Feeding problem with kitten

[wendy10]

I have a new little member to my cat family, Tilly is four months old, she was one of only two kittens in the litter, her sister i hear is eating kitten food but Tilly only eats Purina kitten dried food and will not touch wet food, i have tried her on every brand but she wont go near it, I have tried steamed fish and chicken but the only thing she has tried was a prawn , I have had cats and kittens all my life and never had this problem, she is healthy and big for her age....any tips ?

[MarkB]

Have you tried sprinkling some dry food on top of wet, or even mixing it up?

Some cats will only eat either wet or dry. As long as she is getting plenty of water, dry should be OK, especially if it is a decent one, like Purina One.

[Kay]

I agree with Mark here - but wonder if you have tried her with a pate food, such as Gourmet, as some cats happily crunch biscuits but hate lumps in wet food

[wendy10]

I bought royal canine kitten dried food today, but so far she wont eat it, also have tried James Wellbeloved kitten, she has been eating Purina one kitten but not much, have tried pate, I was worried as i have never had a cat or kitten that just ate dried food and wondered if anyone had ever had a kitten who had this diet.

[Kay]

I had a cat from 13 weeks old who absolutely refused to eat anything but Iams Chicken flavour biscuits - he was killed in an RTA just before his third birthday so I don't know if he would have had later health problems from such a limited diet, but he seemed fine if a little porky

[wendy10]

I am sorry you lost your little cat Kay, so sad, I lost a young cat of 2, many years ago, he chased a rabbit and was killed on the road, I thought i would never get over it.
I asked in pets at home today which dry food was best for this kitten and told her I was worried about her eating only dry food, she said the dry food was better for her as long as it was a good one, I got some wainwright's wet food while i was in, but she had a sniff and walked off so she is back on her purina one in one bowl and royal canin in the other plus her water bowl

[MarkB]

I would take any advice from Pets at Home staff with a pinch of salt *. The are retail staff, not trained in pet nutrition. It is nonsense to say dry is better than wet.

You could try a water fountain to encourage drinking. I have had a few over the years and find the Catmate ones the best. They are very easy to clean and maintain.

*Pets at Home have been on Watchdog several times over animals kept in poor conditions, dead fish left in tanks with live ones etc.

[meriad]

Years back I knew a couple that had two Russian Blues (beautiful boys) and all they had their entire life was Iams Chicken. Unfortunately they lost one to an RTA but the other, last I heard was in her early teens and doing just fine.

Another friend of mine here at work recently adopted two kittens and one will eat mainly wet with a bit of dry and the other only dry...

Realistically, the best food for a cat is whatever they'll eat. Purina is an OK dry food so I wouldn't worry too much about it - it could be a lot worse . Just make sure there's always plenty of fresh water available as she will want (need) to drink more. And then with time, who knows she may well change. One of my cats, when I got him (aged two) from a rescue would only eat wet food; not a biscuit to pass his lips. Then over a year later I saw him go to the dry food bowl and he had a bit and now he'll happily eat both dry and wet. What made him change his mind I'll never know

They are funny creatures aren't they

[MarkB]

Another thing you could try is Hi-life soft and tender. It is kibbles, but they are soft, rather than crunchy. Not many places sell them. I think Wilkinsons still do. They have a decent meat or fish content. https://www.hilifepet.co.uk/cats/temptm ... cken+375g/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

They also make a crunchy version.

[wendy10]

Thank you all for your tips. I bought Royal canin wet food today, nearly nine pounds a box and she wont eat that either, I think given time she may well change her eating habits, she is still eating dried food and had some James Wellbeloved today, she always has lots of water left out and drinks lots, she is healthy after being checked at the vets, I haven't had a cat with this diet so i felt a little worried, my old cat is 18 years old next week and it's a long time since i have had a kitten.

[Kay]

you could try mixing a little wet food in with her biscuits - I don't know why that isn't the done thing for cats when it's the usual way of feeding for dogs - you could also try the tins or pouches of pure chicken and tuna to see if she will eat those

but if she is thriving on dry only I wouldn't worry - just make sure you give her good quality biscuits and weight the portions, as it's very easy to overfeed dry food