Why Would A 6 Month Old Kitten Loose Weight?

[Dacatchair]

I am feeling really worried about my 6 month old kitten. I don't have a proper way to weigh him, but weighing myself holding him and then not, and using a digital scale that is supposed to be accurate to .2 of a lb, and that sometimes seems to fluctuate up to 1/2 a lb in an hour, and looking at my kittens protruding hip bones, I am pretty sure he has not grown at all this past month and has actually lost a bit of weight.

August 1st he appeared to weigh 6.8 lbs., Aug. 7th he appeared to weigh 7 lbs, Aug 17th & 21st he appeared to weigh 7.2, Aug 25th-29th he appeared to weigh 7 lbs, and the last 3 days he has appeared to have ranged between 7 - 6.2 lbs. As I know kittens should never loose weight, I am more than a little alarmed!

His energy level is not noticeably lower, but that is hard to judge as he was a very rambunctious kitten and I have been assuming him getting calmer is part of him maturing. But he still likes to play a bit and race me around the yard and run up trees in orchard here.

As explained in the thread below, I have been having increasing difficulties getting him to eat any and all wet food, which I thought was just him being finicky as his appetite for Orijen dry kibble seems OK and fairly consistent.

Can A Raw Diet Be Switched Back To Canned If Necessary?

He is an indoor outdoor cat and hunts mice rats shrews and the occasional bird. As far as I have seen, (and I am home or in the yard with him most of the time) he catches the rats but does not eat them, he ate at least 1 mouse and puked it up, he does not eat shrews but puts them in his food dish or under my bed, and yesterday he caught and enthusiastically ate a medium sized bird (all of it) including the legs, feet, head and most of the long wing feathers! An hour later appears to have puked this all back up. (I know some people feel strongly that cats should be kept indoors, and in many situations I would agree with this, but I live in a reasonably low risk area, and cats are an important component of rodent control. My decision on this is well considered, and part of my considerations were that I thought he was getting de-wormed monthly by the medication my vet prescribes.) As it turns out this may not be entirely true.

My vet suggested Revolution as a topical treatment for fleas and all internal parasites, but now I am doing some reading it sounds like Revolution does not treat tapeworms. My vet knows my cat is indoor outdoor and he specifically mentioned the dangers of tapeworms when he recommended Revolution. My kitten was given Advantage 2 and Milbemax when he was 12 weeks but since then has not been treated with anything except monthly Revolution. So it could be tapeworms but I do not see any obvious sign of this around his rectum or in his poop.

If Revolution does not prevent tapeworm infestations am feeling more than a little annoyed with my vet but as I live in an out of the way rural location there is not a lot of choices.

The Revolution treatment seems to make him puke the day after and have severe diarrhea but otherwise, he never pukes the food I give him and except for yesterday his stools seem firm and well formed and regular. Yesterday he had a very tiny bit of soft almost diarrhea poop. And his tummy is not at all distended. He is looking a bit empty and emaciated in that area.

My kitten is due for another parasite treatment next week and the receptionist has suggested I bring him in to be properly weighed. But even with my wonky scale I am reasonably sure he is not growing and has lost at least a bit of weight.

One factor may be that it has been hot here the past month and heat does tend to affect a cats appetite and can result in weight loss. But I am not sure this would be true for a 6 month old kitten.

It would be helpful to know what might be going on with my kitten that would possibly have these symptoms so I know what to ask about. Especially after learning my at risk kitten was never prescribed anything to prevent tapeworms getting established in his tummy...I am not feeling like my vet is 100% trustworthy at this point.

 

[talkingpeanut]

Your cat does not sound well, and I would seriously reconsider letting him outside while he is in a compromised state.

He should be dewormed properly for tapeworm and roundworm.

Is there another vet that you could travel to?

None of this is normal for a heathy 6-month-old.

 

[Dacatchair]

Thanks for you take on this Talkingpeanut! I also think something seems off, but except for my often wonky scale suggesting he is loosing weight, it is subtle enough I am not sure. I have been keeping him and myself in the house a lot more than normal, but as I usually need to spend a substantial amount of time out in the yard, there is a balance between keeping closer tabs on him and further stressing him by keeping him locked in the house freaking out because I am outside and he can't be too. But I agree even if there is no obvious dangers to cats on the island I live on, he could be more vulnerable right now, and I am encouraging him to stay close. (Oh and I am wanting to see all his poops!-who would want to miss that!) I live without a car on an island, and just getting into the closest vet is challenging. But I now know to be diligent and do my own research so hopefully he will be adequate.

 

[Dacatchair]

So I seem to have figured out my kittens problem and am really relieved there was a simple solution.

A week ago my kitten got in to see the vet and my impression he was not doing well was confirmed. The first thing I learned when I was setting up the appointment is that a mistake had been made in the prescription for Milbemax, and I was supposed to have been given 2 doses of this to be given 2 weeks apart, but I had only been given 1. So the broad spectrum de-worming he was given at 12 weeks was probably not effective.

The vet agreed my kitten looked under weight and only weighed 6.3 lbs. Which is not even 1 lb more than he weighed 3 months ago when he 4 months old. Which did not seem normal growth for him as he gained almost 2 lbs between 12 and 16 weeks. The vet recommended what would have been about $400 worth of tests for rare conditions which he said would not even be conclusive or be likely to diagnose anything I can afford to treat. So as a compromise I agreed to get the test for Feline Leukemia and FIV, even though FIV has never been seen in this area, Feline Leukema is rare, and my kitten had 2 vaccinations for this before he was ever allowed outside unsupervised. Both tests came up negative. And my kitten was treated with a dose of Profender which treats the tapeworms Revolution does not. I thought it made more sense to do that first, as he was due for a parasite treatment, and see if that solved the problem. If it didn't then I would consider getting all the expensive tests. The first day after treatment my kitten ate a bit more than he had for the past couple weeks. The second day he ate a lot more than than he had on any day in the past month. And he is now averaging at least 10 oz of canned food (or three 3.2 oz tins) and 1/2 a cup of dry every day. He is stronger, more alert and is no longer looking underweight, but it will probably take a while for him to fully recover. And after having his growth stunted by an untreated parasite infection he may never grow to be the size his genes intended him to. But his appetite now is completely astounding as over the past 2 months he never ate more than 1 or 2 oz of wet cat food a day, plus 1/3 to 1/2 a cup of dry food, and when he ate that much it was a good day.

Needless to say I am really not happy with my vet. It seems it should have been exceedingly simple to prescribe the appropriate parasite management and I have done my part by diligently purchasing the treatment that was recommended, from the clinic every month, thinking my kitten's parasites were being taken care of. Outdoor cats are the norm here, and parasite management must be the most frequent treatment they provide. My kitten should never have gone through this!

But the good news is my kitten is quickly recovering his health since being treated with a broader spectrum parasite control. So that appears to have been the problem.