Kitten teeth problems?

strange_wings · Jan 30, 2010

One of my kittens has recently been a little more picky about her food. She'd eat, but walk away earlier than normal. Then for a day and a half she didn't really want to eat anything.

A bit of info on her:
She’s currently 5 and a half months old. Vaccinated, including FeLV, but not spay, yet. Size wise, she’s closer to that of a 12-14 wk old - which is why the vet won’t spay her till she gets bigger. I agree with him on this. She recently lost her kitten teeth and her back top ones are coming in much slower than her brother and sister’s.
Personality wise, she is a very fussy demanding kitten. Her nick name is fussy +whatever other word pops to mind at the moment (fussykitten, fussybrat, etc). She is somewhat picky about food, but normally eats hers (though she prefers to steal food from the adult cats).

There was never any change in her behavior, still did everything kittens do (drive me crazy) - it was just like she suddenly didn't like her food. She is back to eating fine now. BUT I have noticed that when she bites hard food and when she'll lick across her top teeth she'll twitch her jaw. Her back teeth look fine, just not out very far.

Considering that most of us miss when our kittens are losing teeth (and never find those teeth) and it seems like their adult teeth come in so fast - does anyone know exactly how many days/weeks it takes for those back teeth to fully come out? Could it be because she's so small (with a tiny little head at that) that it's causing some issues with her larger adult teeth? ..It looks like there's enough room in there for them.

Or could this really be because I gave her a chunk of beef the other day and she was actually holding out and tricking me the whole time?

On a somewhat related note, her brother had a lot of gum swelling the day his baby canines fell out. He ate fine but would do the twitchy mouth thing if anything bumped the front of his face.
I also managed to find several of their teeth since I've check their mouths regularly.

sharky · Jan 30, 2010

Well I am not a kitten but some trauma in my childhood left me toothless for much longer than ave... could she have been mal nurished>? maybe her teeth are delayed in forming

strange_wings · Jan 30, 2010

Well, she was a feral in a pet food warehouse.

The vet was very surprised how fat and healthy (worms and fleas were all they had) they were.

I got the three of them at ~7wks. They've most certainly not been malnourished since. They all have "spay sways" since around 9-10wks old - I didn't even know kittens that young could get that thick of fat pads.

She was right on schedule loosing hers when her siblings did - around January 10 for the canines, and 15-18 for bigger teeth. Her brother looks like a 7 month old kitten, her sister looks right for her age, and then there's tiny Tana.

Cats come in all sizes, I was hoping she'd make it up later. The vet said all of their hearts sounded fine.

sharky · Jan 30, 2010

well some do some dont( you know that I do realize)... Ie Zoey did not grow into her body but she was much older and had a litter at about 6 months...

I would actually ask for a xray and make sure teeth formed, that was my issue one tooth never had a permenant

wow that is a bit of chub for so young..lol.. were you feeding fat n grow

strange_wings · Jan 30, 2010

Originally Posted by sharky

wow that is a bit of chub for so young..lol.. were you feeding fat n grow

The standard KMR+wet mix at first, free feeding kitten dry, and 3 (now 2) wet meals of kitten food a day. I know I'll have to keep a close eye on them and cut food down (the dry) in a few months. I want them running around the house, not rolling.

Her teeth are all there. I'm just thinking that she may have a smaller jaw. Sort of how some people will have small jaws so either they won't have a couple of their wisdom teeth at all or when the wisdom teeth try to come in it creates all sorts of problems.

Did I mention she's fussy? I get hissed at for trying to inspect her mouth.

sharky · Jan 30, 2010

maybe they need some help cutting thru///

yeah I have a really small and immature jaw...lol.. many dentists are amazed

strange_wings · Jan 30, 2010

Oh, they're thru and out a little - but have looked the same for several days. I would think that maybe she just needs more time on them but her brother and sisters look like regular adult cat teeth already.

She'll be back in to see the vet soon enough. She's grown some since her last visit so maybe he'll bump up the spay to an actual 6 months. If she pulls the food stunt again she'll be in sooner.

But wouldn't you know it? Cats have terrible timing for doing things like this. A winter storm hit Thursday making travel impossible that day and much of Friday. And what did DH do Thursday? He got his truck stuck down the road and isn't able to get it out until things thaw some.

sharky · Jan 30, 2010

Originally Posted by strange_wings

Oh, they're thru and out a little - but have looked the same for several days. I would think that maybe she just needs more time on them but her brother and sisters look like regular adult cat teeth already.

She'll be back in to see the vet soon enough. She's grown some since her last visit so maybe he'll bump up the spay to an actual 6 months. If she pulls the food stunt again she'll be in sooner.

But wouldn't you know it? Cats have terrible timing for doing things like this. A winter storm hit Thursday making travel impossible that day and much of Friday. And what did DH do Thursday? He got his truck stuck down the road and isn't able to get it out until things thaw some.

lol.. I know about terrible timing...

maybe she is just slow

koobe · Jan 31, 2010

The great thing about the forum is I can find people with the same experience here.

I found that Cheetah hasn't eating much these 3 days. About 2 meals per day, yesterday was just 1 meal around 2 pm. And I found a tooth on the carpet yesterday, so I did not know who's tooth it is and when did he lose it. I opened both of their mouth and I think all the teeth are there. They are 5 and 5.5 months old, so the teeth are not all the way through, just tiny tips.

So I tried to give Cheetah soft food, he hates it. He is on raw only, and I have tried chicken, turkey, pork and lamb, and he is not showing interest. On the other hand, Panther is eating like crazy. He teeth look the same, just tiny tips showing, but he ate 5 meals yesterday. He probably ate 12 oz of raw yesterday. I am glad he does not throw up.

