New kitten help!! Eating litter and not food

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kai_32
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New kitten help!! Eating litter and not food

Post by kai_32 »

So I’ve had my kitten for about a week now he’s 11 weeks old and when we first bought him home he took a day or two to settle in (kept him in my bedroom only). Used litter tray with no problems, was eating and drinking fine but I let him into the rest of the house a day or two ago and he’s been really jumpy since and runs away really quickly when he hears someone, say, coming down the stairs.

I also changed his litter yesterday (used a new one because the initial bag I bought was way too small) and has started trying to eat his litter sometimes (it’s non clumping) and I’ve had to take him out the litter tray a few times and try and get the litter out of his mouth, which I think he’s now a bit annoyed at me for. He also digs at this new litter a lot more and kicks it out in the process, which I don’t mind cleaning up but not sure why he now kicks it out when the other one was fine? He’s also not eating or drinking as much as he did in the first few days, don’t really know what I should be doing to try and help him feel at ease or get him to eat more so any advice would be greatly appreciated!

He does love it when I stroke him to help him fall asleep and he loves playing with me but isn’t super affectionate other than that at the moment, but has only been a week so wouldn’t expect him to be yet anyway.
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Mollycat
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Re: New kitten help!! Eating litter and not food

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The obvious answer would seem to be to go back to the old litter that he didn't eat, or am I missing something?

It might be the whole house is a bit overwhelming for him just at the moment, maybe give him longer in one room? But it's very normal to be jumpy about new noises so it's probably going to happen sooner or later when the door is thrown open to him.

And yes kittens as far as I remember don't seem all that into affection but more than happy to fall asleep stealing your warmth, just keep stroking and handling but do respect when the kitten really doesn't want that. Forcing isn't helpful, lots of encouragement is great.
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Re: New kitten help!! Eating litter and not food

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I would also say go back to the original litter, if you had no issues with the original one
kai_32
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Re: New kitten help!! Eating litter and not food

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Mollycat wrote: Tue May 18, 2021 5:13 am The obvious answer would seem to be to go back to the old litter that he didn't eat, or am I missing something?

It might be the whole house is a bit overwhelming for him just at the moment, maybe give him longer in one room? But it's very normal to be jumpy about new noises so it's probably going to happen sooner or later when the door is thrown open to him.

And yes kittens as far as I remember don't seem all that into affection but more than happy to fall asleep stealing your warmth, just keep stroking and handling but do respect when the kitten really doesn't want that. Forcing isn't helpful, lots of encouragement is great.
Yeah so the only thing is the litter I was using was one for kittens from the kitten section in pets at home, which if I need to change as he grows older, I thought it might be easier to adjust him now? I realised I probably should’ve used a different litter to start with hence why I changed it after a week.

Or do you think maybe I can mix the two and gradually get him used to this one or do I just need to keep trying other litters? I have two trays so can trial one? Or can I just continue using kitten litter for him?

And yeah of course!! We let him come to us on his own terms and don’t force him to interact with us. He’s warming up a bit and getting less jumpy as each day goes, so hopefully in his own time he’ll settle in.
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Re: New kitten help!! Eating litter and not food

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booktigger wrote: Tue May 18, 2021 6:37 am I would also say go back to the original litter, if you had no issues with the original one
Yeah I’ll buy more of the original litter for now anyway, he hates it when we try and get the litter out of his mouth but he chews on it and I assume it’s not safe for them to be swallowing (it is non clumping but still). Thanks !!
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Re: New kitten help!! Eating litter and not food

Post by booktigger »

What brand of litter is it? I've never seen a kitten only one in Pets at Home, mine only has a separate section for kitten food/trears
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Re: New kitten help!! Eating litter and not food

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https://www.petsathome.com/shop/en/pets ... er-8-litre# It’s this one - it’s a different material to the catsan one, maybe that’s why he doesn’t like it?
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Re: New kitten help!! Eating litter and not food

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Kitten litter, whatever next? Sorry to sound like a grouch but last time I had a kitten we had litter and that was that, it was clay and it wasn't scented or clumping or anything fancy, it was just Fuller's earth, and it was fine for use by mothers to train 4 week old kittens and for the rest of that kitten's life. They really will do anything to encourage us to spend more.
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Re: New kitten help!! Eating litter and not food

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I know sounds really silly in retrospect, this is my first cat and wasn’t even sure how much litter we’d need so I only wanted to pick up a small bag (was very cheap too!), obvs realised within the first week that I can’t be buying litter in 8L bags so ordered larger bags of another one.

