Please Help! My 12 Weeks Old Kitten Suddenly Eats Much Less!

[San1406]

Hi everyone,

I noticed that my 12 weeks old kitten suddenly eats much less over the past two days. He mostly eats wet food and I always leave plenty of dry food out during the day. Since I notice his intake of wet food reduced by 60% to 70%, I tried to switched to different flavors to see whether he was just being picky, but no luck yet. He's still very active and playful. His bowel movement seems less frequent but the appearance is still normal. Should I be concerned and take him to the vet or is it just a normal teething behavioral change?

Many thanks!

 

[San1406]

I just want to add that he is slightly underweight for his age (2.6 pounds at 12 weeks). Whenever I opened a new can, he was always excited. But then he just had a few bites then leave.

 

[Kieka]

Is he eating more of the dry food? Has he lost weight?

If he hasn't lost weight and is eating more of the wet food to compensate, he's okay. Just keep trying new wet flavors. If he has lost weight you need to get to the vet. Kittens that age go downhill very quickly. It could be something as simple as a kitty cold making it so he can't smell as well but you still want to see a vet to be sure.

 

[lisahe]

I see that you're already tried variety, which works wonders for a lot of cats. (Including ours!) Kieka 's mention of cats not being able to smell if they have colds makes me think of how our pickier cat especially loves smelly foods like Fancy Feast Classics or Weruva Cats in the Kitchen canned foods that have a combination of chicken and fish. I don't feed a lot of fish but a little every now and then is great when I want to be sure she'll eat everything on the first go!

 

[San1406]

Thank you everyone for your suggestions. Unfortunately it' really hard for me to monitor his dry food consumption since our adult cat also eats it when we are not home. We didn't see our kitten consuming dry food when we were home though. We were feeding him Fancy Feast Kitten actually and they do have strong smell. I'll try Blue Buffalo tonight and see how it goes. In terms of his weight, he gained a little bit of weight compared to last week but it's much slower than the previous few weeks.

But does anyone notice that their kittens eat less during teething period?

 

[duckpond]

Maybe try some of the fancy feast classics as well? they should be fine for a kitten, and he might enjoy them as a change? another wet food my kittens always liked was Royal canin kitten thin slices in gravy. Merrick also makes a kitten food, mine like the backcountry, in the black pouches. I did often smash it with a fork, as they seem to like it better that way. Some of mine much prefer the minced foods to pate.

If he does not seem to be eating well i would, as Kieka suggested, see the vet with him. His little face is sooo cute!

do keep us updated with him.

 

[San1406]

Thanks again! I'l definitely try those brands

Here are some of his most recent pictures:

 

[lisahe]

To add to duckpond 's ideas, here are two other brands of canned kitten food that our cats have liked: Nutro Natural Choice (it's chicken) and Wellness Core. They especially love the Wellness food, which I still feed them even though they're now five!

duckpond's suggestion of regular Fancy Feast Classics is a good one: those are fairly caloric so would help get more calories into your cat. Who's very sweet! What's his name?

 

[duckpond]

Oh he is so very cute! I want to squeeze him

 

[San1406]

Hi everyone, he managed to eat more this evening, not as much as before but definitely an improvement. We went ahead with Blue Buffalo and Purina classic (intended for our adult cat) and he tasted both I think he was bored with the previous three options that I always gave him. His stool is also normal. If he doesn' eat again, I'll try all the brands suggested above

His name is Monkey by the way. He's very cute but always really active and naughty, hence the name

 

[lisahe]

That's good to hear, San1406 ! Some cats (like ours) really thrive on variety. A lot of variety. And don't worry if Monkey decides he doesn't want a food you have more cans of... just set them aside for a month or two and try them out on him again. I hope he keeps eating well for you!

 

[duckpond]

Hi everyone, he managed to eat more this evening, not as much as before but definitely an improvement. We went ahead with Blue Buffalo and Purina classic (intended for our adult cat) and he tasted both I think he was bored with the previous three options that I always gave him. His stool is also normal. If he doesn' eat again, I'll try all the brands suggested above

His name is Monkey by the way. He's very cute but always really active and naughty, hence the name

i love naughty little kittens so much fun!