Cheetah's mouth is pretty easy to open, should I try feeding him with a syringe if he hasn't eaten in the evening?

strange_wings · Jan 31, 2010

Originally Posted by koobe

Cheetah's mouth is pretty easy to open, should I try feeding him with a syringe if he hasn't eaten in the evening?

If he keeps holding out and not eating anything, something needs to be done. I got my little girl to eating again with treats, and I hate to admit this - but a bit of cheap friskies dry (given like treats). I think it didn't feel good when she ate so she was avoiding it. Given something she couldn't resist maybe she realized it wasn't that bad.

koobe · Jan 31, 2010

Originally Posted by strange_wings

If he keeps holding out and not eating anything, something needs to be done. I got my little girl to eating again with treats, and I hate to admit this - but a bit of cheap friskies dry (given like treats). I think it didn't feel good when she ate so she was avoiding it. Given something she couldn't resist maybe she realized it wasn't that bad.

The problem is Cheetah is such a picky eater. Before the teething, he will only eat raw, no canned, and only very little dry if he is in the mood for it. Yesterday, I tried all kinds of raw and he did not want it. I added honest kitchen dehydrated raw food prowl and that was a no. I sprinkle treats on raw, no also. I gave him freeze dry chicken treat, he ate 2 pieces after I tried to put it in his mouth for a few times. I know the fact that he won't eat baby food until I syringe feed him.

I am hoping he will be like yesterday, at least eat 1 meal when he is hungry. So I will have to see what happen this afternoon. Do you know how long this refusing food period will last?

strange_wings · Jan 31, 2010

I can't tell you, honestly. Every cat is different. Since it's been more than two days, though, I'd call your vet in the morning and give them a heads up. It could be his teeth, or it could be something else. Kittens burn through their meals (energy from them) faster than adult cats do, and really can't miss as many meals.
Does your vet know you're feeding raw and support you in this? If not, be prepared for the vet possibly blaming you for not handling meat correctly.

And even if they do, you might come home with something like Hills a/d (which is a perfectly good support wet food).

koobe · Jan 31, 2010

Originally Posted by strange_wings

I can't tell you, honestly. Every cat is different. Since it's been more than two days, though, I'd call your vet in the morning and give them a heads up. It could be his teeth, or it could be something else. Kittens burn through their meals (energy from them) faster than adult cats do, and really can't miss as many meals.
Does your vet know you're feeding raw and support you in this? If not, be prepared for the vet possibly blaming you for not handling meat correctly.

And even if they do, you might come home with something like Hills a/d (which is a perfectly good support wet food).

If he does not eat today, I will bring him to the vet, but it will be a new holistic vet.

My regular vet (which I have only seen once) is always full in booking. There were 3 times I called and worried about my kittens, and they told me the first available appointment will be 1 week away.

Even if the vet gives me Hills a/d, I am sure Cheetah will not touch it. He was big on wet food before he started raw. Now he wont even lick it. Even if I mix wet with canned, he does not eat it. I am afraid I have to buy live mice to satisfy him later...

strange_wings · Jan 31, 2010

Originally Posted by koobe

Even if the vet gives me Hills a/d, I am sure Cheetah will not touch it. He was big on wet food before he started raw. Now he wont even lick it. Even if I mix wet with canned, he does not eat it. I am afraid I have to buy live mice to satisfy him later...

If it comes to forcing food down him, vets will usually suggest the a/d. (had to do that for puppies in the past) As for live mice - terrible idea. Besides being cruel, live mice put a cat at risk for catching parasites. If you choose to offer mice later on, look into a proper supplier of humanely killed frozen mice.

I hope you can get him to eat. Have you tried plain cooked chicken? No sodium added chicken broth on food? Tuna water?

And that's rather rotten about the vet. Not much use if you can never get in when you need to.

Oddly, Tana (who was semi snuggly before) has gotten more so. I can't tell if it's something wrong with her or because I was carrying treats and dry food around with me for a couple days...

koobe · Jan 31, 2010

strange_wings;2814130 said:
If it comes to forcing food down him, vets will usually suggest the a/d. (had to do that for puppies in the past) As for live mice - terrible idea. Besides being cruel, live mice put a cat at risk for catching parasites. If you choose to offer mice later on, look into a proper supplier of humanely killed frozen mice.

I hope you can get him to eat. Have you tried plain cooked chicken? No sodium added chicken broth on food? Tuna water?

I am totally not planning to give him live mice, not even frozen mice. But this Cheetah, we would like to think he is smarter, because he sits still and thinks all the time. He stares at the water tap and thinks how to turn it on for 15 mins, stares are the slide door handle and thinks how to slide it for 10 mins. We think he needs to have more mental exercise, that's why we think just handing his prepared food may not be challenging enough for him.

I heard from my brother that Cheetah is eating lunch today, so that is good. But we gave him cooked chicken the first week we has him (due to his diarrhea) and he will never eat it after eating it for a week.

So has your kitty eating like normal now?

Click to expand...

strange_wings · Jan 31, 2010

Originally Posted by koobe

So has your kitty eating like normal now?

Seems like she's back to normal (as normal as any kitten ever is..).

I hope Cheetah keeps eating well.

koobe · Jan 31, 2010

Originally Posted by strange_wings

Seems like she's back to normal (as normal as any kitten ever is..).

I hope Cheetah keeps eating well.

Good to hear that. Same here, Cheetah had lunch and dinner today. Probably will give him a little snack before bed too. He has been a very playful and naughty boy tonight.

Kitten teeth problems?

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