# Kitten doesn't eat a lot, should I worry?



## TeachersPet (Jan 13, 2016)

Hi everyone, I recently became a fur mummy for the first time 10 days ago to Ruby, who is 16 weeks old.
Her previous owners had to sell her because they had another cat and two large dogs whom she didn't not get on with (when we went to view her she hid under the couch as the other cat was there, yet has been nothing but affectionate and playful since coming home).

Her owners had her on a mix of dry and wet food, Whiskas kitten dry food and Felix kitten pouches. We kept on with this and initially she seemed to be eating quite a bit of the wet food and then grazing on the dry food throughout the day. However, after a few days she went down to barely eating any wet food and eating more dry food during the night (she is kept in the living rooms and kitchen at night as my son still wakes regularly - at 5 years old - and his sleepyness makes him jumpy). 

It has reached the point where she eats maybe a half pouch in the morning of wet food, grazes on dry throughout the day, another half pouch of wet food at night and then grazes on dry at night. I have read several websites on the matter and have started only using a half pouch and keeping the other half in the fridge for later, waste not want not etc. She seems to enjoy her food more when it's chilled but idk if that is normal or not (I do leave it for a bit before serving, not straight from the fridge). 

Aside from not eating she is a lively wee thing, toileting as normal, sleeping, running about daft and then sitting for cuddles for hours. The vet said eating dry food is better than wet but that's contrary to what I've heard elsewhere.

Any insight? Should I leave her on mostly dry? Should I try other wet brands? Anything I can do to make the food more appealing?


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## chillminx (Nov 22, 2010)

Hi @TeachersPet and welcome to the forum 

Wet food is better for your kitten, as it ensures she is getting the moisture she needs in her food as nature intends for her. If she is snacking on dry food all throughout the day and at night she is taking the edge off her appetite all the time, and her desire to eat wet food is lessening all the time. Cats are not good drinkers, and there is the risk of a kitten becoming chronically dehydrated from not taking in enough fluids. Lack of enough fluids can lead to bladder, or kidney problems, or constipation.

Even though it may appear to you she is not eating much, the fact is that dry food is high in calories, being high in carbohydrates, so I doubt she is losing weight. She does not need all those carbs. Weight loss or hunger would be the sure test of whether she is eating enough. A kitten of her age is growing rapidly and should be gaining some weight every month.

It is a good idea to weigh kittens regularly (e.g. once a month) so you can see what is going on. Digital scales for babies are the best, and can often be bought cheaply from ebay.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/New-20KGS...652992?hash=item3aa1066100:g:ZCMAAOSw8d9Uxy4Z

Place a few tempting treats on the scales before putting kitty on, so as to keep her still a couple of seconds whilst you weigh her.

A kitten of her age needs 4 or 5 meals a day. I would aim to feed at least 3 pouches of wet food a day, in portions of say 50 grams a time, and if you want to give her any dry food, then just a dessertpoonful in a treat ball, so she has to make an effort to get to it. But make the dry food a better quality than Whiskas, preferably grain free and as low in carbs as possible (Thrive dry food has the lowest number of carbs I know of, though still much higher than wet food).

To make wet food more appealing, grind up a few pieces of dry food in a clean coffee grinder and sprinkle it lightly on top of her wet food.


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## TeachersPet (Jan 13, 2016)

Thanks for the reply.

She doesn't snack all day on the dry food - I can leave for work and go home and she hasn't even touched her food and then won't for another few hours. It's mostly at night she seems to eat the dry food and I'd loathe to go to bed and leave her without anything, given how little she seems to eat.

Vet weighed her at 1.4kg but we've no idea what she weighed before this, as the previous owners weren't very useful. She has an appointment for her second vaccinations in 3 weeks time (again, previous owners had no record and bought her "assuming she had them"), so hopefully she'll get weighed again and I can see how she's doing. Vet did say she seemed to be small overall for a kitten her size, so her weight wasn't to be as high.

I didn't think her eating dry food over wet should be something the vet would be advertising and have been trying to increase her wet intake, I even took the dry food away but the madam wouldn't eat the wet  I'll try sprinkling the dry food on top to see if it makes her any more forthcoming.

