A friend of mine needs help regarding her kitten.

roxanne

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She said:
Ok so I have a puppy 2 cats and 3 parakeets. (the puppy wasnt my choice but I love my husband so I let him have one lol) anyway, for some reason my kitten wont eat the food out of the bowl. Mind you I had a cat before I got her and all the cat does is hiss at her and chase her around the house. My husband yells at the cat and smacks her for it but I think it might be part of her nature to do this. It has been 3 days and it has come to my knowledge that maybe my kitten hasnt been eating at all. I brought her some kitten food (hard food) in a little bowl and fed it to her and she gulped it down. Now I feed my cat soft food so I figured they'd both eat it since it seems to taste better to them. But my kitten hasnt touched it.

I cant keep feeding her separately since we are moving and pretty soon they will be staying at either my mom's or mother in laws house and I cant burden them even more by making them feed both the cats on a different schedule.

So I was wondering if anyone out there had any advice to deal with the kitten and cat I have. Or maybe some stories that might help. I am really desperate T-T
 
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roxanne

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Originally Posted by Mom of 4

How old is the kitten?
Have you tried a saucer, instead of a bowl?
Each of my dogs and cats are fed in different areas.

Kitten is 4 months.
The other cat is 1 year ish.
 

forensic

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Maybe I missed it... do they have two bowls, one for each cat?

Maybe move them apart so the kitten isn't eating on the resident cat's territory?
 

maxcat08

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Try to tell your friend to be patient....it takes about a month of TLC to introduce a kitten to a resident cat (or other kitten). Please have her husband stop smacking the older cat for hissing at the kitten....the hissing is very natural and sets the boundries for the kitten.

The kitten is probably scared to death.....hissing cat, angry human, a puppy and parakeets are alot for a little kitty to comprehend. Sounds like she needs some quiet space to adapt to this busy household.

I'm sure her mother or mother-in-law won't mind feeding the kitten separately...kittens are cute and no one seems to mind them...except for a resident cat...
.

It all takes patience... I hope your friend and her husband have some to give.
 

mom of 4

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Four months is still a baby.
Separate the cats for feeding - even to separate rooms. It is critical that the kitten eat.
A kitten needs to eat more often than a cat, so there has to be more frequent feedings for another couple of months. Our kittens suddenly decided one day, on their own, that they didn't need as much food nor as often. It was somewhere between 5 and 6 months of age.

You should have done a slow introduction. Keeping the kitten separated from the other cat and the dogs for a couple of weeks allows you to protect you older cat from any communicable diseases that the kitten may have. Like any baby, too much change too soon is overwhelming. The kitten needs a quiet room so she can absorb some of the sounds and smells before meeting the others. The poor kitten is probably scared to death.
 
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