# Kitten - Ignoring Dry food



## reds (Jun 30, 2010)

Hi all,

My girlfriend and I have just got an 8 week old kitten (Jax). He arrived on saturday and has settled in really well, seems very happy around us. after 1 accident he is using litter with no problems

For the first 48hrs or so he did not eat, but would drink milk - by mushing up wet food and milk we have gotten him to eat it - the box says he should be having 1.5/2 a day, be we are still struggling to get him to eat more than 1 !

We are leaving him dry kitten food during the day, as we know the wet will go bad quickly - but he is not eating this at all - will he just start to do this over time ??? we are worried as ideally would like to feed him 4 times a day as recommended - (1/2 pouch wet in the morning 2 x 15g dry during day, and 1/2 pouch wet evening) but as he is ignoring the dry food we need to get him eating it somehow - or will he just naturally start to eat it ???

thanks


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## hobbs2004 (Mar 12, 2010)

Congrats on your new kitten! It is not uncommon for kittens to not eat the first day or two as they are settling into their new environment. 

Are you feeding him the same food that he grew up on? 

Personally, I don't rate dry food very highly. Cats are not natural drinkers. Wet food is 70-80% moisture, so they get a lot of what they need from wet food. By comparison, dry food only contains 10% of moisture. Dry food is typically also full of fillers, such as grains. While cats can deal with a small amount of grains, 20% upwards is of no use to them. Just good for the pet industry as it keeps the cost down.

So, as he seems to be preferring the wet food, perhaps only feed him that?


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## kota (Jun 17, 2010)

Maybe you should put some water in dry food and give it (when you're home, of course). He'll remember the smell of it and maybe eat dry one.


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## Tobacat (Oct 24, 2009)

Congratulations on your new arrival. I would also ask if you are feeding the same food he had before. 

I used to be out all day and actually bought a cat timer which ensured the food was fresh and mine could have a mid day meal. Ten years later I still have it and it's useful if you are going to be out most of the day until late. 

I wouldn't worry too much if he isn't taking to dry cat food. As Hoobs said, cats are natural drinkers and get most of the liquid they need from their food so it's better if they eat mostly or all wet.

He is still fairly young and maybe taking a few days to adapt. I don't know how much milk you are giving him, but if he's drinking a reasonable amount, it might be he doesn't need to get so much energy from his other food.


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## hobbs2004 (Mar 12, 2010)

On the note of milk - are you using kitten milk or cows milk? Some cats/kittens find it hard to digest cows' milk. Kitten milk is great or you can see whether you can get your hands on goat milk.


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## Tje (Jan 16, 2010)

Personally, with such a young kitten that isnt eating enough Id be leaving him wet food out during the day. If you give him ½ a pouch in the morning that is at room temperature, then leave another half pouch out that has been refrigerated, and preferably serve that portion on a ceramic plate or bowl that has also been left in the fridge overnight (and put it down in a cool shady place of your home) really, it wont go off in 8 or 9 hours. It will stink a bit and dry up, but they wont get ill from it. Ive lived in very hot climates and have been forced to this often enough with cats or kittens who were poor eaters. The type of pouches make a difference too if its something like Whiskas kitten pouches mush the chunks of meat up with a fork first, as all mushed up it takes longer to dry out than just chunks in sauce. If need be mix some cold water through it before putting I down. I would imagine in this way you should manage to get 3 half pouches a day into him. And the weird thing with very young kittens is the less they eat the less appetite they have, so the chances are high if he had 2 x ½ portion during the day that you could manage ½ pouch when you get home in the evenings then half a pouch at bed time (if necessary left down overnight). Dont get me wrong, I am not saying leaving wet food out in these high temps is ideal, I just personally feel that its the lesser of two evils (better than him eating only 1 pouch per day). Once he gets past the 12-14 week mark he should be eating a lot easier and with more enthusiasm than he is at present.


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## reds (Jun 30, 2010)

thank you all for your input

i think we will look into refrigerating a portion over night and then putting it out for him when i leave the house - as dont want him going hungry.

