# Maine Coon Kitten fussy eating?



## grantsmith1985 (Feb 14, 2010)

Hi all,
My Girlfriend and I recently got our Ginger Maine Coon kitten we have wanted for a long time.
He is 4 months old (born on october 18th), he is exactly what we wanted and what we expected from a Maine Coon. We have had him excatly 4 weeks today.

The problem we seem to be having is sometimes he is really fussy on what he will eat. I wanted to keep him mainly on the Whiskas wet meat pouches for kittens as I thought it was best to try and keep him on meat. He seemed to only like certain flavours of the food, for example he seemed confused when I gave him the duck flavour.

A few days back he seemed to not really want his dry whiska kitten food or the meat so when he got through the box we thought we would try Iams kitten food. I then read that Iams is probably not best as its too rich and makes cats sick (whats your opinion on that). To be honest he didnt really seem to like the Iams either.

This morning I put down the Chicken Whiskas kitten pouch that he has eaten well before but he hasnt touched it. We went and bought him the Whiskas Dry kitten food again today and when I took out the iams and put the whiskas in place he got stuck in.

Has any one got any advice or any thing that might be worth trying.
Like I said I wanted to try and keep him on wet meat puches as I thought they might be best but he doesnt seem to like to get stuck into them. Whats your thoughts please 

Just so you can see him here are just some quick pics of him

Grant Smith&#039;s Photos - Mobile Uploads | Facebook


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## messyhearts (Feb 6, 2009)

I think that perhaps this little boy has you well trained.

Many cats will refuse a food if they can hold out for something they prefer. If you let them do this then you will be perpetually changing their food & pandering to a fussy cat. A fussy cat isn't born but encouraged. If you find a food you are happy with, leave it out. He will eat it as he won't starve himself. He will battle with you & try to get it changed.


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## grantsmith1985 (Feb 14, 2010)

That makes sense 
Will leave it out and see how he gets on today with what we have put out.
Is it worth keeping the Iams or is it just a gimmick / waste of time


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## colliemerles (Nov 2, 2007)

he is gorgeous, .....


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## messyhearts (Feb 6, 2009)

grantsmith1985 said:


> That makes sense
> Will leave it out and see how he gets on today with what we have put out.
> Is it worth keeping the Iams or is it just a gimmick / waste of time


A lot of cat food is a gimmick. Personally, I would look to feed a food of a high meat content. It depends on your budget & what you want to feed.


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## grantsmith1985 (Feb 14, 2010)

When it comes to what he eats to be honest budget isnt the issue, to be honest (Without soinding like a crazy cat person) he is part of our family and should eat what ever is best for him.
He hasnt touched all day what I put out for him in the morning (well he has eaten some whiska's dry but none of the wet meat) so I would love for him to eat some wet meat.
Any ideas?


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## messyhearts (Feb 6, 2009)

If that's what you want him to eat, leave it & he WILL eat it eventually.


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## spid (Nov 4, 2008)

if you want him to eat wet (and in my opinion it's better than dry) only feed him wet and don't put the dry out at all. If you can try to steer away from Whiskas / Felix etc as they are very, very low in meat - around 4% and the rest is fillers that the cat actually can't digest and so poop out - so you pay for them to poop out 96% of what they eat - not terribly economical. Better quality foods may cost a little more but cats need to eat less of them to get what they need. Try hi-life, nature's menu, cosmo, bozita etc. Anything that is 50%+ meat is better for him. And he may end up liking it more and eating it better. I think he is a sensible cat to turn his nose up at whiskas personally.  

try putting the food out in quite small quantities so it doesn't go stale too quickly.


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## grantsmith1985 (Feb 14, 2010)

I have noticed that food that has been out for a while or has gone a little stale he turns his nose up at. Also water is another one. If the water is not fresh he turns his nose up at it. any ideas on that one?


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## spid (Nov 4, 2008)

water wise - get a water fountain - keeps the water fresh and moving which cats like.


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## grantsmith1985 (Feb 14, 2010)

What kind of water fountain do you mean.
Also I have noticed that he trys to eat the leaves once in a while off a house plant we have in the kitchen. Is that normal?


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## Janee (May 4, 2008)

I have adults. I feed Bozita, Butchers Classic and now raw from Food4Cats. No dry is left out though I have orijen for emergencies. 

I feed twice a day at 6 am and 5pm. The food is left out in stainless steel dishes on plastic mats - one for each cat. My house isn't that warm - comfortable but not overheated, so I have no qualms about leaving food out.

If it is not finished by the next food time then the residue is mixed upa and dished out again with some fresh to make up what I usually give in a portion. All the dishes and mats are washed each session.

What happens is that it (usually) gets eaten. If any food is left by the 3rd time for food it is thrown. I can count on the fingers of one hand how many times that has happened!

Agree that cats will manipulate you if you let them. I did try a variety of high meat content foods from natures menu to Tesco premium but the combo they like best is what i give them now.

However, if they go out the chances are that they might be getting snacks elsewhere........from neighbours or from hunting (my female often eats her hunts).


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