My Feral Kitten Won't Eat

Stray or feral kittens make fine pets for people willing to tame and care for them. Like other cats, they require a high-quality, balanced diet to stay healthy. Kittens have special dietary needs that you must take care to meet. PetEducation.com estimates that healthy kittens should gain from 50 to 100 grams of weight per week. The cause for your stray kitten's lack of appetite may be as serious as a disease or as mundane as not liking its food.

  1. Parasites

    • Being outdoors exposes feral cats to appetite-suppressing health issues. Parasites, such as tapeworms, roundworms, giardia and hookworms come from eating infected rodents or fleas. Parasites also may infect a kitten through its mother's milk. In young kittens, untreated parasites cause health problems in addition to a lack of appetite. Kittens may develop intestinal blockages or anemia.

    Diseases

    • Diseases cause lack of appetite in feral kittens. This includes feline leukemia virus and feline immunodeficiency virus. Feral cats that stay outdoors have a greater chance of contracting these diseases through contact with other infected cats.

    Solutions

    • For young kittens or emergency situations, place formula into a syringe. Place the syringe into a corner of the kitten's mouth and depress the plunger. Sometimes, the act of eating will awaken a kitten's appetite. If not, continue force-feeding it, and take your cat to a veterinarian. In less serious circumstances, try placing a dab of chicken-flavored baby food on the kitten's nose. When the kitten licks its nose to remove the food, the taste may entice it to eat more. Also, try changing the kitten's food. If you're feeding it dry food, try moist or canned. Experiment with a different brand.

    Warnings

    • If your feral kitten won't eat, watch for other signs of disease, such as a rough coat, vomiting, diarrhea, lethargy and weight loss. Take your kitten to a veterinarian at the first sign of trouble, or if you still can't get it to eat. Even if your kitten regains its appetite, you should have it dewormed and tested for disease. Until you know if the kitten is ill, keep it away from your pets or other feral cats, so as not to spread any disease or parasites.