My partner can feed him a 7am (1/2 pouch) which im hoping by the time i leave at 8.30 he will have finished, and I can then leave him the refrigerated one during the day (would it be OK if refigerated in a stainless steel bowl - or is a ceramic plate better ???)

if we keep this up so he's growing (hes 8 weeks and only 900g, the vet said that is light for his age) hopefully if we leave the dry food out too during the day he will eventually start to nibble on this too

we are feeding him the same kitten food, and also same kittten milk as he was on at his original home - when the owner said he was weened i am beginning to think she meant that she put food down for teh 4 of them and it went, not neccesarily that he was eating it !!!


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## The Twins (Oct 11, 2009)

reds said:


> thank you all for your input
> 
> i think we will look into refrigerating a portion over night and then putting it out for him when i leave the house - as dont want him going hungry.
> 
> ...


Is there anyway you or someone can feed him at lunchtimes - i had to do this for my two for about 8 weeks and fortunately friends and family took turns to do this as i worked too far away to come back at lunch times. You can also buy timer feeders and some have an ice block you can insert to keep them cool. If you're leaving wet food out in this heat it will go off in very little time - a kitten as young as 8 weeks with some type of food poisoning from gone off food wouldnt be good. Personally i dont leave food down any longer than 30 mins max - mind you mind eat theirs up within minutes! I dont free feed and find that this helps...

Metal bowls will get hotter quicker than ceramic as these tend to stay cooler.

As for him being light for his age i dont agree with your vet - sorry! I think 900g for an 8 week old is very respectable! I would say 100g a week so 800g and above is fine - breed dependant. Mine were only 700g at 8 weeks old which was very tiny... due to them being twins.

Personally i dont rate dry food at all, it is full of rubbish fillers and carbs and generally bad for cats. If your kitten doesnt like it then i wouldnt push it onto him - good for him in choosing the wet food! Dry food is purely convenience for the owner IMO... most cats should be on a wet or raw diet.

What brand are you feeding him and is he a breed or a moggie?

Good luck!


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## Tje (Jan 16, 2010)

900 grams for 8 weeks old is a totally fine weight, not brilliant, but compared to some posts in this forum (8 week old kittens weighing in the region of 350grams) your kittens weight is certainly not alarming. 

Probably (because of what your vet said) he sounds like a big framed kitten with little meat on his bones. A higher protein wet food would probably work wonders. More goodness in the same size portion. A 'normal sized' kitten at 8 weeks old should weigh around 800grams, but jenny-long-leg kittens (tall or long kittens) should indeed weigh a good bit more. I had a malnourished 8 week old kitten this morning and he weighed +-750grams, but he really should be more around the 1200 mark. He's bigger than his litter-mates, but oh so scrawny and boney and weighs the same as them, they look more normal, not that scrawny at all. 

I do advice you though to pop him on the kitchen scales daily (or every other day) just for the next couple of weeks, he should be gaining about 15-20grams a day (at least 100grams in a week, tho more is better). Any weight loss is (generally) a bad sign and must be addressed immediately. 

If I was leaving out food I would do it in a ceramic bowl or plate, as thick as possible ceramic, as it stays cold longer. You could try slipping one of those picnic coolbox elements under the ceramic bowl, but this has never worked for the kittens Ive had it makes the food really cold, verging on the freezing and they just dont eat it. 

Ive lived in Asia and the Middle East, countries MUCH warmer than the temps were getting here currently, and I have fostered hundreds upon hundreds of kittens over the last two decades, so again, leaving wet food out is not ideal, but I feel based on my experience, its the lesser of two evils. An 8 week old MUST eat. Ive never lost a kitten through food poisoning, but have lost many because they didnt eat. Dont forget, the wet food doesnt just feed them, it provides their fluids too (very important as most cats are terribly bad drinkers). 

Ive just watched my neighbours cat come back and munch into the sparrow he killed last night one of my own spoiled furbals is snacking on a raw chicken wing, while my other spoiled brat is drinking water out of the toilet bowl (and I wont even go into some of the sights Ive witnessed at my stray cat feeding stations, lol) feline stomachs arent as vulnerable to bacteria as ours are. But 8 week old kittens do need regular feeding times. 4-6 times a day would be ideal. 

