we got our Jelly about a month ago and after the first couple of days of stress she was always eating fine, loved all the treats (dreamis and liquid snacks and what have you) but lately she has been eating less it seems and tho she does grow quite a bit she seems to be getting thinner and thinner...
she is not much of a run-around-and-play-all-day-kitten like her brother and sleeps most of the day
lately she also seems uninterested in all treats (except the liquid one) and wetfood, she just eats little bits of dry food all the time. Last night i weighted both our kittens and Jelly weighs around 1050g while her brother weighs around 1230g, i tried to find something online that would tell me how much 4 months old kittens should weigh but found nothing and i really dont know if i should be concerned or not...
besides being so thin she seems fine, she plays with her brother (cause he leaves her no choice lol) comes to us for cuddles and naps and drinks regulary.

im just wondering if it would be better to take her to the vet or not... is she way to skinny or does it just seem that way next to the eating machine that is her brother? ive never owned kittens before so im a bit clueless and pretty much worried about them all the time -.-;;

For your own peace of mind if nothing else I would take her to the vets for a check up. She is underweight, infact they both are. The fact she's gone off her food and sleeps most of the day is also a little concerning and not usual for a kitten of her age, hopefully she's fine but I definitely would nip her into the vets to make sure.

I would advise a vet visit to make sure she is OK. She could be poorly with something that doesn't seem obvious.

Both kittens are under weight hun, for 4 months old they should ideally weigh at least 1.6kg. So it's worth getting them both checked over.

Providing they check out as healthy at the vets I would withdraw all treats (definately the liquid one, which I presume is treat kitten milk?), so the only thing they can eat is proper food. What food are you giving them, and what amounts? Can you describe a typical day of feeding for them ... what you give in amounts, how long it's left out for etc etc?

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I would certainly take her to the vets for a check-up. Regardless of the fact male kittens will eat more the fact she's losing weigh combined with relative loss of appetite needs to be investigated.

In the meantime I'd try a different wet food and see if her appetite improves.

oh no they are both underweight?! i guess ill really take them to the vet this week to see what/if there is anything wrong with them >_<
that liquid treat is a sort of meat paste they just lick up, they only get that one once or twice a week, the dry food is from royal canin (its what they got at the rescue and we bought 2 x 4kg packs cause then the rescue gets free kitten milk for bottle feeding rescues) and we leave this out pretty much all day with me changing it out once a day. With the wet food ive just started experimenting with a local supermarket brand (they pretty much only have a cheap and more expensive version and whiskas which i read isnt so great? ) Pebbles loves them all and he would finish both bowls if i let him, the wet food is usually out for a couple of hours until Pebbles has finished his, Jelly just isnt interested in it at all after the first try where she finished her whole bowl and growled at her brother when he tried to snack on hers

Can you weigh them both daily on some digital scales that weigh by the gram? At least until you can get them in to the vet. If they are losing weight I would get them to a vet ASAP as that is a sure sign they are poorly.

Go have a peep at Hobbs2004's A-Z wet food thread There are lots of foods to choose from. With kitties that are underweight it will be harder to get them gaining on the foods you currently feed than if you try something with a higher meat content. Foods like Whiskas are full of fillers, so that is waste really and will fill them up with stuff that they don't need ... so something with a high meat content will be all good for them. Hope that makes more sense to you than it does me reading it back

It's important to note though, that any food change should be done really slow especially with kittens that are already underweight. Because a sudden food change can trigger diarrhea which would in turn cause more weight loss. Typically a food change should be done over 2 weeks to be safe, but with underweight kittens I would do it over a slightly longer period. You give them what you are currently feeding minus 1 teaspoon full, that one teaspoon full should be the new chosen food. Each day you gradually increase the amount of new food, whilst decreasing the old food at the same time. So eventually the last meal before a full swap should be all new food except for 1 teaspoon full of old food.

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yea i can weigh them daily and will do that now to see if there is any change (not easy to make them sit still for a second tho lol)

pfff just reading through the food topics and royal canin is full of fillers...? that stuff is about 35€ per 4kg bag *sigh* what a waste of money ._. why do they feed this at the rescue if they can get much better food for probably cheaper, i dont understand...
would it be best if i go to the petstore and get some high meat content wet food for them to gain weight and give them less and less of the dry food (maybe i can convince the bf to just donate the rest we have to the shelter after we switched them, they can have it if they think its so awesome -.- ) or should i just keep it the way it is right now as to not risk any upset tummys?
maybe it would be best to see what a vet says...
i also read that they like boiled chicken and wanted to try that do you think that would be a good idea at the moment or rather wait with that until i get the cause of their underweight sorted out?

taking proper care of kittens sure is difficult hah

Hey hun, whereabouts are you in Europe?

i live in Eindhoven in the Netherlands

Not so much an idea for now but you aren't that far away from Germany. Do you ever shop there? If you do, seek out a petshop called Fressnapf. Amongst all sorts of brands, they do two of their own foods that are really good quality for little money (one is Select Gold and the other one escapes me now lol).

In the meantime, do you feed the Whiskas Chunks in Jelly or the pate? If you feed the chunks, have you tried mashing them up a little for the little girl to see whether she will eat more of that. Could you perhaps also heat up her food a little - e.g. put her plate over a bowl of hot water for a short while to see whether the stronger smell whets her appetite?

What do you guys think? Would it make sense to feed some plain cooked chicken? I am sitting on the fence regarding that one.