in gravy that I feed to my adult cats but it seems like she just licks the gravy and has trouble getting the larger “bits” into her mouth. So I got fancy feast kitten pate and of course she doesn’t like that very much. I’ve tried formula from a bottle, gruel with formula, gruel with water, royal canine baby wet food, fancy feast baby wet food, heating up the wet food/gruel, and she just doesn’t seem to be a big fan of any of them. However, she LOVES the tiki cat baby thrive mousse packs and the fancy feast chicken purée treats but she can’t just live off of either of those. Sometimes if I top the wet food off with those she will eat a nice full meal but she’s still not where she needs to be with her weight. So she has an appetite, just not a big one or she’s just picky.

I’ve done the skin pinch and she doesn’t seem dehydrated, she’s still using the bathroom/pooping, and she is still running around like crazy with her siblings. I will just give her the adult fancy feast because it’s better than nothing but I’m wondering if anyone has any tips for getting a picky kitten to eat. I do plan on reaching out to the shelter tomorrow but just wanted to see if anyone here could offer more insight until I can contact my foster coordinator. I’ve been troubleshooting and not feeling super concerned because her activity levels are normal and she’s not dehydrated but I am starting to worry. Her weight in grams is staying around the same, even dropping by 10 g some days.
 

Nebaug

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Try gerber baby food stage 1. It’s pure meat, chicken turkey , beef, no additional stuff . She will love that, mix it with any kitten food she eats. Works for me hopefully it will work for you.
 

StefanZ

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Agree with above. If you dont have problems with salomonella in your country, you can also add a raw egg yolk, to this Gerber or her kmr / goats milk...
IF you have problems with salomonella, you can surely give boiled egg youlk (and boiled white too); but most recipes tell raw, so I guess there is some advantage with raw... Nutrients as such are the same.

Goats milk as supplement is seldom or never wrong. A little pedialyte may be good.

Some nice vitamine paste. This is seldom necessary, but in a kitten with health issues it may be the last necessary straw for full recovery.
 

Sarthur2

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Yes, try the Gerber chicken or turkey. Most cats and kittens love it. I used it to help wean my kittens a few years back.

If your kitten will eat the Gerber she should put on a little weight. Kittens grow so fast that unless they eat 6 times a day they can fall behind. You might try adding 2 extra meals since they are only 6 weeks old. Some kittens do better with smaller meals more often initially.

Your kitten sounds healthy though - just picky and perhaps a bit dainty.
 
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ndahl

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Thank you everyone! I went to the grocery this morning and picked up some of the gerber chicken, turkey, and beef. So far I’ve given her the chicken and she seems to love it!


I have also noticed she seems to get distracted by toys and her siblings running around. I can usually pick her up and bring her back to the food and she’ll eat a few more bites before running off so I’m going to try some more focused eating times with her and add some more feedings for all of them. Fingers crossed that I can get her to gain some weight!
 
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