# Cat too distracted to eat?



## valer4ik (Sep 11, 2011)

Hi all. Yesterday I took Juliette for her last set of vaccinations (she's 17 weeks now) and the vet said that she needs to gain some weight, which was a bit of surprise for me. She is 3lb15oz, which puts her in the right weight according to some chart that I found online. But the vet said that she can see that Juliette is "built" to be bigger (maybe her bones are wider, I don't know). She is a scottish fold, which is one of the bigger breeds, so maybe the vet is right. The problem is Juliette doesn't eat much. She is very active and gets easily distracted, so I was thinking maybe she's just too distracted to eat? When she eats her wet food, she stops after a few minutes and paws the floor - a sign that she's done. But if I hand-feed her at this moment, she will eat more. Sometimes if I'm persistent enough, we go through several rounds of hand-feeding, pawing the floor, and then I chase her around the apartment and she eats some more. But I can't do this all the time, got my own life and all  Is there a way to help her gain a bit weight? Looking at her now I think that maybe the vet is right, she does seem a bit skinny. She also had a URI recently, for which she was treated with antibiotics. The URI seems to be gone now, but she's not eating more. She's more active than she was when she had it though. Any advice? 
Also, she has dry food available all the time, but she doesn't show much interest in it either...


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## MowMow (Nov 6, 2010)

If it were one of mine I would offer lots of tiny meals. Put a tbsp down for her and let her finish it. Do that throughout the day.

Do you warm her wet food up? You could put a little hot water in it to make it warm.


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## valer4ik (Sep 11, 2011)

I usually don't warm her food up - maybe that's a good idea, thanks. Can't feed her more than three times a day, since I'm at work during the day... the vet suggested using an interactive "feeder" - basically a ball with holes in it that you fill with dry food and let the cat roll it around. As it rolls, the food will fall out and that is supposed to motivate the cat to eat/make it more interesting. Not sure I like the idea of food being everywhere in the apartment though


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