Hi everyone! Hope everyone is doing well and that wherever you are, the
weather is getting warmer!

I'm asking for advice for a friend of mine. I know it's not ferret
related - it's about a kitten - but I've exhausted all other resources
and since all of you people are so smart and know other animals besides
ferrets, I thought I'd give it a try.

Ok, so my friend, Amy, adopted a kitten from one of those cat adoption
days at the local Petco. The cat wasn't adopted out by the store, a
local rescue organization comes and adopts cats and kittens out every
Sunday. This happened on March 14th. The kitten is nearly 10 weeks
old - she was born on 1-9-2010. Anyway, after a day and a half in her
new home, the kitten still wouldn't eat on her own. Amy took the kitten
to the vet and the vet gave the kitten some subcutaneous fluids and
taught Amy how and what to force feed the kitty until the kitty gets
used to her new home and family. Now , it's important to note that
the kitty has been acting normal except for the eating. She is not
lethargic, she runs and plays and pounces, and she is very alert. The
kitty still won't eat on her own. It has been 3 days now. Amy has been
force feeding her with a syringe. The "food" consists of a liquid
slurry (or duck soup, if you will!) of canned feline A/D and feline
electrolyte formula. Amy loads the soup into the syringe, wraps kitty
in a towel (less scratches this way!), and squirts the soup into
kitty's mouth. Amy does this every 2 hours and feeds a whole syringe -
approx. 6-7 ml. Kitty is still very active and alert and shows no signs
of distress at all. The vets are puzzled. What can we do to get kitty
to eat on her own?

We've tried mixing the dry food with the slurry. We've tried mixing the
canned and dry food. We've tried just offering dry and just offering
canned. We've tried mixing in some no sodium chicken broth. We've tried
mixing in some kitten milk replacer. Kitty just sticks her nose up and
ignores it. Kitty is still drinking lots of water so we're not worried
too much about dehydration. Kitty is also being offered the same food
she was eating before - Science Diet Kitten. Amy wants to switch her to
Wellness but we can't switch until she starts eating on her own. Please
help! Thanks.

[Posted in FML 6640]