need to fatten up my kitten

[tricia beaver]

I have a 6 month old kitten who is all skin and bones. I took him to the vet about 3 weeks ago because he was sleeping almost 24/7 and oblivious to everything. They told me he has juvenile gingivitis and that it would go away when his adult teeth came in. Well they came in and he is more active. And his gums are a lot less red then before. However he is really skinny and weak, and wont clean himself. I have been feeding him wet food three times a day with dry food out all the time. I know he doesn't have worms but he is really skinny. And for some reason he keep licking our cast iron wood stove, which makes me think he needs more iron.
What can I give him to help him put weight on and maybe add some iron to his diet?

[monkeys23]

Change to prey model raw is what will solve the root of that problem, i.e. the gingivitis. He will likely have periodontal disease however long he is on commercial food. Get the little dude some chicken wings.

[DaneMama]

What food are you feeding him?

He should have his adult teeth by now if he's six months old, so I don't think the gingivitis issue (if thats really what was wrong with him) should be a continuing problem.

Have you had him FIV (feline leukemia) tested?

[tricia beaver]

He is eating 9 lives plus care dry food with friskies wet food. He has been tested and it came up negative. I do plan on putting him, my 2 other cats and my dogs on Raw but it has to wait till I have the money for a freezer big enough for the meat.
I will be getting him some liver tomorrow for iron and see if it helps. He did have bad looking teeth before the adult one came in but there is definitely something else causing this. I want to get him into a different vet soon for another opinion.

[3Musketeers]

I would recommend to get him off the 9lives and friskies food asap, and feed a higher quality food for the meantime, to see if it changes anything.
(9lives and friskies use a lot of soy protein and wheat as the fillers (and corn gluten meal, the dry food).

There are plenty of brands which are more meat inclusive, a few wet foods you can pick up at any local Pet supply store would be:
Merrick 95% meat varieties
Wellness Grain Free
Blue Buffalo Wilderness
Solid Gold
Also, Nature's Variety should be at Petcos now, if you can find it, it's probably the best on this list.

Liver has plenty of iron, so no need to supplement with extra iron. A little cube of liver every day should do him good too, liver has a ton of nutrients in it, vitamin A, all the B vitamins, copper, zinc, etc, etc.

[tricia beaver]

We were planning to get a better food tomorrow so the list will really help us decide on one, thanks!
I was also thinking of picking up kitten or goats milk, something easy to digest to put some weight on him.

[MollyWoppy]

I probably shouldn't be adding to this discussion as I know naught about kittens. But, for what its worth, when I adopted my cat a year or so ago, they told me she was about 2 years old at the time. When I take her to the vets, he tells me Wind has a terrible coat (I managed to get her off the terrible food onto Orijen, Fromm and some, not very much raw). And, it's true, Wind never grooms herself. The vet told me that either Windy was feral (don't think so), or was taken away from her mother way too early and didn't learn to groom. So, now I try to comb her (her favourite is a flea comb) as often as she allows me to.
Maybe your kitten has a similar background?

[DaneMama]

I would not add in any kind of milk supplement or goats milk. Just simply a better food should do the trick.

[tricia beaver]

I know he wasn't feral and he used to clean himself before all this started. He will clean his face but doesn't bother with everything else.

[MollyWoppy]

I know he wasn't feral and he used to clean himself before all this started. He will clean his face but doesn't bother with everything else.

Oh, that must be quite odd then (I think). You know, if he was my cat, I'd change his food for a really good protein heavy one, both the kibble and the canned - hopefully he'll change over without any problems. And, I think I'd take him back to the vet and tell them about the stove licking and how he's won't clean himself and how he just won't put on weight. Maybe they'll think it's necessary to do a blood test and see if he's lacking anything?
I hope he starts putting on weight soon, poor little thing.