Kitten Advice Needed!

[Latekin]

Might give the Nutrical a go with Dobby. He puked again today, although we think we may have found the cause. The kitties have non-toxic crystal litter to go to the bathroom in, and I think when his brother kicked some out Dobby ate a few crystals. While they're non-toxic, they do kind of fizz up in water, and I suspect when it fizzed in his belly he barfed it up. I guess he thinks they're like poopy pop rocks.

[Kittish]

Awww, your kitties are so cute!!

Something no one has mentioned is WHY you should give kittens kitten formula food and not adult food. They need (odd and counter-intuitive as it may sound) somewhat lower protein diets than adult cats do. Apparently adult formula food causes them to grow TOO fast, and results in bone issues. With this in mind, perhaps you might consider waiting a few months before you add extra calories to Dobby's food. Skinny and lanky and (frankly) looking half starved is a normal phase for most kittens, kind of like when most human kids do the bit where they shoot upwards and suddenly look like stick people. As long as the cats are eating regularly, not puking too often, and peeing and pooping properly you should be good.

Another thing no one else has mentioned- if it's at all possible, have their food in a different room from the litter box, or at the very least clear across the room from it. This helps keep litter from getting in their food, and besides, would YOU want to eat your meals in the bathroom? Sitting next to the toilet? Neither does your cat. A mat of some kind that extends well beyond the box can help reduce the amount of scatter.

[Latekin]

That's why I only give them kitten food. All their food is kitten food. Dobby worries me with his skinnyness because he went off his food, refuses to eat anything besides the wet food, which seems to upset his tummy, and his hip bones and pelvic bones are jutting. With the lack of energy he displays, this is worrying me.

Added to that when I called the cat haven to speak to the vet, her first words were "wait, X at the front desk told you about his food allergies, right?"

Um no. Looks like x will be getting a severe reprimand and Dobs will be on bioled chicken bits until his tummy recovers. He's always been skinny, but his sudden weight drop was concerning.

With regards to the litter tray issue, it's in the same room, but tucked away in a sort of walled off area within that room, well away from their food. Dobby just kicked a bit of crystal away in play and decided to eat it.

[Seshat]

Consider switching them to a litter Dobby won't eat - alright, I'm being Captain Obvious, but .. well.


We use one of the compressed paper-waste litters. If the kittens have never used anything like it, switch them over gradually - a mix of 3/4 the old, 1/4 the new, then 1/2 and 1/2, then 1/4 and 3/4. We find it quite cheap and effective, and both ElderlyCat and the big white boy used it fine. (Past tense because Elderly is no longer with us.)
Pick out the poopy bits and compost them, and the rest can be tipped onto your garden as mulch. The predator-smell will keep some of the prey animals away from your plants!


Hm. Yes, 'went off his food' 'refuses to eat anything but X' 'X irritates his tummy' - I'd be calling the vet too.
And I hope the front desk person gets a severe chewing out from the vet. And even more so, that the boiled chicken bits help Dobby!

I trust the vet has a long term food plan for Dobby - cats need nutrients they won't get from an all-muscle-meat diet. At the minimum, they need a nutrient that's primarily found in brain meat: it's one of the things their bodies don't make. (Like humans and guinea pigs are the only mammals that don't make vitamin C.)

[fireheart]

Another one for the compressed litter. My parents use breeders choice and it works wonders. It's also not as heavy as it looks lol.
Plus, when the bags empty, it makes a great play thing (seriously, our fur butts would roll around in it once it was empty and then pounce it too )

[Kittish]

I tried switching over to a compressed paper type litter (Yesterday's News), I've also tried going to a compressed corncob type (Feline Pine). My cats don't like them. They vastly prefer the clay based litters.

Did the vet also tell you what kind of food Dobby can eat? Agreed, looking skinny and lanky during a growth spurt is one thing, sudden weight loss is another altogether. Hope he's feeling frisky again quickly.

[Latekin]

I'm guessing you're referring to Taurine Seshat?

As for litter, we're debating a switch to what y'all are suggesting. Looks like they've stopped eating it for now, but if they do have a "yaaaay poop-rocks" moment, we'll be doing a switch until they get over their everything is edible stage.

Vet says for now, boiled chicken until his appetite is back, and the nutripet/nutrigel's a good idea because it apparently helps with getting appetite back? Once it's back, we'll be stopping in to the shelter to get the food the vet recommends. Poor bub, suffering because the desk lady couldn't be bothered telling us about his allergies. Kinda incredibly mad at her right now.

[MoonCat]

Good point, Seshat! Cats need taurine, something they won't get in plain chicken, which is otherwise good for them - easy to digest. It is possible to make your own cat food but you would need a professionally-created recipe to make sure he gets all of the minerals, vitamins, etc, that he needs.

