Suddenly losing appetite?

[nemoraa]

Hello! My rescue kitten is now 3.5 months old, I have been giving her raw commercial diet since she's 9 weeks old, she never had an issue and always eat a lot. So three days ago I increase the portion size from 125 gr per day to 150 gr per day, she eats normally for two days, then yesterday, I noticed she didn't eat the cooked food I left for her at night. She still eat and finish her breakfast, but didn't finish her lunch, and at 5pm she only eat a little, then she eat again at 10, but also didn't finish the portion.
This morning she seem hungry as usual when I prepared the raw food, but she only sniff on it and didn't eat it? I played with her for a little while more then try giving her the food again but she still refuses to eat.
She finally eat a small amount after I gave her some boiled chicken and top the raw with the boiled chicken. I'm kinda worried now if she's sick.
She already got her vaccine and dewormer, she poo and peed normally, and still have tons of energy to play, but she just seem to lose appetite, is this just because she is portioning out her food cause she feels overweight or is she bored with her food? I'm so confused rn

 

[blumarine916]

Sometimes they do get bored if it’s the same food every day. Since she’s also growing up she might have acquired preferences for taste. My cats are the same. Sometimes they just sniff and go away but they come back to eat later once they’re hungry. There are also times they don’t finish their food. As long as she’s still energetic with normal toilet habits, she’ll eat when she’s hungry. Just keep a look out for these changes.

 

[nemoraa]

Sometimes they do get bored if it’s the same food every day. Since she’s also growing up she might have acquired preferences for taste. My cats are the same. Sometimes they just sniff and go away but they come back to eat later once they’re hungry. There are also times they don’t finish their food. As long as she’s still energetic with normal toilet habits, she’ll eat when she’s hungry. Just keep a look out for these changes.

Thank you! I tried to make her very tired with playtime before giving her lunch, and she ate it all!!

I just gave her a different meat like a week ago , from the same company, since I switch between meats every sittings, maybe she could have acquired preference for the new meat (it's rabbit and quail btw) even tho at first she didn't like the new meat , I switched so she won't get bored easily, but yesterday she just didn't want to eat both, that's why I was confused aaaa. Hopefully she will eat normally again this dusk, I'm going to give her the previous meat and see if she refuses again

 

[blumarine916]

Thank you! I tried to make her very tired with playtime before giving her lunch, and she ate it all!!

I just gave her a different meat like a week ago , from the same company, since I switch between meats every sittings, maybe she could have acquired preference for the new meat (it's rabbit and quail btw) even tho at first she didn't like the new meat , I switched so she won't get bored easily, but yesterday she just didn't want to eat both, that's why I was confused aaaa. Hopefully she will eat normally again this dusk, I'm going to give her the previous meat and see if she refuses again

How often do you feed her in a day? From what I’m reading there seem to be breakfast, lunch, dinner? Not an expert here but I don’t think cats need 3 meals a day like humans. I believe they will eat only if they were hungry, not because it is lunch.

 

[nemoraa]

How often do you feed her in a day? From what I’m reading there seem to be breakfast, lunch, dinner?

I feed her 4 times a day, every 5 hours, and usualy leave cooked food for her to snack on at night.

 

[blumarine916]

I feed her 4 times a day, every 5 hours, and usualy leave cooked food for her to snack on at night.

That’s quite a lot of times. Is it recommended by a vet that you should feed her 4 times a day?

 

[nemoraa]

That’s quite a lot of times. Is it recommended by a vet that you should feed her 4 times a day?

Nope, but when I just first rescued her I researched a bit and most people said to feed kittens 4-5 times a day since their stomach is small but they need to eat a lot, so I portioned it out for 4 times a day, I still portion her food per day, not per sitting. Since she's still 3.5 months I don't think it's time to reduce her sitting?

 

[blumarine916]

Nope, but when I just first rescued her I researched a bit and most people said to feed kittens 4-5 times a day since their stomach is small but they need to eat a lot, so I portioned it out for 4 times a day, I still portion her food per day, not per sitting. Since she's still 3.5 months I don't think it's time to reduce her sitting?

Do you feed her any dry kibbles aside from the raw? You could reduce her feeding to maybe twice a day but leave out some kibbles for her in between actual meals. So anytime she’s hungry between feeding times she can eat the kibbles first until the next meal.

I’ve never fed my cats 4 times a day even when they were kittens but I use the same arrangement and it’s the same until today (it’s been 10 years). Your kitten will eventually get used to the routine and it will be easier for you too. It also makes meal time more meaningful when kitten is hungry enough to clean the dish!

 

[Maurey]

Nope, but when I just first rescued her I researched a bit and most people said to feed kittens 4-5 times a day since their stomach is small but they need to eat a lot, so I portioned it out for 4 times a day, I still portion her food per day, not per sitting. Since she's still 3.5 months I don't think it's time to reduce her sitting?

Sounds like you're doing the right thing! I still technically feed my girl 4 times a day (mainly because I work from home -- otherwise I feed 3 full meals a day, as that's what her vet recommended, and works well for her) -- once in the morning, an entire chicken neck when I get my own lunch, one time in the evening (around the time I would typically get home from work if I was still commuting), and the rest of her food around 2 hours before I go to bed :> This works really well for her, and she's stopped scarfing her food ^^

As long as you're kitty is acting normally, toileting well, and playing actively, I wouldn't worry at all! Playing really actively before food definitely helps, both by inducing hunger, and stimulating the natural hunter instinct, of hunt-catch-kill-eat-groom-sleep.

Kittens can sometimes refuse meals because they're more interested in playing in that moment, so I wouldn't worry if there's no other strange behaviour. I'm sure your girl will let you know when she's hungry! Personally, I wouldn't bother with dry food at all, since she's on raw, as it can sometimes cause refusal of raw (kibble can be addicting to some cats), not to mention high carbs play havoc with the healthy digestion of a cat, as they're not biologically intended to consume a large amount of carbs -- anything they get in the wild is from the stomach contents of their prey.