However, I hasten to add, your kittens weight is not drastically low. But 1 pouch a day is really not much, both for his growth and his fluid levels.


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## Milly22 (Sep 15, 2008)

Mine was sold to me with instruction "dry food" only 1 pouch of meat per day (ha!)

She ate a pouch of food on way home (5 hour drive) then refused dry altogether, at 8 weeks mine are on 1 pouch per day they are still feeding from Mum.

I think if you do what you said about leaving the food in the fridge then bringing it out or get one of those petfeeders which keep the food fresh and turn around a few times per day to allow the cat to eat several times.


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## NelsonsStaff (Jun 24, 2010)

I have found mixing the wet and dry in together helps. I too am not overly happy about feeding wet food in this weather and at the moment on my days off I do tend to throw it away if he leaves it for more than 20 mins (I always have water out for him just in case he wants it) It might also be worth changing is dry food, I found today that my cat perfers Hill's to Wellbeloved, so gradually I will change him to that. The irony is he doesn't eat much, but at his first weigh in yesterday he came in at 1.1kg at nine weeks old. 

I'm a new cat owner, so I am learning as I go along and some of the advice here has been very useful to me so far.:thumbup:


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## Tje (Jan 16, 2010)

mellowma said:


> Mine was sold to me with instruction "dry food" only 1 pouch of meat per day (ha!)


I didn't know you bought your kitten from my vet


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## hobbs2004 (Mar 12, 2010)

The issue here is to get the poor little mite to eat more as we would all agree that a kitten not eating or eating as little as it does is a real danger.

The kitten isn't eating dry, so you are stuck with feeding wet, perhaps with some milk added. I personally don't see any problem with leaving wet food out. As Tje suggested, in the absence of an electronic feeder, put a ceramic dish in the fridge overnight. Also put the food pouch in over night to cool it down. Before you leave for work, make up the food, mash it up and leave it down, ideally in a shady, cool place.

You could also be more creative and put the ceramic plate on a bowl full of ice-cubes. Hmm not sure whether that will work but it might be worth a try

Yes, that set-up is not ideal but the kitten not eating or not eating enough while it is growing is going to do an awful lot more harm then it eating some not-so-fresh food. 

As Tje already said, kittens and cats have an iron stomach and can deal with bacteria a whole lot better than we can. Food that is really spoilt they won't touch. 

Good luck and keep us posted!


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## Milly22 (Sep 15, 2008)

Tje said:


> I didn't know you bought your kitten from my vet


LOL he is just as bad!??


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## Tje (Jan 16, 2010)

mellowma said:


> LOL he is just as bad!??


aye, he is that! I just nod and agree with him, "dry food only, yes of course, odd treat of wet food, yes of course, raw food? wouldn't dream of it"... then go home and crackout the raw goat meat and the bozita. What he doesn't know can't harm him


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## Milly22 (Sep 15, 2008)

Lol they are silly, they must know that "we" know that they get commission! 

I have to say I have changed my practice recently as they were utterly terrible/useless.


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## buffie (May 31, 2010)

You could try "hiding" dry food in corners of the room,little boxes half open anywhere your kitten could "find" it. I have been advised to do this to help correct predatory play ,but I think it may help with your problem.It is supposed to simulate hunting as the kitten thinks it has found food for its self.Its worth a try.


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## reds (Jun 30, 2010)

well tonight he has eaten alot better, and has another poo - but we have just noticed what looks like a thick white string coming out of his bum, so we assume that he has worms ?

what should we do ? 

We were told that he had been treated at 6 weeks with a spot on from wilko - so were planning to retreat him next week

I have read that drontal is the best - can i get this anywhere or is it prescription only ??? Also is it suitable for a kitten ???

Do we leave the worm (if that is what it is) hanging ? its maybe a centimetre long

Not nice, we had to give him a frontline spray last night as the vet found some flea dirt on him, and now it looks like he has worms too - as he has been in the house since saturday do we need to flea bomb or similar to kill all the potential flea / worm eggs

sorry for all the questions we have read what we can from the books we have, but they dont answer them all !


