Please help! Kitten suddenly not eating as much?

[Kyaviana]

Hello, I am at my wit’s end, any advice is appreciated! I have a 8 month old, neutered, 10.5lb kitten who used to be a voracious eater, he ate about 10-11 oz. of wet food per day, and was allowed to graze on dry at night.

Earlier last week, he started not finishing his food, and now I am lucky if he eats 5.5 oz of wet food a day, plus a few mouthfuls of dry. There haven’t been any other changes in behavior, he is as active and energetic as always.

Is this enough food? Could it be because he got neutered about a month ago? What could be going on?

The last time he started eating less was when he was around 5-6 months old, and it was because he stopped liking the food that I had been feeding him since he was 5 weeks old (Wellness Kitten).

I tried to feed him a whole slew of other kitten foods, until finally settling on Wholehearted flaked kitten food. I’ve already tried switching the food, adding a bit of pumpkin and lysine (not at once) to make it more appealing, but to no avail. I’m worried because there are not many textures and flavors besides chicken pate for kittens out there, so it’s difficult to keep the food interesting and I don’t know what to do or try next.

Already contacted my vet who said he’s probably fine as long as he’s eating something, and just not that hungry. I’m wondering if anyone here has additional insight about my baby, thank you in advance!

 

[EmersonandEvie]

Kittens go through growth spurts, and although he is still growing at 8 months, he is slowing down as he reaches adulthood. One 5.5oz can/day is what I would expect an adult cat to eat. I agree with your vet, as long as he is eating, he is fine. It wouldn't surprise me if he has another bout of eating everything in sight before his first birthday. Good on you being so proactive and getting hold of a vet already!

Neutering can definitely slow down a cat's metabolism as well, at least in my experience.

That being said, feel free to keep trying new foods. Maybe he would like the Fancy Feast kitten pates? They come in salmon, ocean whitefish, chicken, and turkey.

 

[She's a witch]

you could also feed All life stages, or personally I'd even feed Adult food at his age. Variety and rotation is important imo, some cats get bored when eating the same food over and over again (If I was eating the same food for every meal, I'd be bored after several days).

 

[sivyaleah]

Our just 7 month old kitten has slowed down her intake recently also. She was easily eating 9 ounces wet a day plus kibble. Been trying to rotate foods, just seems like she's decided to be picky some days because she'll eat a food one day, not the next, and then the day after will again. Whatever. Cat. You know? But regardless, she certainly isn't losing weight, she's still gaining so she's clearly eating enough; is growing fine and is healthy, active and looks great.

I agree that 5.5 ounces seems ok and probably is enough. Perhaps looking at protein content of the kibble he's eating might help. We use Orijens which I believe has the highest protein content available for kibble so it's pretty nutrient dense.

EDIT: FYI, we are using adult food. We used an all stages food when she came to us at 16 weeks; her breeder started her on this since when she was being weaned. She decided she didn't want it anymore once she was with us a few weeks and got a taste of our other cats adult food.