# My kitten is not eating enough!!



## em1986 (Oct 9, 2009)

Hi Guys,

So I have three cats & took on another rescue kitten on Friday so not even a week ago. I was advised he should be eating half-1 pouch per meal time so three times a day (He is 14 weeks they think but being a rescue they took on they didnt know for sure!) ... So I know it takes time for them to settle in but he has not gotten any better. And I am worried that I am making it worse by trying different things and changing foods etc but at the same time I dont want him not eating as I know how critical this is.....
So I started him on what the rescue were feeding him...he picked at it at best...was maybe eating half a pouch a day for the first two days... and that was a push.. we had to keep putting him back on his food.. playing with it.. heating it uo.. picking bits out for rhim etc... it was a struggle to get him to eat anything.

I feed my 3 cats Bozita so I tried him on that... to no avail. He has been eating his dry kittens biscuits (IAMS) which I will switch to Applaws tonight if he will eat them... but I dont think he is eating enough biscuits and I cant leave them out all day as my other 3 will eat them hence me trying to get him on to meal times the same as my cats!!

He will eat wafer thin sandwich ham no problems but I dont want him eating that as I know it wont meet his needs.. he ate tuna but seemed to get sick of that.. last night he ate some cod... this morning hes not so bothered about cod anymore... This morning I had 3 bowls lined up --- one with his felix kitten the rescue fed him.. one with cod and one with bozita... he turned his nose up at all of them. I have tried feeding him along. I have tried feeding him with the other cats which seems to work best..... I have tried mixing tuna and ham into his cat food.. he just picks it out...
We tried leaving him in his crate at first while we were at work with food.. he wouldnt eat it... we now leave him out as they are all getting along well enough for him to be safe and we thought maybe he would burn off some energy running around the house.... it hasnt increased his appetite at all.

He is eating dont get me wrong.. but not the right foods and not enough by any stretch.
He is drinking lots of water - weeing and pooing... seems active.

He is fitting in a little now with my cats but I worry maybe he is lonely as they wont play with him... could this casue his lack of interest in food or is this normal?
He seems to want to eat something solid or chewable... rather than mushy cat food and bozita although very healthy is mushy. Does anyone know any more complete foods that are more like chunks of meat I could try him on?

He is off to the vets tonight for a weigh in and health check as I am worried he may be losing weight but until he has been weighed we wont know for sure. His vets is at Pets at home so if anyone knows a complete Kitten food I can buy from there tonight that sounds like the above (more chunks.. less jelly.. and more natural) then please let me know as I need to try and get him eating a complete wet food as soon as possible.... he doesnt seem to like Bozita at all right now and I hope that changes as my other 3 love it!!!

Thanks Guys.


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## carly87 (Feb 11, 2011)

Why don't you try him on raw chunks? Easy to pick up from the supermarket. Worry about supplementing once you've worked out whether he likes them. Kittens seem to take to beef and chicken readily.


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## em1986 (Oct 9, 2009)

Raw chunks? Like cubed chicken or cubed beef that we would cook up? Or frozen chunks? 

and stupid question but do you feed it raw?


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## carly87 (Feb 11, 2011)

Yep, raw just like you'd cook. And you feed it to him raw. If you're doing this long term you will need to feed a balanced diet as chunks aren't enough, but initially, don't worry about that for a few days while you try it on him.


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## Paddypaws (May 4, 2010)

Hmm it sounds like his original home wasn't feeding him very well and he got the taste for ham etc.
FWIW, none of my kittens have eaten the vaste amounts that most other kittens seem to and it has stressed me terribly. They have all grown into healthy ( quite large! ) adults and do all eat well now, but it took time.
For now I would give him what he WILL eat, and if that is Iams biscuits then so be it. I do agree with Carly to try him on some raw...either chunks or even minced beef/lamb, or pork....most cats seem to love pork!
Chances are that in time he will be won round to Bozita and all will be well, for now do try not to worry too much


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## carly87 (Feb 11, 2011)

Man do I wish I had this problem! All of mine eat like little starving gannets that haven't been fed in a year! They seriously eat and eat and eat until they're wider than they are tall, then fall over in a heap beside the food bowl before starting again! I'm sometimes sure I'm breeding footballs instead of Persians.


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## Paddypaws (May 4, 2010)

carly87 said:


> Man do I wish I had this problem! All of mine eat like little starving gannets that haven't been fed in a year! They seriously eat and eat and eat until they're wider than they are tall, then fall over in a heap beside the food bowl before starting again! I'm sometimes sure I'm breeding footballs instead of Persians.


Lol Carly....but be careful what you wish for as it is incredibly upsetting when they wont eat properly. The last litter I fostered never seemed to eat well for me and the nasty reactions they had to their vaccines compounded this. 
They did of course recover and when I visited them a few times at the rescue centre before they were homed, they had indeed transformed into little gannets. I literally cried with joy as they snatched raw rabbit from my fingers


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## em1986 (Oct 9, 2009)

Thanks for your posts Guys.
My other three eat for England and I have to hide food!!! They have 2 meals a day and they would eat whatever I put infront of them. But they are 6 years old and 3 years old. 