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## hobbs2004 (Mar 12, 2010)

Worms unfortunately are common if you also have had a flea problem. Worms are also oh so common in kittens. 

Instead of buying something off the shelf that might not be up to the job, I would pop down to the vet tomorrow and pick something up for your kitten. They will know what is best for the weight and size of your kitten.

Thing is that kittens and cats with worms normally gobble up everything in sight and still lose weight. Your kitten has been off his food. 

Could he have eaten something stringy? Kittens gobble all sorts up, so it wouldn't surprise me. Does the string bit move? 

Good news that he is eating more now. Fingers crossed that he will keep it up and start to eat even more.


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## reds (Jun 30, 2010)

i dont think its possible he has eaten anything stringy , we spent alot of time kitten proofing the house, that said at his former home I suppose it could have been possible

in terms of the worm(s) will he eventually pass it ? as i said its about a cm long at present and just dangled there (does not seem to move)

fod wise, we managed to get a whole pouch down him last night from 5.30 to 11.30 - so some good new there

we also chilled a pouch overnight in fridge, and i left it in his bowl with some of those plastic coated ice cubes fitted into the rim of the bowl - so I am hoping for a clean dish when I get back tonight - fingers crossed !!!


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## Milly22 (Sep 15, 2008)

hobbs2004 said:


> Worms unfortunately are common if you also have had a flea problem. Worms are also oh so common in kittens.
> 
> Instead of buying something off the shelf that might not be up to the job, I would pop down to the vet tomorrow and pick something up for your kitten. They will know what is best for the weight and size of your kitten.
> 
> ...


Yes get the one from the Vet it kills all known worms, dead! Stronghold, I think it is, possibly.


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## reds (Jun 30, 2010)

have got a supply of drontal enroute, and also flea spray for the household, that apparently kills all 4 stages of the flea during its lifecycle - so we are going to give him a decent tablet this weekend (as opposed to the stuff from wilko the breeder was using) and also give the house a complete spray / clean - as we want to nip this in the bud before it gets a chance to get started !

this may seem a silly question, but we know fleas can lay lots of eggs, but the roundworms - can they do this too in the household ? or is it only inside of teh cat that they lay eggs / survive ???


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## Colette (Jan 2, 2010)

If it helps - we worked out that the stringy stuff that appears in the boys poo on a regular basis is threads from the bath mat!
My hair is another common problem.

Both I have had to slide gently out..... although usually I just find it in the litter tray tying bits of poo together. Nice.


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## hobbs2004 (Mar 12, 2010)

The worms can only survive in the gut as far as I know. But to avoid cross infection to other cats, you should dispose of the wormy poop promptly. 

Happy times!


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## reds (Jun 30, 2010)

well whatever it was he has passed it now, so all good  

he is also eating alot more wet food now too, we are getting the recommended 1.5 into him a day relativley easily - .5 morning .5 during day then .5 in evening

we are still leaving the dry out for him too, but he has shown no interest yet, so will just keep on trying with that

thanks for all the help and advice - he even seems to look bigger !!!


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## Tje (Jan 16, 2010)

reds said:


> he is also eating alot more wet food now too, we are getting the recommended 1.5 into him a day relativley easily - .5 morning .5 during day then .5 in evening
> 
> we are still leaving the dry out for him too, but he has shown no interest yet, so will just keep on trying with that


great news on the food front, well done !! :thumbup:

you could ask in your vets surgery or local pet shop for the small (free of charge) sample packs of dry food.... maybe he would eat another type of dry food? Cats are funny that way... they're like "well, we like digestive biscuits, but only the ones from McVities, not M&S's own brand or Tesco's own brand, we only like McVities". Or many of the big brands will even post you sample packs of their dry food, expecially for kittens. Look on their websites for details.


