My kitten is under fed and is very very skinny

Question

My kitten Leo is 6 weeks is an orphan kitten I gave it tuna and chicken but it has taken 3 days to eat all that I cant give it my other cat's food because it says not to give it kittens 7-weeks and under I am not really sure what to do

Answer 1

if you cant afford a vet give it kitty/puppy formula. its not cheep but she should eat is. or maybe try a non milk based baby formula that again has no milk for lactose intolerant babies.

Answer 2

Go to the store and buy some kitten food it will work i swear!  

Answer 3

Simply: go to the vet

Answer 4

You need to be feeding this kitten actual KITTEN food. She probably also needs to be dewormed, tested for disease, started on her shots and given a proper vet check.

You can also buy her vitamins to help replace the nutrition she is missing.

She should be offered dry kitten food at all times and allowed to eat all she wants, as well as given wet kitten food 2 or 3 times a day.

You can also supplement her feedings with KMR (Kitten Milk Replacement) either by bottle or in a bowl. You can also soak the dry food in the KMR and let her eat it that way.  

Answer 5

Try giving it some diloutted milk. fill less than 1/3 of the bowl with milk and the rest with hot water and let the kitten drink it. That's what i did to my kitten. But it's also summer so they eat less. Give it smaller portions of food. Maybe little bits of tuna at a time.

Answer 6

Take your kitten to the vet and see what they do...if you cant afford a vet then see about going to the local pet store and buying it some vitamin supplements. I have a cat that weighs in at 21.5 pounds! Tried putting him on diets and he meows all day for food. Even made sure that only 1 person in the house feeds him....we were all feeding him by accident. He is very happy and he thinks his nickname is kittyfood:).

Answer 7

See a vet about it.  I had a kitten like this, and we had to have him put down because we found out that he had some disease similar to leukemia.

Answer 8

Hi Autumn... please avoid feeding tuna to Leo as it causes steatis (yellow fat disease) and one of the symptoms of this causes loss of appetite. See the following simple explanation about this: http://www.helpmycat.com/view_dsyms.php?...

Here's more why tuna should be avoided:

Here's a web article about Tuna and how it is toxic to cats (any vet can confirm this fact as well): .

http://www.lenhumanesoc.org/Tips/ASPCA-T...

"TUNA FOR CATS? NO!

Tuna can be fatal to cats and is not something to be fed to them...The human variety of tuna fish contains an enzyme that destroys vitamin B1 (thiamine). Cats who regularly eat tuna can develop a vitamin B1 deficiency, which results in neurological symptoms like dilated eyes, loss of equilibrium, seizures and death if this vitamin is not replaced. The scientific name of this disease is polioencephlomalacia.

Clearwater veterinarian Richard Brancato said that though most domestic cats do enjoy fish, feeding them a diet of only tuna can cause serious disorders.

Although it is high in protein, tuna lacks sufficient amounts of certain amino acids, mainly taurine, to maintain feline health. There is insufficient calcium to balance the phosphorus; the ratio in canned tuna is 1-to-14.8. This results in bone disease.

Many essential vitamins such as A and most B vitamins are also lacking, Brancato said. A common disease in cats fed a mainstay of canned tuna is steatitis, or yellow fat disease, an inflammation of the fat tissue in the body due to a deficiency of vitamin E.

Source: St. Petersburg Times, published May 14, 2000"

Here's another answer by a veterinarian just recently about the dangers of tuna: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;...

A Veterinarian Answered:

... Actually, it is.

I've had to treat numerous cats over the years for pretty severe enteritis resulting from eating tuna meat. One of my own babies got so ill from it when someone else left it sitting out on the counter for 5 minutes while he turned his back to take a phone call, that I had to put her on IV fluids for 2 days, in addition to intestinal medications.

How many cats do you know who go swimming in the ocean to catch tuna and eat it as part of their natural diet???

Tuna-FLAVORED food....okay. Tuna meat.....bad.

I 'love' brownies....but that doesn't mean they're good for me. Cats also 'love' antifreeze....but we all know what it will do to them. :-/

The most you should do is to use the water that is drained off from the can of tuna (not the oil...for another reason), and drizzle it over their dry cat food once or twice a month. They'll think they died and went to cat heaven!....but without the danger.

Save the tuna meat for your sandwiches.

Source(s):

I'm a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine with 20 yrs exp in private practice (27 total years in the profession.)

Anyhow, Leo needs kitten food which is higher in protein that typical cat food.  It won't hurt her to eat adult cat food "TEMPORARILY", however do keep in mind that it doesn't provide enough protein, it is only a short-term solution.  Chicken is fine as a substitute temporarily, but it cannot provide adequate nutrition found in cat food.

Consider picking up some canned kitten food at your local grocery store.  This isn't expensive and it will be helpful for Leo.  Do keep in mind that some kittens more than other take a little time to gain weight.  

All kittens are born  with intestinal parasites passed through their mother's milk, therefore if they are not de-wormed the parasites will suck out the nutrition from the food the kitten eats.  

Shelters offer low cost vaccinations and de-worming as well as spaying.  If you are in the USA here is a list of all the participating shelters that offer low cost (sometimes free) spay/neuter: http://www.lovethatcat.com/spayneuter.ht...

Answer 9

Buy some kitten food for younger kittehs.

Get some whole milk, too.  Give teh kitteh some whole milk after warming it up to room temp in teh microwave.

Don't underfeed teh kitteh.

Answer 10

Try giving him a bit of milk to fatten him up.

Answer 11

Kittens can drink milk.  Try goat milk in a bottle.  The goat milk has protein.  Try it until it is 8 to 10 weeks old

Answer 12

You need to get mother's replacement milk at

the store where the cat food is. You can get the

powder and make a mush for her and see if she

eats it, if not then make it a liquid. You may need

to feed her with an eye dropper. I had one kitten who

I had to do this with and she was so tiny I had to do

it every 3 hours. You can also try wet food and dry

food that has been wet with water. If you can you

may want to take her to vet. I have hand raised many

kittens so if you need any advice  e-mail me and good luck :)

Answer 13

Canned cat food mixed with some dry kitten food may help.

that's what my stray is eatng. I gave him chicken as well due to him not wanting to eat the dry food I had.

Answer 14

You need to give him kitten food!

You can buy wet kitten food in packets and dry kitten food in a box, both from the supermarket. He should be having 1-2 packets a day as well as some of the dry food to snack on. You can also get them kitten milk, but he should be happy to drink water. (Dont give him normal cows milk as this can give him diarrhoea)

People food isnt as good for kitten, it can wreck their digestive system and also makes their faeces smell horrid. He should definately be eating kitten food by now though, there is no need to feed him with an eyedropper or anything because he should be able to handle food fine by the age of 6 weeks.

If you're still having trouble getting him to eat, take him to the vet asap - having an underfed and malnourished pet is animal abuse.