Tips for feeding a 4mth old kitten who won’t eat, please.

When I was at home growing up, my dad was the go to person when animals were poorly. All the neighbours would come to ask his advice or bring him injured birds that they’d found.
He didn’t have any training but had seemed to know intuitively what they needed.
We always had at least 5 cats and if we had kittens such as yours op, we would feed it kitten milk via a syringe while it gained weight.

Glad to know that your little kitty is doing much better now. I hope she carries on gaining weight.

Many years ago when we had 2 kittens my GP whose wife bred pedigree cats told us to feed them baby food. The sort that you could get then was powdered and you mixed it with milk. No idea what it was called and probably cant get it now. Not up with bany foods now!!!

Like Nana8
I took on a rescue cat, justfinished milkfeeding, and hand fed here, fed her like her mum, played and had her close and hand fed and had my hand in her dry food and played and was with her, and hand fed her! difficult to describe...

Phew! Typical cat. Good luck with that wee besom! 😺

Glad to hear the update, SueDonim

Glad to hear she’s doing okay Sue.

They’re called FortiFlora, Maybe.

What is the powder called? When I used to have cats I remember buying a powder to sprinkle on food but didn’t realise you could still buy it.

I enjoyed your update Sue Donim. I’m more experienced with pups and dogs than cats but as I mentioned earlier, my cats were good at managing me
My daughter’s clever doodle dictates her diet at home. In her regular stays here, she no longer even tries to get me to add eg tuna/chicken to her meals - they’re taken up out down ten mins later,mid not eaten- she waits till tea time 🐶

We’ve seen the vet today. Kitty has sore gums because she’s teething(!) but otherwise she has a clean bill of health. She’s put on 150g since last week which the vet is happy with, and she’s a normal weight for her age. Apart from the gums, the vet reckons she’s having us on. She also said that female cats tend to be slighter and not as heavy as males, and because our last cats were whacking big 5 & 6kilos boys we’re maybe not used to a more delicately built girl.

The vet suggested we keep offering her the food she was weaned on, along some powder which enhances the smell of wet food but if she just wants to eat kibble alone, she should do ok on that. Now that she’s been seen, I feel reassured that we’re not missing anything and feel able to be a bit stricter with her.

Grandtante she’s actually five months now. She’s from a pedigree breeder so the dates are certain. I doubt she was weaned too early, as the border doesn’t let them go until they’re 12wks and our other kitten has a good appetite. She doesn’t go out so no hunting, although she located and tried to eat a matchstick today (must have been left over from lighting Xmas candles) The boy is being neutered tomorrow so 🤞there’ll be no kittens! She’ll be done as well, once she reaches the right weight.

Thanks for all your thoughts everyone, it’s been very kind of you.

No advice as all my kittens were good eaters, but hope your little one is on the mend.

Our neighbour’s cat is full grown but tiny and will only eating chicken. The vet says she’s fine but I worry about her not getting all the nutrients she needs …

First: are you and the vet absolutely certain she is four months old? If yes, do you know whether she was weaned too early because her mother's milk dried up?

Have you tried giving her porridge or milk pudding?

The kittens I have had that didn't eat were often not ready for adult cat food, but needed milk for kittens.

Then stop changing her food all the time. Give her four small meals a day of whatever cat food you were told she was eating before you got her, and see how that goes for a week.

If you offer a cat too great a variety, they usually scoff at it all, hoping you will provide something even better, so you finish up dancing attendance on a cat that is winding you up!

Does she go out? If so, check with the neighbours whether their cat food is disappearing very fast! My Tigger was eating too little, I thought, until I discussed matters with my neighbour and learned he was clearing her cat's plate!

If she goes out, a four month female kitten should be hunting - are you sure she isn't happily munching field mice?
My Trubel was doing so at four months - she called me to see her first mouse before she ate it, and when I went back later to remove the corpse there wasn't one, and that mouse was certainly dead when I first saw it.

And have her neutered soon, otherwise there will be kittens in a month or so!

I’m glad there was a good outcome, Aveline, and I’m sure she made a perfect companion for that lucky person.

The breeder rehomed her to a single lady. Maybe our household was too busy for her. She only ever wanted to be on me all the time. She was a very stressed and stressful wee creature.

Oh goodness, Aveline! Did she do better once she was back with the breeder? And poor froggie, iam. 🐸

They’re both Russian Blues, not siblings but one each from two litters that grew up together, along with dogs and grandchildren. I don’t think she’s being bullied, she certainly dusts his ears for him at times.

I’ll get a vet appt and see what they say. The boy is being neutered on Weds and I wonder if that’ll make a difference.

Is she any particular breed? We had a female Abyssinian once who would only eat the jelly round special cat food. It was getting worse and worse. The vet told us that Abys are a breed which could starve themselves to death! Finally we returned her to the breeder as we couldn't do any more for her and she was wasting away.

Good idea to get another vet check SueDonim. Let’s hope they don’t find anything worrying and can be helpful on feeding. I’m more experienced with dogs. My several cats have all rather ruled the roost. I remember my two going onto the garage roof and refusing to eat anything I put down. I’d rescued a poor screaming frog they and next doors cat were playing with. They made their feelings known even when in desperation I tried tuna fish best of luck with your kitten

Is the other one a sibling? Is it bullying her?

That’s very sad, Maybe. Poor little kitty. 😢

She now won’t eat the food she was weaned on, Iam64, which was Felix.

She is fully up to date with all jabs and worming, normal poos etc. It’s quite a mystery, as she seems well in herself, lively and curious. I’ll give the vet a call anyway and get her seen, I think.

I don’t want to be alarmist but years ago, after losing what had been our best cat ever we bought a Burmese kitten from a breeder ( we felt the only cat that could replace ours would be a Burmese as although he was a moggie he was quite oriental). They gave us a two for the price of one, the second one being much smaller. Alas, after several weeks and trips to the vets, he died. I think it might be an idea to speak to the breeder and find out more about the history of the smaller kitten. I think, in our case, the breeder just wanted to give the little kitten a chance, but it resulted in heartache for our family.

Is it worth staying with the food she was raised on. Pups/kittens seem to do better on bland and boring in the early weeks in their new home. Too much variety can unsettle,
Is she wormed? Is her poo normal.

She eats them out of my hand while sitting on my lap

We had a dog once which had belonged to an old lady who died, he had been quite pampered and wouldn't eat when we first got him. I sat on the floor with him and he'd eat from my fingers; I gradually got him to eat from the bowl.

She seems to be improving but if she regressed, I'd try a different vet. Did they test her poo in case she has an infection?

I weighed both kittens yesterday. The boy put on 200g while the girl put on 100g. They both seem well enough, they’ve been absolutely bonkers today, racing round the house at 100mph.

I’ve tried a couple of other foods, which neither of them would eat! This evening I’ll try her on scrambled egg.

Are you weighing her? Is she losing weight at all? I’d definitely think about a second opinion if she’s not eating the recommended amount of food for a kitten of her age. I’m hoping the vet has done blood tests to rule out infection/FIV/FELV. Also, you mentioned breeder - is she a pedigree?
Hopefully she’ll be fine and gain weight soon.