The Struggle Of Food And Not Sleeping

[leen and alice]

hello everyone
I have a few problems that need answers right away .. I feel that Alice int getting much rest and has trouble sleeping .. I don't exactly know if that's true but she lies and waits for sleep to hit her but it doesn't so she changes her place or position .. an with every sudden sound she lifts her head .. she started meowing in the morning a few days ago, when I search the internet gives me answers that worry the hell out of me . Idk what is wrong or if Im just hallucinating or maybe its because I changed all of my sleeping schedule so shes a bit confused.. please help.

The other problem is that Alice is such a picky eater and doesn't eat much , shes 1 year and 2 months old weighing almost 4 kilos .. should I be concerned , oh and she's 45 cm from head to tail ... I honestly expected her to be larger in size since she was a mix between a Persian and a british short with a bit of Scottish Fold ..and are the brands Im using good , bad, or ok?
1. Friskies wet and dry
2. Fancy Feast wet food
3. Royal Canin dry food
and she eats a very tiny bit of tuna evey 3 weeks or so .. when she was a kitten she would eat chicken just fine but now she HATES that and would sniff and walk away .. any tips on how to encourage her to eat chicken again?

Leen

 

[rubear]

Hi Leen,

It might be more helpful to know how often she's eating and how much she's eating in a day. Friskies generally isn't considered a quality cat food, particularly with the dry stuff. My cat was on a Purina brand that I didn't realize wasn't the highest quality food and it let to a lot of problems down the road. We had good luck with Blue Basics by Blue Buffalo, in both wet and dry. Sometimes it can be aggravating to find a food cats like and you have to try many things—but most major pet food stores will take back food they didn't like for a refund.

I wouldn't be so concerned with the sleeping unless you notice she seems lethargic and laying around awake instead of being active and playing. There's a good chance that's she's sleeping when you're away or while you sleep and the rest of the time is just cat-napping. But if she seems too uncomfortable to sleep or appears to be in pain (cats often sit in something called the "meatloaf" position when in pain) it might be a good time to contact her vet.

Cats are picky, I wouldn't push chicken if she doesn't want it. It's better she get her calories from cat food anyway as people food (even cooked chicken) doesn't have all the nutrients cats need. Outside of a special treat from time to time, they don't really need it. Cats can also develop food allergies. If you notice vomiting or litter box issues she might have an allergy to chicken, which is pretty common and can cause problems down the way.

I would say if you're concerned with her weight and her behavior seems off, see your vet. They'll be able to give better advice!

 

[catsknowme]

Go with your instincts and consult the vet. Try to get video of her insommniac episodes and also of her meowing because cats often hide their pain, especially at the vets (they can sense and smell all the distress of the previous patients). Praying that all turns out well!

 

[orange&white]

hello everyone
.. or maybe its because I changed all of my sleeping schedule so shes a bit confused.. please help.

The other problem is that Alice is such a picky eater and doesn't eat much , shes 1 year and 2 months old weighing almost 4 kilos .. should I be concerned , oh and she's 45 cm from head to tail ...

Leen

That sentence that you have changed your sleeping schedule stuck out to me. If it has only been a week or two since the schedule change, then I would give it a few more days. If your schedule change happened quite a while ago, then I would be more concerned.

4 kilos is 8.8 lbs (I think)...not abnormal for a small cat. How does her general body shape look compared to these pictures:

 

[stephanietx]

Is she gaining weight or losing weight? If she's losing weight, then she needs to see the vet. If she's maintaining weight, then she's okay. Some cats are always "on the lookout" and will startle with any sound. It doesn't mean they don't get good sleep, just that they are protecting their domain against predators.

 

[foxxycat]

If there's meowing in the middle of the night-you may consider getting her thyroid tested-but normally high thyroid causes lots of eating and loosing weight-so if weight is stable-it may not be thyroid but never hurts to run a full chem panal and thyroid if there's issues with eating or changes in behavior.

I also noticed you changed your sleep habits and this could be what is going on. For your piece of mind-a vet visit with blood draw would be what I recommend. More than likely they will find everything is ok-but doesn't hurt to check-then down the road if something happens-you will have a baseline bloodwork to refer to. I always recommend a full blood chem panel and CBC when they are young and healthy-gives good details later on as they get older.

 

[leen and alice]

Hi everyone !
thank you all for your fast and wonderful replys !
I have a lot to answer here so lets start:

Hi Leen,

It might be more helpful to know how often she's eating and how much she's eating in a day. Friskies generally isn't considered a quality cat food, particularly with the dry stuff. My cat was on a Purina brand that I didn't realize wasn't the highest quality food and it let to a lot of problems down the road. We had good luck with Blue Basics by Blue Buffalo, in both wet and dry. Sometimes it can be aggravating to find a food cats like and you have to try many things—but most major pet food stores will take back food they didn't like for a refund.

