Expert: Ali - 9/16/2009

Question
QUESTION: I have a 2.5-month old kitten, and he often does this movement where he juts his chin forward and brings it right back. His head lowers, and neck stretched out forward. It's a quick movement, and he only does it once at a time. He tends to do it after eating, but he's done it other times also. I don't hear any exhaling/inhaling, nor do I hear any other sound. He doesn't seem to be bothered by it. Is it coughing? hiccuping? His brother never does this behavior. Should I be worried?

ANSWER: Michelle,

I have a few questions for you just to get a clearer picture of what's going on so that I can give you the most appropriate advice for your situation.

- Has this kitten been seen by a veterinarian within the last couple of weeks?

- Did that vet check inside the kitten's mouth to see that his hard palate is intact?

- If you happen to be very close to the kitten when he does this do you notice anything beyond the odd positioning of his head and neck?

- Does this kitten go outside?

- What kind of diet is this kitten eating?

- Does this kitten tend to eat quickly?

- How long have you had this kitten?

Once you've sent along the answers to these questions I should be able to give you a better idea of what's going on with this kitten and whether or not it's something to be concerned about. Hopefully I'll be able to point you in the right direction once I have all of the information necessary to give me a clearer picture of what's going on. I look forward to seeing your responses and I will do my very best to help you out once I have more information about this kitten and this behavior.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thank you for helping me!!

- I adopted him and his brother from pet adoption agency a week an a half ago. They told me the kittens have been checked out. I don't know if the vet checked inside of the boy's mouth.

- I really don't notice anything else; no sound, so fluid coming out etc. But I did notice that his brother also does it, just very infrequently.

- They are house pets.

- They have a bowl of hard food all the time, but they (especially the boy with this behavior) prefer to eat canned food that I give them 3 times a day.

- He eats like crazy!! Well, he goes to the food every 5~10min, but I think the amount of food he eats at one seating is small. I often hear them breathing hard as they eat, so I guess I would say they both eat fast.

I hope you can help me!!

Answer
Michelle,

Your very welcome, I hope to point you in the right direction with these kittens. The first thing that I noticed is that you say the kittens are eating dry food the majority of the time, this is actually not good for them, cats are descended from desert animals which means that they don't have the same drive to drink that other mammals do which means that they should get the majority of their water from their food. I would recommend that you check out catinfo.org which is a site written by a veterinarian who is dedicated to teaching pet parents about the complex nutritional needs of their feline companions, you will also find other useful information in terms of behavioral issues on this site. It's very normal for cats to eat several small meals fairly frequently throughout the day so I'm not surprised to hear about the frequent visits to the food bowl. Shelter life is very difficult for cats of any age, I understand that the shelter most likely did vet check these kittens but I do think that it would be in your (and their) best interests to have them seen by your own vet ASAP to be sure that there's no medical reason for the behavior you are seeing. The behavior you're seeing could be related to eating too quickly or there's a possibility that one or both of the kittens may have a cleft palate that's causing them to choke on food. If you're interested I can also pass along new information about vaccinating your kittens that my vet has told me about - we vaccinate our pets too frequently and it can cause some serious health problems so newer research recommends that we cycle vaccines after the initial kitten series and one year booster. Hopefully this information helps, if you have any further questions, concerns or you'd like me to clarify anything in this answer I'd be happy to help you out to the best of my ability.