Water and food intake

Hello

I currently have 3 kitties: a momma and her 3-month-old babies (girl and boy).

They've eaten solid food for a long while.

At first I noticed momma was drinking a lot of fresh water. My guess is to make milk.  They continued to "nurse" and after the 2-3 month mark the babies stopped suckling. They had been weaned greatly but still seemed to like trying (or actually getting) milk from momma.

My mom feeds them in the morning and I at night. They get Whiskas Junior kibble in the morning. They get Whiskas Junior Kibble mixed with a 1/3 pouch of Whiskas Jr at night when I feed them.

A week or so ago, I noticed baby Wanda was getting very thin, so I observed them an noticed that she was a lazy eater and momma and bro Grinnie were eating normally, so basically Baby Wanda was eating the scraps.

I proceeded to feed her separately and she started gaining a bit of weight but I had also noticed that the water bowl level remained the same everyday and noticed that ants had been getting into it and drinking it. I didn't know if the babies didn't drink water because of the ants or because they didn't want to.

What I opted to do is make a "soup" with the foods. In a bowl I mixed in 1 part water, 1 part kibble, 2/3 packet of Whiskas Junior (including the juice), I let it sit a little for the kibble to absorb some of the water and then i separate the food into 3 bowls (1 part girl, 1 part boy, 2 parts momma).

They sipped up the "flavored" water so I kept adding more and more water as they finished it. I kept feeling their bellies to see how much the expanded from the water until I stopped putting more into the mix. They then ate the soaked kibble and bits of pouch. Though baby girl didn't eat as much as I would have liked her to.

So my questions are....

1 - Am I filling them up with so much flavored water that they are not getting enough solids?

2 - How much water should I be adding to the kibble? 

3 - I'm not home all day until their "dinner time" so I can't flavor the water because the ants will get into it or it will spoil. I also can't buy fancy things like "water fountains" or such. What can I do to increase their water intake?

I'm seeing that baby girl is thin again.  I noticed they got fleas so many so fast, from the day before I saw them to yesterday. I'm arranging to take them to the vet, but it can only be done on Saturday. I don't want them to suffer 2 whole days with fleas and baby girl is already so thin.

They are in/out side kitties since I want momma to teach them to be street savvy like she has been before she adopted us by coming to our home about a year ago. We also can't keep them inside since the weather is very hot and we don't have window screen, so we have to keep the windows open.

I'm going to try to give them a bath tonight to drown as many as possible, but...

a) Is there anything I can do to get rid of the fleas other than a bath?

b) What can I do to kill the fleas that must be hiding inside the house?

c) Do you know of a "natural" remedy to get rid of fleas?

I know I put up a lot of what looks like "buts" or "excuses" regarding things, but this is my situation, so please understand.

Thank you very much.

MagiksGirl said:

 
What I opted to do is make a "soup" with the foods. In a bowl I mixed in 1 part water, 1 part kibble, 2/3 packet of Whiskas Junior (including the juice), I let it sit a little for the kibble to absorb some of the water and then i separate the food into 3 bowls (1 part girl, 1 part boy, 2 parts momma).

They sipped up the "flavored" water so I kept adding more and more water as they finished it. I kept feeling their bellies to see how much the expanded from the water until I stopped putting more into the mix. They then ate the soaked kibble and bits of pouch. Though baby girl didn't eat as much as I would have liked her to.

So my questions are....

1 - Am I filling them up with so much flavored water that they are not getting enough solids?

2 - How much water should I be adding to the kibble? 

3 - I'm not home all day until their "dinner time" so I can't flavor the water because the ants will get into it or it will spoil. I also can't buy fancy things like "water fountains" or such. What can I do to increase their water intake?

Click to expand...

Please don't add water to dry food, especially not in a hot climate such as Mexico.  If the cats will eat the mixture right away, it's ok. But don't leave the mixture out after the cats are done eating. Bacteria will quickly grow in the mixture, mold may form, and the cats may end up with an upset tummy.

Can you feed only the canned/ pouch food with extra water added for the meals when you or your Mom are at home and leave some dry food out for snacking on? To keep the ants out of the dry food, set the bowl in a small tray of water. The ants won't be able to swim across the water to climb into the bowl.

As long as they are well hydrated, they're getting enough water. Pull up the skin at the back of the neck and let go. If it snaps back in place, the cat is well hydrated. If the skin stays up and slowly falls back down, then the cat is dehydrated.

Here are some suggestions on how to increase water intake: http://www.thecatsite.com/a/tips-to-increase-your-cat-s-water-intake

For the fleas, a prescription flea treatment will work. Do your cats have a vet? Flea treatments take awhile to work so in the meantime, vacuum the house frequently and empty the bag outside, and wash blankets and other things your cats sleep on in hot soapy water. Diatomaceous earth supposedly works to get rid of fleas but I'm not sure how.