They really are adorable. Dobby is really well named, he actually looks like Dobby from the HP films!

[Latekin]

I know about the taurine thing, one of my little random qualifications was animal handling. While it mostly covered dogs and adult cats, the one thing the lecturers always specified is that unless you're making sure your cat is getting taurine, it may go blind or suffer heart complications.

Well, the good news is that he's eating without vomiting again, and the food we got from the vet is going down alright. I'm guessing the gel kick started his appetite a bit. We discovered that both he and Harry have been drinking less because both of the kittens have been going into the bathroom at night, and licking our roommates legs after he showers. Harry even tries to get into the shower with people. Dobby'll even try and get into the shower with you. Little weirdos.

[fireheart]

Well, the good news is that he's eating without vomiting again, and the food we got from the vet is going down alright. I'm guessing the gel kick started his appetite a bit. We discovered that both he and Harry have been drinking less because both of the kittens have been going into the bathroom at night, and licking our roommates legs after he showers. Harry even tries to get into the shower with people. Dobby'll even try and get into the shower with you. Little weirdos.

Hey, see if they will It'd be an interesting pic...

[Seshat]

Taurine! Yes, that's the most critical of them.

Thank you. Had the most horrid brain fart and it would NOT go away. Couldn't think of the word for the life of me, and couldn't even think of how to google for it. And you know me - normally I'm a google-maestro.


Bah. Ah well, these things happen to the best of us. And also to me.

[BlaqueKatt]

Harry even tries to get into the shower with people. Dobby'll even try and get into the shower with you. Little weirdos.

Cats "fear" water because we teach them to, they fear cars for the same reason(dogs are raised with both being regular activities, cats are not-unless they're show cats)


For cat foods, Science diet is one of the worst(but they charge a premium for it),as far as nutrition goes-more info on best cat foods here

Also wet food is necessary as cats don't have a natural thirst drive(they evolved to get water from their food) pet nutrition expalined

[Dreamstalker]

Murphy loves being in the bathroom when someone's getting in the shower; he's fascinated with the running water and will try to 'catch' it. But get a few drops on him and he can't get out fast enough.

Thanks for that pet food site; I didn't know about it. I have an aunt who feeds her cat--he's HUGE, might be a bit obese but try telling her that--the dry Fancy Feast on the list...she likes the cheapo foods (her previous cat got nothing but FF and we suspect kitty had a few deficiencies/raging allergies due to it). Over the holidays, I brought some of the Blue Buffalo dry food we have; he scarfed it down and was at my heels looking for more. We bought her a bag but I don't think she's going to do anything with it.

You can get prepackaged frozen raw food (we indulge Murf with a raw food salmon formula every so often), but it might be too rich for kitten tummies. Do you know what Dobby's allergic to?

[Latekin]

Wheat. Which, looking at the stuff we got given, appears on their ingredients. It may be why Dobby's been loosing weight and is all lethargic. I just want my little guy to be up and bouncing around again. It's freaking tragic seeing him so slow and listless. The vomiting stopped with the nutripet gel intro and the boiled chicken, but he's still so tired looking all the time. Granted, this is only day two of the new diet/no vomiting/recovery period, but I'm going to call a different vet tomorrow and get an opinion on whether or not to bring him in. I'm hoping his appetite comes back gradually. Partner said he ate a lot this morning, so maybe it's not unusual that he's tired tonight. I'm stressing a lot. His brother's doing really well, no problems with him, but it'd break my heart to see anything happen to Dobby, he's such a smoochy little guy and my little cuddle bug.

(My partner said some of his meekness may be because he's realised he gets a lot of attention from me by moping. It might be true, I'm one of those people that fusses over sick animals something chronic....)

[Seshat]

If he's mopier around you than around your partner, you're teaching him to mope-for-attention. (No, I'm not criticising you: caring for the sick is a good drive to have.)


After I was allergen-tested (prick test method), and we started taking the things I showed a reaction to out of my diet, I started feeling sick/lethargic. The doctor said it was, at least in part, because my body had been overloaded with toxins (mostly the allergens) and been unable to shed them all; so it had stored some of the excess in the body fat and other such places.
Now that there was less incoming toxin, the blood could pull the toxins out of storage and carry them to the liver and kidneys for processing and shedding.

I had 20 years of stored toxins to shed. Dobby has 6 months or so? So Dobby - despite a smaller liver and kidneys - should cheer up much sooner.


DO verify this with your vet. DO make sure Dobby is getting taurine, plus the other necessities. DO make sure the pair of ankle-grabbers eat diets which are 90% (or more) grain-free in future.
A little bit of plant matter is no problem: cats will cheerfully eat the stomach and intestines of herbivores, including stomach and intestine contents (ie, plant matter). But almost all of their digestive system is designed to be carnivorous.