Kitten won't eat....too young?

becki71

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Hi! I recently rescued a little kitten from a terrible pet store. They are telling me he is seven weeks old but I think he is more the size of a four or five week old kitten. I took care of ferral kittens before and he just seems like he is that old to me. Anyway! He won't eat. He won't eat the kitten food they were supposedly feeding him. I tried canned kitten food and baby food meat. I put some on his nose...he licks if off but never seems interested in eating it. He keeps trying to get away from the food. We got him yesterday around two thirty and now it is the next day around the same time and no luck. He is a stubborn one. Any suggestions? Also the pet store told me that he has been dewormed, had his first shot and they put advantage on him. Isn't that a bit too young? I thought you couldn't put flea meds on babies? If someone could help I would really appreciate it. I just don't know what else to do. Thanks!!!!

Becki
 

pat

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Oh good heavens, get him to a vet for a proper exam, and see if picking up a bottle feeding kit and formula isn't in order. Poor thing. Thank heavens you've rescued him!
 

leesali

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Also the pet store told me that he has been dewormed, had his first shot and they put advantage on him. Isn't that a bit too young? I thought you couldn't put flea meds on babies?

For the last few weeks (and in past) I have been fostering some kittens...now 5-weeks old. Although it is young for Advantage...I have used a teensy drop of it (under supervision of vet. from human society/adoption center) with no ill effects. 5-weeks for deworming is about right but I feel they are too young/little for their first shots (my opinion only).

If your kitten is truly around the 5-week age (like mine), he should be getting premium kitten wet food mushed with premium dry. Also, I like to drizzle a bit of KMR on top just to get their appetites going.

Is it possible your kitten still needs bottle-feedings? Try some KMR in a bottle & see if he goes for it. My little guys still cry for their bottle even though they are eating wet/dry mixed.
 

june

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Originally Posted by Becki71

Also the pet store told me that he has been dewormed, had his first shot and they put advantage on him.
Becki
Your kitten has been -"dewormed"( hard on the immune system), had " his first shot"(hard on the immune system) and " they put advantage on him"(more than a few adult cats have died from this) and he doesn't want to eat? It's a wonder your kitten isn't sicker and/or dead. This is going to take some time to work out of his system. Make the food very palatable , ask your vet about the safe appetite stimulant, Cyproheptadine, and you may have to assist in feeding him until his desire to eat returns.
 
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becki71

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Thank you all for your advice! I will work with him and see what happens. I'm sure he will be just fine...it is just going to take a lot of TLC. He did finally eat a little bit of the chicken baby food but not much. He peed on his own too so thats great! No poop yet though. I tried getting him to eat later today but he won't have anything to do with it. Early today I was holding him and he started rooting around and bit my finger really hard....I figured maybe he was hungry so I heated up the baby food and he actually licked up some. Maybe about a teaspoon full. Thats better than nothing right? Well I'm going to go try it again! I will keep you posted! Thanks again!
 
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becki71

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Hi everyone! Well he is finally eating a little! I was so relieved yesterday! Seems he is a bit picky and wanted it heated.
He has perked up a bit and tries to play. Not very good at it yet though! I'm hoping he will improve with time and start getting a nice fat little tummy.
I still think he is about five weeks old. His ears are up but his eyes are still very blue. He doesn't seem like he has been walking for very long. Anyway! I just wanted everyone to know that he seems to be doing better. Thanks for all your advice.

Becki
 

hissy

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I would get him to a vet. The vet will look him over and assess his health, tell you his age and you can go from there www.kitten-rescue.com might help you a bit as well. You can put Advantage safely on adult cats and kittens if they are the proper age, and if you use it correctly. I know that Advantix has been responsible for numerous health problems and even deaths in dogs and cats, but if the Advantage is a safe product (sadly there are counterfeits out there) it is one of the best products out there to control fleas. Buy it from your vet in the future, just to be safe. But get this kitten to a vet, many kittens in pet stores come from kitty mills and that is never good
 

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Just jumping on here, I was going to make a post of this but see it's already been done. Me and bf got 2 kittens off of a friend of a friend of a friend who said that they were eating real food, they don't appear to be able to. The have not grasped the concept of a bowl or even a plate. They have no interest in wet or dry food but did drink a little of the kitten milk (the kind that's like the mother's milk), but they keep chewing on the side of the container rather than lapping it up, so I'm thinking the woman who gave them to us my have lied about them eating real food.

We made a makeshift pen for them in the house because I really think they are too small to even run around a closed off room. I'm at work and sort of panicking about them
I'm going to go home at lunch even though it's pretty far away, and I was thinking about picking up one of those nursing bottles too.. which I'll probably do if not at lunch than after work.

Oh and is there anything to help with the fleas at this stage? I'm scared we're going to get an infestation in the house now


PS. I usually do not deal with young kittens, only bigger ones, so I don't know how old they look, but I think they look really young. They can run but not for further than maybe 10 feet, and I feel uncomfortable having them this young, but the lady was giving away the mother and two babies to someone else so they wouldn't be with the mother anyhow.
 

pat

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I'd zip over to www.kitten-rescue.com and treat them as orphaned kits, assess their age as best you can, and take feeding tips from there. Their recipe for kitten glop is also a great one. If they are chewing edges like that, I'd think mushy dry food would be the way to go or wet food on a very low plate or dish that they can stand in (it's going to be messy to get them started!). Put some on their lips to encourage them to get a taste is another little trick. If it's not totally unpalatable to them, they should then want more once they've had that taste and realized it's food
 

annabelle33

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I put some of the baby cat milk in a saucer, like to the point where it was almost over the edge, and they still chewed on it and spilled it and boy is that stuff nasty! But I checked on them at lunch and the one actually crunched up some dry food.. the other one watched him so maybe he will too.. hopefully. They seem OK. I think I'm still getting a bottle though just in case.
 

leesali

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Originally Posted by annabelle33

I put some of the baby cat milk in a saucer, like to the point where it was almost over the edge, and they still chewed on it and spilled it and boy is that stuff nasty! But I checked on them at lunch and the one actually crunched up some dry food.. the other one watched him so maybe he will too.. hopefully. They seem OK. I think I'm still getting a bottle though just in case.
Sounds like some bottle-feeding is going to be necessary. Young kittens just don't get the concept of lapping from a bowl...not water or kitten formula. When you see the little ones almost lapping the formula from the nipple tip of the bottle, you will know it's time to introduce a small bowl of water.
 

leesali

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Forgot: try mixing some premium wet food with the premium dry food...easier on their little baby teeth. You could add a few drops of formula to the top of that mush so they get the same taste as they were getting from the bottle.
 
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