Here is info on treating fleas:

http://www.thecatsite.com/a/cat-fleas

http://www.thecatsite.com/a/how-to-treat-fleas-in-young-kittens

http://www.thecatsite.com/a/homemade-flea-remedies

Please get the mother cat spayed before you let her outdoors, if you don't she will be pregnant again. I agree with LTS3.  I advised on your other post regarding the Flea Invasion. Did you have a chance to see it? I would like to add, please don't water the food down too much as they need to eat the food not fill up on extra water. As for the little one, can you feed her separately from her mother and other siblings? Then return her once she is well-fed. Also considering they are allowed outdoors, she most likely has worms and will need treatment for it. Since she is a younger one, I would recommend that you have a Vet prescribe some rx wormer tablets as rx ones are slightly safer and usually more potent than anything you can get over the counter. If you are worried about the water consumption, try adding a tablespoon or two of water to their canned food meals instead of wetting down the dry.

@LTS3  Ahh... Yes, I forgot to mention, I stay until they finish everything since I've been perfecting the amounts, they leave very little so I throw it away.

I can't really afford to only feed only packets/canned. For me, It comes to an almost double or triple the expense by weight. I would have to buy 17.64 packets to equate a 1.5 kg bag.

I also noticed that ants don't care about getting wet. I keep finding them happily lounging in it or "drinking" in the sides. I've started an Excel sheet and am going to do market research to find the best price  to feed as wet as I can. 

Is there really a difference between feeding kitten and adult cat food? Momma is about 2 years old (just a guess) and babies are 14 weeks today.

The cats have a vet and I've arranged to take them tomorrow. In the meantime I will look into making the Spray from one of the links you sent me. Thank you very much for those!

@nansiludie  

Momma was spayed as soon as babies were weaned.

I have been feeding baby girl separately and all 3 have already had their 1st deworming. They are being taken in tomorrow for vaccines and I will ask the vet to apply an anti-flea and tick treatment.

I'm sorry but I don't remember a flea invasion thread from me. By any chance was it the ant problems one?   

So glad to hear Mom cat is fixed. I'll see if I can link your thread. That's very understandable the feeding canned. I fed Purina Cat Chow in the blue bag for many years without any problems until my males got older. Not sure if you can purchase it where you are. Usually kitten chow is higher in protein and has kitten milk added in it but I've fed complete and balanced food for all life stages with good results. I'm glad they've been wormed, it could be she just needs extra time to eat by herself.

Here it is, its mainly about the fleas from the beanie babies. http://www.thecatsite.com/t/299981/flea-invasion-help#post_3765117

Hee's a thread on how to keep ants out of their food dishes:  http://www.thecatsite.com/t/32440/ants-and-dry-cat-food

Sounds like you're doing everything right.  I agree with mrsgreenjeans on the food bowl solution link.  Also see: http://www.instructables.com/id/50-Handy-Tricks/step9/Water-Dish-Ant-Barrier/

Logic tells me that if the plain water fails, add a little soap to it to make it "wetter."

A flea bath is the best way to get relief until you get to the vet.  I used that several times on my babies to hold them over until we got to the vet.  Make sure they get de-wormed as well.

Girl kitten does need to be watched on the food.  If she's eating last, she might not be getting enough.

As for more water--it works for me to put multiple water dishes around the house so its always easy to get a drink and so that they are reminded of water whenever they walk by a water dish (I think I have four in different rooms at this point, but there are two they like best, and I could cut it down to just two pretty easily).  I feel the same--fancy fountains are expensive, and sparkling clean water in a convenient place works pretty well, judging by how much gets drunk up.

Good luck!  Your kitties are lucky to have you for an owner.

@nansiludie  We do  have Cat Chow. I had bought them Kitten Chow when I was trying out our impressive  3 brands of kibble (Purina, Whiskas and Minino's). I found the Purina Kitten Chow to be very airy, almost felt like rice puffs, I don't know if it was the batch or that's just the way it is, but either way I felt uneasy about it so I continued with the Whiskas Kittens. The babies didn't mind the change at all.

ahhh! That thread! That's someone else's thread  I had gone through posts with me as Thread Starter which is why I couldn't find it

@mrsgreenjeens  that's a great idea! Thanks for the link!

@drawsonanything  Yeah, little Wanda seems like a slow eater. I'll keep watching over her while she eats   I actually put clean water in front of them while they eat and Little Wanda just looks at it, then me, tilts her head and makes a face like "what's that?"   So I put her paw near it and she doesn't like it. She should know what it is! She used to drink from there not more than a month or 2 ago when she was smaller!  Maybe she just wants my attention