hello. we are the proud owners of two sisters adopted from the same stray litter. they've been with us for three months. we have little experience with kittens, more so with adults in the past. at first the both of them ate all of their food together w/o incident. their followup visits to the vet this fall indicated no disease or other medical problems. however in the past 2 weeks, one has dropped off her eating habits drastically (loss of appetite, won't readily take wet foods) and it's begun showing in her lack of growth and listlessnes as compared to her sister. the only thing that she readily goes for are exposed pipes and window insulation, which she licks and chews on, then drinks lots of water afterwards and has no desire to consume her canned kitten food. we've heard that two cats shouldn't be fed together, but aren't sure if this is the cause. we noticed that the healthy cat does tend to change from her own eating dish towards her smaller sister while eating but beforehand the victim would just up and move to the other bowl no problem. now she seems to only get discouraged and extremely easily. could there be a fraternal pecking order being established here that has to just sort itself out? what does the acquired 'taste' for exposed piping and insulation indicate? we've intervened by changing the food type (we go between Wellness and Eagle Pack), keeping Nina (the larger kitty) away, as well as trying to nurture and protect the smaller kitty, Frida. but if she's not having it, she's not having it. we're thinking about taking her to the vet this week, but didn't think it was panic time just yet, because she still takes in hard food w/ little to no issue. and we're also considering buying a repellant to cover the metallic things she's been licking. we are afraid though that this is only going to be a band-aid solution as she'll look elsewhere to sate the appetite. when they are fed separately, Nina will cry endlessly and then poor Frida gets concerned, loses her appetite completely and goes to search for the distressed sister. help, please? we don't want her to fall too far behind her somewhat egotistical sister. thanks!

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