My newly adopted cat is not eating a lot of food. Is this normal? If not, what can I do?

Question

I am feeding my cat the same food she was eating at her shelter (she is about 11 months old and pretty skinny). I adopted her a few days ago. She has eaten some of the dry food but not a lot. I am worried that she is either not hungry or that she can not find her food. I did give her a fourth of a can of wet food last night and she seemed to enjoy it. What can I do?

Answer 1

When a bring a new cat or kitten home you should keep it confined to one room with it's food, water and litter in there with it.  Being in a new home is VERY overwhelming with all the new sights, smells and sounds.  By letting it get used to one room it will make this transition to your home MUCH easier than by just plopping it down in the living room.  Since you say she "can't find her food" I'm thinking that's exactly what you did.  So move her and her things into one room and don't let her out to explore the rest of the home until she seems more relaxed and curious about exploring.

Answer 2

If she enjoyed the canned food, let her have as much as she wants! It is healthier for her than the dry food anyway. Dry food is dehydrated and usually contains lots of grains and carbohydrates, which is not a healthy diet for cats. Cats require a diet high in meat protein, fat, and moisture. There are premium quality grain-free dry foods available, but they don't provide the moisture cats need in their diet, so you must make sure the cat is drinking lots of water if she is eating dry food. Shelters usually can't afford to feed cats the best food. Having said that, I am concerned that she is "skinny". It could be stress and poor diet at the shelter. Has she been dewormed, vaccinated, spayed, and tested for FeLV and FIV? Hopefully she has a clean bill of health and it is simply a matter of adjustment to her new environment. Cats need to eat...they can develop fatty liver disease (hepatic lipidosis) when they refuse to eat. Feed her whatever she wants to eat while she becomes familiar with her new environment. Definitely feed her all the wet food she will eat. If she has not had all the veterinary prerequisites done at the shelter, take her to the vet. Good luck and please post an update!

Answer 3

Extremely normal...most cats don't eat much mostly the newborns... and if your cat starts hiding..best placed to find them is in cabinets...and in the wood behind drawers (pull out drawers)

Answer 4

She is just nervous and scared with the new surroundings.  Give her a few days and she'll adjust.  Play with her, get some toys and be patient.

Answer 5

Since she is newly adopted, she may not be used to her new surroundings yet, and so she may be cautious about eating.

Just give her some time and she'll get used to it.  

Answer 6

Keep going with the wet food to entice her and keep showing her where the food is.  She may just be adjusting to her new home.  Or she may not have liked the food fed at the shelter all that much.

Answer 7

Not all cats eat big meals.  Does she go outside?  If she is an out door cat, she might be eating mice or something.  Just make sure she always has something in her dish and clean water.  Give her a bit of wet food for a treat.  Her eating might be off just from the change of her environment.  As long as she is eating something, don't worry.

Answer 8

Give her 1/4 can once or twice a day until she adjusts to her new home. Hopefully. after she adjusts she will be eating mainly dry food. My cats get 1 can split between the 4 of them each day, it's like a special treat for them.

Answer 9

Feed her canned, its best for the baby girl see the website to help make sure your kitty is getting enough protein!  GOOD LUCK!  

Answer 10

well

shes just probably getting used to her new home

it was like that with my cat he didn't eat for about 1 week maybe 2 an then he just started eating we couldn't stop him lol

I'm sure its nothing to worry about but if it doesn't improve within the next week or so take her to the vets

=]]

Answer 11

Shelter is bad memories and canned is much better anyway. Thanks so much for saving a life.





Nutrition since there are so many bad things out there is very important to your cat’s health

Contrary to what you may have heard; dry foods are not a great thing to feed a cat.

Please read the label on what you are feeding? What are the ingredients? Do you know what they mean? Is the first ingrediant a muscle meat like chicken or meal or other things?

http://www.catinfo.org/#Learn_How_To_Rea...

http://iml.jou.ufl.edu/projects/Spring04...

Dry foods are the number 1 cause of diabetes in cats as well as being a huge contributing factor to kidney disease, obesity, crystals, u.t.i’s and a host of other problems. Food allergies are very common when feeding dry foods. Rashes, scabs behind the tail and on the chin are all symptoms

The problems associated with Dry food is that they are loaded with grains and carbohydrates which many cats (carnivores) cannot process.  Also, Most of the moisture a cat needs is suppose to be in the food but in

Dry, 95% of it is zapped out of dry foods in the processing. Another thing, most use horrible ingredients and don't use a muscle meat as the primary ingredient and use vegetable based protein versus animal. Not good for an animal that has to eat meat to survive.

http://www.catinfo.org/#My_Cat_is_Doing_...

You want to pick a canned food w/o gravy (gravy=carbs) that uses a muscle meat as the first ingredient and doesn't have corn at least in the first 3 ingredients if at all.    The best food for cats does not contain any grains at all.

Fancy feast is a middle grade food with 9lives, friskies  whiskas lower grade canned and wellness and merrick upper grade human quality foods. I would rather feed a middle grade canned food then the top of the line dry food.

Also, dry food is not proven to be better for teeth. Does a hard pretzel clean your teeth or do pieces of it get stuck? http://www.felinefuture.com/nutrition/bp...

Please read about cat nutrition.

                               http://www.newdestiny.us/nutritionbasics...

                               http://www.catinfo.org/feline_obesity.ht...

      http://maxshouse.com/feline_nutrition.ht...

Vetinarian diets  The reason your vet thinks so highly of the pet food they sell probably has more to do with money than nutrition. In vet school, the only classes offered on nutrition usually last a few weeks, and are taught by representatives from the pet food companies. Vet students may also receive free food for their own dogs and cats at home. They could get an Iams notebook, a Purina purse and some free pizza.  http://iml.jou.ufl.edu/projects/Spring04...

Answer 12

That is quite normal i had a rescue cat who had been returned three times because she was eating the new home cats food and they just never gave her a chance she was found a feral on the streets at 6 months so had to get food where she could i had her two days and she came out of hiding and found her feet just let her feed with my others and they were toms so could take a growl or a slap off her but she soon realised that food was coming every day and no way was she going back in a cage the cpl gave me a week to decide if i wanted to keep her it was not a question with me i loved her for 11 years and she me but you will get there in the end i would steer clear of dry food though as i find it makes mine vomit i think its too filling for them try felix with gravy or kitten food you will find the right sort and dont forget she will eat when she is hungry they also go off thier food when in season so if she has not been done could be that dont worry  

Answer 13

She's probably not eating because she's still getting used to her new home. This is fine and perfectly normal, my shelter puppy was the  same way! What I did was a boiled a hot dog and squeezed out the juices onto the food. A packet I received at the shelter said this was very affective for dogs and cats. Also, try mixing wet cat food with dry (half and half) so she gets used to her dry food. She might only pick out the wet food at first, but eventually she'll adjust to her new home and be a happy cat with healthy eating habits. Good luck and congradulations for adopting a shelter pet! (The best kind of pet.)

Answer 14

Call the shelter and make sure your cat had been checked for parasites of the intestinal kind.  Most do so I think but there maybe a couple who don't.  Otherwise you may just have a finicky eater.  Some cats are like that.