I’ve bought some regular pets at home brand unscented clay non clumping litter since they didn’t have the original one I used, and it looks virtually the same minus the scent, so am just praying he doesn’t try and eat this one. Defo a steep learning curve with getting a kitten
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Re: New kitten help!! Eating litter and not food

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Ok never mind wasn’t actually that cheap in comparison
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Re: New kitten help!! Eating litter and not food

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kai_32 wrote: Tue May 18, 2021 6:58 pm I know sounds really silly in retrospect,

Defo a steep learning curve with getting a kitten
No it's not silly at all, when you're not sure you're right to ask, it's not you that sounds silly it's the stuff they think up to sell us.

Yes they certainly are, huge worry and huge joy, and something to teach us daily for many years to come. Enjoy every minute, they don't stay kittens very long!
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Re: New kitten help!! Eating litter and not food

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Well, I have to say, I've never noticed that in Pets at Home!! I can see a lot of people thinking it's a great idea, unfortunately Pets at Home does make people think they need to have specific (and quite often expensive) things - one thing I used to say to people when I was homing cats was to think how much use you'll get from things, Pets at Home do a lot of kitten items, but if you buy a kitten scratching post for example, it's not going to get all that much use before they are too big to play with it - I had one litter of kittens who completely bypassed the kitten litter trays, they just used them as a way to get in mum's adult one (I only used them till they were 7-8 weeks old, then they got adult one). Kitten food is the same, it might be beneficial when they are really tiny (although Felix, unlike Whiskas, don't reduce the size of the chunks), but it really isn't essential, and certainly not till they are a whole year old - it's partly the reason why a lot of cats end up overweight, as it has more protein which is great while they are growing, but once they have been neutered, they don't need the same amount.
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Re: New kitten help!! Eating litter and not food

Post by kai_32 »

Yeah, you’re definitely right, had been planning to get a kitten for ages but it all happened so last min and I had only an hour before pets at home closed to grab some stuff so did my first shop without looking anything up and ended up not using the kitten litter tray or bed. Skipped the kitten section for my next shop because it’s really not worth it.

Okay and that’s really interesting to know, the people I bought him off said that he would try and eat his mother’s food over his own kitten food anyway, so will make that switch over to adult food soon.
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Re: New kitten help!! Eating litter and not food

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Mollycat wrote: Tue May 18, 2021 7:19 pm
kai_32 wrote: Tue May 18, 2021 6:58 pm I know sounds really silly in retrospect,

Defo a steep learning curve with getting a kitten
No it's not silly at all, when you're not sure you're right to ask, it's not you that sounds silly it's the stuff they think up to sell us.

Yes they certainly are, huge worry and huge joy, and something to teach us daily for many years to come. Enjoy every minute, they don't stay kittens very long!
Yeah so easy to!! Definitely completely avoid any kitten targeted items now, extra costs for no reason since it’ll all need replacing eventually anyway.

And yeah for sure making the most of him as a kitten :)
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Re: New kitten help!! Eating litter and not food

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booktigger wrote: Tue May 18, 2021 8:09 pm Well, I have to say, I've never noticed that in Pets at Home!! I can see a lot of people thinking it's a great idea, unfortunately Pets at Home does make people think they need to have specific (and quite often expensive) things - one thing I used to say to people when I was homing cats was to think how much use you'll get from things, Pets at Home do a lot of kitten items, but if you buy a kitten scratching post for example, it's not going to get all that much use before they are too big to play with it - I had one litter of kittens who completely bypassed the kitten litter trays, they just used them as a way to get in mum's adult one (I only used them till they were 7-8 weeks old, then they got adult one). Kitten food is the same, it might be beneficial when they are really tiny (although Felix, unlike Whiskas, don't reduce the size of the chunks), but it really isn't essential, and certainly not till they are a whole year old - it's partly the reason why a lot of cats end up overweight, as it has more protein which is great while they are growing, but once they have been neutered, they don't need the same amount.
It's not even limited to kitten things really, I mean trays and bowls, yes, properly balanced nutritious food yes, catnip and other toys yes, even the convenience of scratching posts and platforms ready made as an easy dedicated kitty playground. But cats sleep on beds, sofas, piles of clean washing, window sills, random blankets and cushions, fridge tops, carpeted floors, under beds, anywhere they curl up. Any old saucer was fine for cat food when most people had piles of assorted plates and cutlery and before we became obsessed with everything matching. Some people had their favourite fork or plate or spoon, remember? Litter trays were lined with newspaper, not purpose bought plastic for them to tear through. Come to think of it a cardboard box, a ball of scrunched up paper or a bit of string offers hours of entertainment.

And that is an excellent point, neuter at 4-5 months in case of accidental pregnancy yet keep on with kitten food until a year old, it does seem a bit odd. Don't they just eat a bit more if they're hungry? And for extra protein, instead of Dreamies for treats, give them some real meat to get savage with. I'm starting to sound like a proper old grouch and actually it's quite fun!
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