The vet weighed him last night and he has gained 50g in 6 days which considering I was worried he would be losing weight I was pleased with - does that sound okay to everyone?

I bought some HiLife last night at PAH and some thrives (which he loves by the way) ... and he ate almost half a sachet with thrives cumbled on top which we were so pleased with. He also ate a small bowl of IAMS dry mixed with Applaws Dry (I read Applaws dry is better quality than IAMS so will try and switch to this) 

This morning I gave him the other half of the HIlife sachet .. he licked all the sauce and ate a few bits of ham and licked all the thrives off it. He had about 4 thrives treats in all. And a small amount of dry bicuits. So not so good this morning ....

I guess my thoughts now are..... Do I perservere with the Hilife for a week or so and see if he comes around to it but give him dry as well which I know he likes to bulk it up?
Or do I try raw or something else now since he is not overly excited about it?

I guess my concern is if I keep changing his wet food based on him not eating much of it day to day he will never settle on something and may even become more fussy. Maybe he will never guzzle food down? To have tried him on felix, bozita and hilife in one week is a lot of foods to try.. so I dont know whether to stick with one for a few days - a week and see how he goes (If he doesn like it he still has his dry).... 

What do you think?


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## Paddypaws (May 4, 2010)

I know the advice is not to chop and change foods too much....but I admit I have always ignored that! 
I would keep on as you are, mixing the dry foods into it so he does eat enough. I am a big fan of raw so would give that a go too....when my kittens were not eating much I did draw comfort from knowing that what they were eating was top quality.
The chances are that he will hit a growth spurt soon and join in with the big boys eating frenzy


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## em1986 (Oct 9, 2009)

So do you think keep on with Hilife for now and his biccies?
& then add in a bit of raw here and there as well?
Ill get some minced pork, I already have chicken breasts I could defrost and cut up for him... and then I have come white fish as well he seems to like. Or is fish no good? 

I hope so ... he does eat a tad more now he eats with the girls.. they go mental when they know its feeding time bouncing around from wall to wall meowing.. he joins in meowing but not sure he knows what for yet as he doesnt run to his food lol

The vet said she could feel his intestines a tad more than she should be able to but nothing to worry about?!


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## Paddypaws (May 4, 2010)

keep on feeding him and add in the raw for variety....and stop stressing. 

He will soon copy what the older girls are doing and I bet he will be eating you out of house and home in no time.
Seriously....I agonised over my foster cats lack of appetite, but the vet and the rescue centre all deemed the kittens to look in great health


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## em1986 (Oct 9, 2009)

It is so worrying... and its so tempting to think Ill just try this food instead etc but I think that keep chopping and changing the wet food maybe wont help necessarily. 
The vet said he seemed healthy.. but the amount of time ive put in to get him to eat what he has eaten so far .. well alot. ;-) 
Thanks for your advice!!


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## em1986 (Oct 9, 2009)

Good news!! He seems to be eating a fair bit more now 
he seems to only like the tuna flavours!! realised last night after a bit of reading online that the indulge me range is complementary which is not mentioned on the packet!? Very annoying... but luckily he likes the tuna tempt me ranges too which is a complete food but if I hadn't checked my self I wouldn't have known.....

can I just ask is Hi life for adult cats okay if he is also eating applaws kitten biscuits -- probably his diet is about 50-50 maybe a tad more dry applaws.

I thought adult cat food was fine for kittens if it had a decent meat content which Hi life seems to have...(not quite as good as bozita but we will get there!!)

Finally at what age can I move him to adult dry biscuits?

Thank you!!


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## Paddypaws (May 4, 2010)

Any complete adult food will be just fine for him, especially the higher quality ones which you are using. As for the biscuits, I think the main difference is in kibble size so would just be guided by what he can handle.


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## em1986 (Oct 9, 2009)

Great thank you!!


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## liza1903 (May 23, 2015)

I would boil up some chicken breast and give that to him along with the broth, my older cat never refused this whenever she seemed to have problems with her normal cat food


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## Cookieandme (Dec 29, 2011)

I know what a tuna addict is as my April will only eat tuna pouches and is eating very little at the moment. It's awful when you have two who will eat for England and one who doesn't


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## DJjdbj6929 (Jun 26, 2018)

*I need help please!!!!*

My kitten is 5 months old and my cat is a bit picky in the recent month but then this week it doesn't eat anything but I tried all kinds of cat food flavours and I changed also the brand but still he eats 2 bits and leaves it.

I'm worried I don't know what to do!!!


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## SuboJvR (Mar 28, 2018)

DJjdbj6929 said:


> *I need help please!!!!*
> 
> My kitten is 5 months old and my cat is a bit picky in the recent month but then this week it doesn't eat anything but I tried all kinds of cat food flavours and I changed also the brand but still he eats 2 bits and leaves it.
> 
> I'm worried I don't know what to do!!!


In any cat, especially a kitten, not eating can be a sign of illness. My first suggestion is to go to the vet to check everything is okay.


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