Picky Eater=Thin Kitty

[freckledimple]

I could use some advice, please. Piggy(10 mo-old) is a picky eater, and is looking a little too thin. Piggy has always been a little on the thin side(except as a baby), but now she's a little too thin for our tastes:confused: All of our other cats are either a little overweight or normal. I think it may be a combination of diet change and first heats. We have begun transitioning our kitties to a raw diet, and the only thing she will nibble on is a little ground turkey. All of the other cats enjoy the raw food, but Piggy just sniffs(maybe a lick or two) and walks away:p We are still giving her dry kitten food. We would like for her to put on a little weight before we get her spayed, but are at a loss on how to do this.
She is still active, her coat looks good, eyes are clear, and poop is solid. Her waist dips in, her ribs stick out(can't count them, though), and her hips aren't quite pointy. Technically, I think she would be considered underweight, but not emaciated. We don't want her to become emaciated:(
She's always been picky about food, even as a baby. When all of the other kittens would voraciously attack the moist food, she would give it a sniff and go for the kibble:rolleyes: This has continued as she has grown. We've tried all kinds of moist food, fish juices, raw egg, cooked egg, beef, chicken, turkey, etc.... She really likes dairy and dog food, but we limit her intake of both.
Is there anything else we can try? Thank you:)

[Freedom]

I guess my first thought is, have you ruled out health issues? Has the vet looked her over, maybe done blood work?

Could she have teeth issues? I know she is young, so it wouldn't be tartar build up :) - but maybe something she was born with?

Any reason you can't just feed her the kibble she loves? (I know she can't have the dog food or the dairy but earlier on you said she likes a kibble).

[Catty1]

Definitely get the teeth checked. If they are ok, could be a bit of thyroid problem, very easily treated. Possibly diabetes too. But the "pickiness" makes me wonder about soreness in the gums or teeth.

See what the vet says, and please keep us posted.

[freckledimple]

Piggy is healthy and her teeth are good; she's just really picky about her food:rolleyes:
We're all of us, trying to eat healthier;) We eat organic when it's available/affordable, and the rest of the cats are doing well on their raw diet. We're even transitioning the dogs to raw. We've read about the benefits of raw feeding, and wish our kitties to be healthy. One of our cats is overweight, and another is trying to be. Raw feeding is supposed to help maintain a healthy weight. Our CH baby is even maintaining her weight well, being fed raw. Piggy continues to nibble her kibble; she's even picky about that:p

PS. My grandparents' had a poodle that had to be PTS at 17 yrs old. They only ever fed her cooked chicken or beef. Good enough proof for me.

[Freedom]

Sure, I understand. I switched my crew of 14 to grain free foods.

But with a picky one, isn't the goal for her to be healthy? Get her weight back up, stabilize, and then try altering her foods again.

If she continues to LOSE weight, none of you wins the battle!

[freckledimple]

We aren't denying her her kibble:eek: I was hoping for some suggestions to expand her diet, to get her to eat more, quantity and variety. Her weight loss started around the time of her first heats. Of course, her weight loss could look more dramatic to me; because her brother, Runt, has put on more than his fair share:rolleyes: I'm just stuck on what else to try on her.
We're looking into the ingredients of the dry dog food she likes to see if there is a cat food alternative, and we're supplementing her diet with smilk and KMR.
I just thought someone may have an idea I hadn't tried, yet:confused:

[krazyaboutkatz]

My Pearl has always been a picky eater and sometimes she'd rather play than eat. All of my cats are on a grain free diet. They all eat Innova Evo dry as well as the 95% Duck and 95% Venison Innova Evo canned. They also eat Natural Instinct canned Lamb and Rabbit. They all love the canned food except for Pearl. Sometimes she'll eat a little bit of it but for the most part she'll only eat the dry food. I just let her eat the dry and it's still a good food for her because it's very high in protein and grain free. Maybe you could try Innova Evo or another brand of grain free dry food for Piggy. Good luck.:)

My cat Ziggy has the nickname "Ziggy The Piggy" but it suits her because she loves to eat and she's a huge cat especially for a female. One question I have is why haven't you spayed your females yet or is Piggy the only one that isn't spayed yet due to her weight? Hopefully all of the males have been neutered or they might start spraying.

[freckledimple]

My cat Ziggy has the nickname "Ziggy The Piggy" but it suits her because she loves to eat and she's a huge cat especially for a female.

Our Piggy is called Piggy, because when she was a teeny baby she was the fattest of the litter:Dhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/freckledimple/3790467637/in/set-72157621828765865/

One question I have is why haven't you spayed your females yet or is Piggy the only one that isn't spayed yet due to her weight? Hopefully all of the males have been neutered or they might start spraying.

Piggy and Phoebe are our only kitties not spayed. Phoebe(CH baby) is still intact because she came in for the first time at 2 1/2 yrs old:eek: Runt, Piggy's brother, was our only intact male; so off to the vet he went. His pocket picking turned into a tummy tuck when they had to go looking for his second testicle($$):p Phoebe's tummy tuck has to wait until we can get her sinus problems under control(x-rays, meds, blood tests...$$) So, Piggy, being skinny but otherwise healthy, gets to wait:rolleyes:
We'll check out some of those grain free foods and see if she might like any;)

PS. ALL of our cats are house cats.

[Freedom]

We aren't denying her her kibble:eek:

Sorry, didn't mean it the way it came across!! LOL

[ginalovesfelines]

I know what you are going thru......we switched over to raw for all our animals about a year ago. Everyone took well except Susie, she has just refused to take it on. Her weight dipped and we were very worried about her for a few weeks. Best advice we got was to find a high quality wet food that was similar to the raw diet we are offering, then go 50/50 until we could give 100% raw. We used OmniPro (http://purfectcatsupply.com/p-371-omnipro-holistic-cat-food.aspx) cat food, the salmon and tuna is high in protein and helped her put on the weight....THANK GOODNESS!!!! Good luck and be patient. It will all work out in the end.:love:

[freckledimple]

Well, Piggy is continuing to eat her kibble well; and all the other's LOVE their raw diet;) It seems Piggy's weight loss was due to a growth spurt:rolleyes: She's getting looooong:eek: She's probably not ever going to be a "full-figured" kitty, but there's nothing wrong with that:cool:
Thanks for all the advice, and hopefully we can find a moist our little picky eater will like:D

[krazyaboutkatz]

I'm glad to hear that it's only from a growth spurt and nothing else.:) My Pearl was also a bit chubby as a kitten and I called her "Buddha Kitty". As she grew she became longer and leaner and she's now my petite little girl at only about 8-9lbs. She's also my picky eater.