Thank you to everyone who gave me advice about convincing my kitten Misty to eat last weekend! She nibbled all week, I’m pretty sure the advice I got here is the only reason she ate anything! She’s so skinny, but I have some good news!
First, we found a type of wet food she REALLY likes. It’s more expensive but she ate half a can in the last 12 hours, where she didn’t eat that much of the other foods in 2 days. Plus, she will drink water a drop at a time off my mom’s finger so she’s getting a little of the liquid she would miss from the formula (that she won’t eat). The nutrient paste someone recommended last week should arrive today too, along with a cat-safe heating pad for overnights (our house gets COLD at night from fall till march, and she’s still itty-bitty).
Second, our vet is awesome, he prescribed something to help with her diarrhea and calculated the dose himself for me to pick up in less than an hour! (apparently pharmacies don’t carry “tiny kitten dosage” for medicine). She has made a solid BM for the first time in a week. We are also treating an eye infection, and bathing/brushing for fleas (she is too young for any flea treatment, so it’s Dawn only for now).
Third, she’s finally starting to play again now that she has some energy from food! Her favorite is still the string, but she also really likes the old cardboard scratching thing that we disassembled after our other cat shredded it. She’s small enough that it’s actually a tunnel if we lay it on the ground, and she likes climbing it too!
Speaking of climbing, Misty is a shoulder cat! If she’s being held, she will claw her way up the shirt to tuck under the neck or perch on the shoulder. She watches movies like that, and will also cling while being carried around the house! She finally found her voice, too! She will now squeak loud enough to wake me up at night when she needs something, so I’m no longer relying on multiple alarms to go check on her.
And finally, our adult cat really likes her! He is skeptical of letting her actually touch him, but he likes sniffing her and watching her. If she is squeaking for attention and I don’t come get her (like because I just put her in her tent so I can do the dishes), the adult will come get me and do his “something is wrong” dance until I tell him the kitten is ok!
Thank you again for all your advice, it was a lot more specific than what I could find online on my own!
