Kitten seems hungry but not eating

[Cayla714]

My kittens name is Winnie, she's 4 months old. She is not spayed. She is a Russian Blue and weighs about 4 pounds. Her BEAM seems to be good and normal over all. Behavior is normal, she likes to play a lot and also does a good amount of sleeping. She recently discovered sleeping under the bed and will stay there for hours, my husband and I have to coax her out with toys. At night time I have been closing our bedroom door so she hangs out with us in the living room. She has plenty of energy, we play multiple times a day. She did have a big appetite meowing for her meals sometimes hours early and scarfing things down quickly. The last two days that has slowed down. Her mood seems to be normal. We have just recently transitioned her to a full raw diet, using Viva Raw. We were told by the breeder she was given her first vaccination shot but since then we haven't done any more.

Starting 2 days ago Winnie became uninterested in her meals. I noticed she wasn't meowing for her meal like she normally does. Eventually I was able to get her to eat but only half her serving. Last night and this morning she wouldn't eat at all. She was meowing this morning for her food and seemed very excited but once I put it down she wanted nothing to do with it. I've tried changing proteins to see if that was an issue, prior to this she hasn't been picky about any of the meat choices and eats them all just fine. My husband put some freeze dried chicken treats (1 ingredient treats) into her food about an hour ago and she did eat most of it. I don't want her having those in her meals all the time and am confused at what happened and why she suddenly doesn't seem to like her food?

Additional info: 4 days ago we moved her litter box to its permanent location (now that she has adjusted to seeing the whole house). She keeps going to the place it was located originally and we have to show her the new location every time. She has yet to use it on her own without one of us walking her to it. I'm not sure if this and the eating issue have anything to do with one another but figured I'd mention it.

@Dr. Christina
@Dr. Jean Hofve
@Dr. Jeff

 

[Dr. Jeff]

Welcome to HA! Cayla. Thanks for making your first post.

Congratulations on your adoption of Winnie! She is one lucky kitty to have a loving guardian like you!

She recently discovered sleeping under the bed and will stay there for hours, my husband and I have to coax her out with toys.

Ah, this was probably the first early warning sign of the energetic imbalance which is affecting her appetite and BEAM.

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4 days ago we moved her litter box to its permanent location

Perhaps first try adding a box in this location to see if effects her going under the bed or her appetite.

Have you been to the vet in the past few weeks?

If you have, what did they do during her visit?

 

[Cayla714]

I will move her litter box back and see if that makes any difference, thank you.

I have taken her to the vet but only to get established. They checked her ears and teeth but that was it.

We had a kitten prior to this that we had to put down because of a Panleukopenia diagnosis. I spoke to you about this over the phone but we sanitized our home the best we could before picking up Winnie. Of course now, everything puts me on high alert. As the day has gone on today she has played very little even with my husband and I playing with her. She has mostly slept and hasn't eaten since my husband added the freeze dried food to her raw food.

 

[Dr. Jeff]

Have you tried other fresh foods like sardines, scramble eggs + parmesan cheese and even Fancy Feast canned cat food?

Finding anything she loves to eat will be tremendously helpful.

As will loving her up and getting her to purr.

It's also a good time to start working with a vet homeopath.

 

[Cayla714]

I can't remember, can we book a zoom session with you for homeopath?

 

[Dr. Jean Hofve]

Hi Cayla! I agree with Dr. Jeff, if she's not eating what you're offering, give her something else. As much as you want her on all raw, she may not be ready for it. A kitten must eat, and eat well, for best health. At this moment, it matters much less what she eats, than that she regains her appetite.

Do keep loving on her and give her opportunities to play.

The lack of energy and appetite together can be serious, so perhaps having the vet check her out, temp, stool sample, consider fluids, etc. would be helpful. If nothing else it will ease your mind, but if intervention is needed, the sooner the better. A kitten doesn't have much reserve to lean on.

Unfortunately for our human preferences sometimes, the cat is also the one who gets to decide where the litterbox goes. Even with just one kitty, two litterboxes are recommended. This is especially important if there are multiple levels in the home--easy access is the key to success!

Definitely work on getting your holistic health team together! Dr. Jeff does consultations so you can start there!

 

[Cayla714]

Thank you both. She ate some food last night finally but now this morning has thrown up. Should we take her the vet today? I haven't found one I like here and the one we had for our last kitten suggested putting him down when he was sick throwing up/ diarrhea. So I'm apprehensive to do make that mistake again. I see @Dr. Jeff has availability tomorrow so I will schedule that and if needed I can take her in today just to get her temp and whatever else you think may be helpful for tomorrows phone call.

 

[Cayla714]

Just to update, she is also having diarrhea now

 

[Dr. Jeff]

can we book a zoom session with you for homeopath?

I do indeed work as HA! members vet homeopath as long as they also have a local vet for exams, diagnostics, fluids (if needed).

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perhaps having the vet check her out, temp, stool sample, consider fluids, etc. would be helpful.

Yes, it would.

take her in today just to get her temp and whatever else you think may be helpful for tomorrows phone call.

Yes!

Cayla, you mentioned an episode of vomiting and diarrhea. Has her BEAM and playfulness also dropped? Was the vomiting of food, fluid, once or more than once?

And was the diarrhea watery, pudding, etc? Once or more than once?

Is she drinking?

 

[Cayla714]

Her BEAM has definitely dropped. Shes pretty lethargic now. Vomit was clear fluid, no food and only once. Diarrhea was pudding like and only once. We took her into Blue Pearl were she had a few tests done, everything was negative. They sent us home with a probiotic and dewormer and gave her a sub-cutaneous IV to help hydrate her and something for her nausea. When we got there she had a fever of 103.8 but when we left it had dropped back down to normal. Since being back home she has eaten a small portion of wet food the vet gave us.

I booked a 15 min appointment with you tomorrow because I didn’t realize there was another way to book. Should I cancel that and go through the link you sent instead?

 

[Dr. Jeff]

gave her a sub-cutaneous

Fantastic! SQ fluids are actually one of the great conventional ways to support natural healing.

Should I cancel that and go through the link you sent instead?

Nope, your best bet is to keep our HMDM call tomorrow.

Since our starting to work 1:1 is a much more time intensive, and ideally lifelong process, a great place to start would be by reading the links on the page I sent.

Then please submit the new client form and schedule a 1 hour initial evaluation.

Please also ask your regular local vet and ER vet to email their records.

If you have any questions about this process, just ask Kim at [email protected] or send me a private message via the forum.

BTW-Do you have any homeopathic remedies in the house or that are readily available locally?