I wouldn't be so concerned with the sleeping unless you notice she seems lethargic and laying around awake instead of being active and playing. There's a good chance that's she's sleeping when you're away or while you sleep and the rest of the time is just cat-napping. But if she seems too uncomfortable to sleep or appears to be in pain (cats often sit in something called the "meatloaf" position when in pain) it might be a good time to contact her vet.

Cats are picky, I wouldn't push chicken if she doesn't want it. It's better she get her calories from cat food anyway as people food (even cooked chicken) doesn't have all the nutrients cats need. Outside of a special treat from time to time, they don't really need it. Cats can also develop food allergies. If you notice vomiting or litter box issues she might have an allergy to chicken, which is pretty common and can cause problems down the way.

I would say if you're concerned with her weight and her behavior seems off, see your vet. They'll be able to give better advice!

Yeah cats are the pickiest not only spoiled house cats but even street cats lol!
well I don't know the EXACT amount but lets say one Fancy Feast Classic and a handful and a half of dry food at 5 am
well the thing is she just saw a Vet ,maybe 5 days ago, and She said that Alice was in good shape but I got to be concerned since fixed cats gain weight (any suggestions on a type of low fat and calorie dry/wet food ?)
oh and Alice likes a bit of bananas or blue berry every once in a while as a snack .
Frankly speaking she is a lazy cat but when she wants to "hunt" she goes ballistic !!
maybe I am imagining that she doesn't sleep as much or maybe its because Ive changed my sleeping schedule so I dont see her sleep, who knows.

Go with your instincts and consult the vet. Try to get video of her insommniac episodes and also of her meowing because cats often hide their pain, especially at the vets (they can sense and smell all the distress of the previous patients). Praying that all turns out well!

thank you dear friend for the reply!
she just went to the vet to get dewormed with a pill that the Vet said she will be getting every month to 2 months .. and I don't know if this is related to anything but I found patches of bald spots on her head and I thought it was fungus but the vet said it was worms
About the meowing issue she did that a couple of times then stopped .. maybe she was lonely or missing company because when my mom woke up she stopped .. weird

That sentence that you have changed your sleeping schedule stuck out to me. If it has only been a week or two since the schedule change, then I would give it a few more days. If your schedule change happened quite a while ago, then I would be more concerned.

4 kilos is 8.8 lbs (I think)...not abnormal for a small cat. How does her general body shape look compared to these pictures:

thank you for the reply !
I changed my sleeping schedule about two weeks ago so that might be the case!
And her general body shape is between 2 and 3 .. shes a bit slimmer than 3 and of course fatter than 2 , so is that considered good?

Is she gaining weight or losing weight? If she's losing weight, then she needs to see the vet. If she's maintaining weight, then she's okay. Some cats are always "on the lookout" and will startle with any sound. It doesn't mean they don't get good sleep, just that they are protecting their domain against predators.

Hello there ,thank you !
she is maintaining weight which is great !
you just gave me a relief with that answer maybe she is keeping on the look out

If there's meowing in the middle of the night-you may consider getting her thyroid tested-but normally high thyroid causes lots of eating and loosing weight-so if weight is stable-it may not be thyroid but never hurts to run a full chem panal and thyroid if there's issues with eating or changes in behavior.

I also noticed you changed your sleep habits and this could be what is going on. For your piece of mind-a vet visit with blood draw would be what I recommend. More than likely they will find everything is ok-but doesn't hurt to check-then down the road if something happens-you will have a baseline bloodwork to refer to. I always recommend a full blood chem panel and CBC when they are young and healthy-gives good details later on as they get older.

thank you dear friend for that detailed answer!
the meowing only happened for a couple of days when everyone was sleeping but when my mom woke up to stay with Alice the meowing stopped so I guess she just felt lonely? knowing that she is anything but affectionate she might really like human company after all

When she will go for a Vet visit perhaps a month later (for the deworming pills) I will ask for a blood check



Thank you So very much everyone for replying with detailed and wealthy answers , I really appreciated it

 

[leen and alice]

here are some pictures of her if you are interested

.. see how tiny she is ?

 

[orange&white]

She's very beautiful. Striking eyes!

Unless a cat is extremely underweight or extremely obese, it's hard to tell from a couple photos if her small size means that she is underweight. She looks healthy in the photos. You say she is between a 2 and 3 on the body condition chart. That is good as 3 is "perfect", so sounds like she might could gain a tiny bit of weight to be "just right".

 

[catsknowme]

She is stunningly beautiful!!!!

 

[foxxycat]

beautiful baby! THOSE EYES!!!

 

[foxden]

Gorgeous eyes! I hope you post some additional photos over in the fur pictures forum

 

[IndyJones]

Typically cats rarely go into sleep the way humans do (REM) most of the time they nap or doze.