Depending on my partner's shifts she is alone for about 7 hours a day (over lunch time - I'm a teacher so don't have time to sneak away and he's a driver), would it be okay to give her wet for breakfast, leave out some dry food during the day (not a lot), wet when I get in and then a wet later on in the evening?

Any recommendations for any dry kitten food, better than Whiskas? I'm like a lost deer down the pet food aisle just now, still trying to learn.
Should I continue her on Felix wet if she's eating bits of it, possibly slowly change the brand and see how she does?

Edited to add - the alone thing isn't constant, if my partner is day shift then it's about 7 hours; back shift is 3-4 hours and night shift she's never alone. She also has us every weekend and extended periods of time during school holidays. I still feel bad about leaving her.


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## BRUN (Dec 2, 2015)

TeachersPet said:


> would it be okay to give her wet for breakfast, leave out some dry food during the day (not a lot), wet when I get in and then a wet later on in the evening?


this is what I do, you will find some people on this forum really have a thing against dry food, and for good reason as I wouldn't feed a cat solely on dry, but I don't see anything wrong with leaving some out as long as its not excessive and of good quality, you should feed mostly wet, when looking for a dry food try and find one that's high meat content, preferably grain free, and not high in carbs, id recommend looking on ZooPlus website, quite a few on here feed Applaws dry which im about to try with mine, currently they have Porta 21 sensitive

different cats will eat different amounts too, one of mine eats a lot, the other though she wont eat anymore than 40g of wet in a single meal, they are just like people really, everyone is different

for wet food id advise getting some trial packs from ZooPlus of different brands and flavours, that way you will figure out what flavours your cat likes and which brands


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## chillminx (Nov 22, 2010)

@TeachersPet , I expect your kitty sleeps most of the time when she is on her own in the daytime, so I wouldn't worry about her. 

If she is happy to eat Felix As Good as it Looks Kitten food, I'd continue with that for the time being, as it is not a bad food, it is complete and I never yet met a kitten who didn't like it.  In a few weeks you could start slowly introducing a bit more variety of wet,, always a good thing so that all nutritional bases are covered and plus you are not relying on just one brand of cat food in case it is suddenly withdrawn from the market (it can happen). Zooplus UK is a good choice for a variety of wet foods e.g. Catz Fine Food, Animonda Carny, Bozita, Grau, all German makes of good quality and reasonable prices.

If you want to leave some dry food for her in the daytime that is OK.  Thrive Premium Plus is the healthiest dry food because it is grain free, lowest in carbs and high in meat protein. Buy from [email protected] .......on line only.

http://www.petsathome.com/shop/en/pets/thrive-premium-plus-chicken-dry-food-tubes-(online-only)

Other makes of dry to consider are Wainwrights or James Wellbeloved (the Cereal free one). Both are available from [email protected] stores. Supermarkets don't generally sell good makes of dry, though Waitrose Kitten dry food is not too bad.

For her supper I would always give her a tasty meal of wet food.


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## TeachersPet (Jan 13, 2016)

Thanks everyone.

In just over a week I've gone from 'not a cat person' to absolutely adoring her haha!

I'll have a look on that ZooPlus website and the [email protected] one too. She does seem to like the Felix stuff, when she eats it, so I'll continue with what we have and then slowly try introducing a new wet brand and see if that makes any difference. We have about 12 packets left, so that should be enough time to try her on a newer wet-food orientated diet with smaller meals more frequently, while giving enough time to mix with a new brand if I still find she isn't eating.

Once I'm home from work I'll see about ordering the dry food you suggested and giving that a bash, plus at £5 you can't complain!


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## moggie14 (Sep 11, 2013)

Great advice already, just a thought.... you could consider a timed feeder to provide Ruby with a wet food lunch whilst you are at work x


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## Psygon (Apr 24, 2013)

chillminx said:


> If she is happy to eat Felix As Good as it Looks Kitten food, I'd continue with that for the time being, as it is not a bad food, it is complete and I never yet met a kitten who didn't like it.


Clark doesn't like Felix AGAIL!

He did when he first arrived here as it was one of the foods he had been eating at the breeders. But we started swapping it out quite quickly as he just isn't fussed by it, and seems to prefer things like Hi Life and Nature's Menu (or whatever Ed is eating). I am totally amazed as until Clark I didn't think cats ever disliked Felix!


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