So I’ve been fostering kittens off and on for about a year now. They’ve been mostly no trouble outside of the normal mess associated with them. But about three weeks ago I got a little single kitten who had been found outside. He’s clearly not feral as he’s a complete cuddle bug and loves being held. When I got him, he was 1lb 9oz. Not great for a 6 week old kitten but not terrible. So it was my job to get some weight on him.
I weighed him last night. 1lb 8oz. I’ve been tracking his weight so it’s not a huge surprise but damn if I can get him to eat! He acts hungry. Meowing and getting excited when I put food down but once he sees/smells it, walks away. I’ve tried everything! Changing foods, changing, bowls, heating it up, canned, dry, dry that’s been soaked in hot water, adult food, kitten food, everything. I’ve tried sprinkling bonito flakes on it (dried fish), hand feeding him, nothing works, The best I can get him to do is, if I put wet food on a spoon, he’ll take a few licks, maybe a small bite and stop. If I bring the spoon back like seconds later, he’ll do the same thing.
I’m getting worried not only because of this but because of the vet saying that if he doesn’t start gaining weight that might be indicative of FIP which, of course, has no definitive test to diagnose it. And they might not be able to continue with him. Does anyone have any other advice on how to get a kitten to eat?
Have you tried feeding him with a syringe? I would suggest cat ‘baby milk’ powder which is calorie and nutrient dense, especially at that age. Some pureed meat, perhaps? Add some (stinky) spirulina powder to make whatever food more appealing?
What are his toilet habits?
Has his respiratory system been checked? If you can’t smell the food, it doesn’t count as food. Same as us humans going off food when we get the flu.
Thanks for your effort, good luck and please keep us posted!
Poor little guy! Thank you for taking care of him. I agree with **half-elf **on every point. Unless he’s already been treated for one, I’d suspect a URI, as well. Syringe-feeding will maintain him until you figure out what’s going on.
Can he suckle? Maye he needs a bottle and replacement milk. The syringe of milky pate type kitten food should do it, though. Once he starts eating it should open floodgates of hunger. I hope. Good luck. I love fostering kittens. Good on you for taking on a difficult case.
Thanks for the advice. I’m still at work but when I’m off I’ll stop but the store and get some more food and maybe even some cans of tuna. I don’t think it’s a smell issue since he’s not congested or sniffly or anything. Everything else about him is a perfectly normal kitten. I’ll try some things when I get home and hopefully he’ll eat. And here’s a pic of him sleeping Cause he’s adorable. His name is Whiskers. The joys of letting a child name the cat lol.
Thanks for the advice. I’m still at work but when I’m off I’ll stop but the store and get some more food and maybe even some cans of tuna. I don’t think it’s a smell issue since he’s not congested or sniffly or anything. Everything else about him is a perfectly normal kitten. I’ll try some things when I get home and hopefully he’ll eat. And here’s a pic of him sleeping Cause he’s adorable. His name is Whiskers. The joys of letting a child name the cat lol.
Edit: Oh and as for suckling, I don’t know? I think he’s much too old to be doing that but I could try drizzling some KMR on his food.
We lost one of ours to FIP. Keep an ear out for coughing spells, indicative of fluid buildup.
Before the coughing spells started, the little guy was having balance problems. His eyes wouldn’t stop darting around until we took him to a vet. That hospital doesn’t normally do emergency appointments but they took one look at his eyes and got us in ASAP.
One of my cats came to me in a similar situation at the same age and weight. The vet said, high-calorie wet food only plus kitten formula if needed. It immediately reversed the “failure to thrive.” I was giving dry food that I moistened and the vet said the cat wasn’t old enough to get enough calories that way.
Check his water bowl and make sure that it’s 100% clean. My cat will not eat if there’s even a tiny crumb of food in the water bowl, which he examines before deigning to eat, and with food sticking to whiskers that happens often enough.
I’ve seen a few kittens like that, canned Salmon was the cure for one of them. She’d have taken down a bear for the stuff. A can of that to start, then Pouring the juice over the normal food weaned her onto that , until she didn’t need the fish anymore.
So I ran to the store after work and unfortunately money’s pretty tight so it was either canned food or KMR (formula), not both. I went ahead and got another brand of canned that’s a bit more expensive. I set it out for him and he did the same thing as usual. Licking at it, taking a few small bites and then walked away. I remembered that once, a week or so ago, my brother was holding him on his chest and we jokingly gave him a little food. He ate it all up and I didn’t think much of it then. But tonight I remembered that so I set him on my chest, holding the cat food can in one hand. And he ate the entire thing. Of course, I had to constantly stir it with my finger and make sure it was bulging over the edge of the can so he didn’t have to touch the can but he ate it. He settled down and I tried again a couple hours later and the same thing.
So I don’t know why that works but for now I’m just grateful he’s got some food in him. If I can get him to do this longer that two days (his current record for eating regularly) then we’ve got a solution. It’s not really an ideal long term solution but we’ll work on that once we get some weight on him.
Also, as for showing any other symptoms of FIP, I haven’t seen any respiratory issues or balance issues. I’ve still got my fingers crossed that that’s not the issue, but only time will tell Stupid FIP and stupid lack of diagnostic tests.
Oh. I bet he doesn’t like a bowl. Maybe put his food on a paper plate. Or he feels safer eating while protected. You never know what happened while he was on his own. He may have had to fight for food and gotten beat up. Seems like it’s gonna work out. Good luck.
StGermain that’s really nice of you and I appreciate it but I think maybe we’ll be ok. I’m gonna try just feeding him on me for a while and see how it goes lol. Not inconvenient at all! But yes, he’s been guilty of the leg climb as well lol
Another thing to try is sprinkling some FortiFlora on his moist food. We have to do this with our three kittehs to keep them interested in their food; our vet suggested it. You only need a little bit out of each packet and there are 30 packets in a box, roll up the unused portion of the packet and save for later.
These three are picky eaters. They despise beef and will not eat any moist food that contains beef; they also do not like any kind of pâté or shreds.
Yep, cats can be finicky eaters, My Siamese get me used to buying a food. As soon as I buy a large purchase, all of a sudden they hate it. One good thing is I always have a place to donate cat food. Our local shelter. I have determined I am not the only one. You might ask your shelter people what food they might have. They would probably give it to you, for fostering.
Things aren’t looking good for little Whiskers. He’s back to barely eating, even when I hold him. I called the shelter and got a can of pre-made KMR to try and I heated it up and he did what he always does. Ate a small bit and then stopped. Now he’s stopped even acting hungry. He’s just…indifferent. He’s down 3 oz from his starting weight and he’s starting to sound wheezy. I’m pretty sure I heard him cough once or twice. So definitely not a good sign… the shelter vet wants to see him tomorrow and I’m trying to prepare my daughter (10) for the worst. It’s not going well understandably.
Cause he’s adorable. His name is Whiskers. The joys of letting a child name the cat lol.
Stupid FIP and stupid lack of diagnostic tests.