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## reds (Jun 30, 2010)

thanks tje

we were told he was on the whiskas ones so got him those, we have also tried the royal canin ones, that the vet recommended but no joy !

might try mushing them up with milk again to try and give him the taste (as on the first couple of days he would eat them like this) as I would feel alot better leaving out dry for him during the day - we did even get a timer so that we could establish some form of feeding routine for him

in terms of "treats" are there kitten specific ones, or does a bit of sliced ham / turkey suffice ??? (I know that is what my friends cat gets for a treat)


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## Tje (Jan 16, 2010)

I agree with you on the dry food, it is ever so handy in weather like this, or when youre away for the day, or leaving your cat with a pet sitter, that they can and will eat dry food Im just sorry I cant give you any ideas of how to get him to eat it though. Ive recently weaned my own cats off of a predominantly dry food diet, but it still makes up about 10% of their diet, purely for the convenience factor. I dont want them not eating dry at all.

With a young kitten you cant really force the issue, he has to eat but in your shoes, Id let him have his own way for a while yet ( a good couple of months) then I _would_ force the issue. Nows just not the time to do it when he really needs to grow. Hopefully though he will start nibbling on them if you leave them out.

As for treats well a lot of the things you find in the pet shops (like Whiskas kitbits etc) are not the most healthy of options, but theyre tasty for cats and fine if given in moderation ( and I know Id prefer a Bounty or Snickers as a treat as opposed to an apple or a floret of cauliflower  ) but they will be totally happy with a piece of cold meat or some meat scraps of your dinner plate. You _can_ buy healthy treats in pet shops too dried strips of beef or chicken etc, but I find them so pricey Id rather just give them a piece off my own dinner plate. Almost all my cats love malt paste as a treat, and this is beneficial to them as it stops the forming of hairballs and is good for their coat, it is pricey though. (its also great for hiding pills and medicine in, I find it a must have for that reason alone, lol).


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## Tje (Jan 16, 2010)

I've got one idea that _may_ work to get him eating dry food, but it's time consuming and a pain in the neck, but…. If it worked????

I foster for a shelter (kittens, mother cats and sick cats needing extra attention). The shelter insists that all cats & kittens must be able and willing to eat dry food when they're rehomed as dry food is still the most popular cat diet around.

I had an adult cat that was ever so skinny and poorly, so to fatten her up and speed up her recovery, I just gave her what she wanted when she wanted it… after a while she was a good weight and fit enough to be rehomed, but I couldn't get her to eat some dry and I knew the shelter would be pissed off about this if she totally turned her nose up at dry food. So I started mashing the dry food up till it was crumbs then mixing it with wet food.

You can do the mashing up with a mortar and pestle, or like I did, in a blender. When it was pure crumbs, I mixed it through the wet food. Starting with tiny amounts of dry food mixed in, then increasing the amounts gradually. BUT there is one big downside to this… wet food mixed with dry food dries out to a hard inedible consistency very very quickly, so you can only really do it when you're at home. You couldn't leave it down when you're out at work all day, but maybe you could try it in the evenings or weekends?

Often, once they get the taste for something they're ok with it, you just have to be verrrry creative getting it inside them initially.

(p.s. mashing dry food up in a blender is quick and easy, but I can tell you now that the blades in your blender won't like it.... lol... it really dulls the blades down, mines still mixes fine, but it's useless at chopping after getting blunted with dry cat food.  )


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## reds (Jun 30, 2010)

thanks - i will give this a try, especially as we are in over the weekend, so can spend the time to do it - we got a morter and pestel for an xmas pressie, and i think it has been used once, so will be nice to finally give it some use !!!


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## Milly22 (Sep 15, 2008)

Oh I just remembered another trick - I tried this with Misty when she could eat was dry food but getting sick of it.

Buy craze chicken treats, little bits of dried chicken and you can crumble it over the dry food. that worked.


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## jamjar919 (Jul 4, 2010)

feed him wet food for the first 1 month - 1 year of his life, then give him a choice beetween wet and dry food. if he goes for wet, keep the dry food out as a supplement, and keep giving him wet food. If he choses the dry, dont give him wet unless he won't eat the dry.

It all depends on the cat


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## Lyceum (Sep 25, 2009)

Can I ask why you want him to eat dry food?

Wet is much better for them, sadly mine are stupidly fussy when it comes to food. I'd love them to refuse dry and just eat wet. If he prefers wet, thank your stars he's not fussy and stick with the wet lol.

Also,did you say your feeding whiskas? You might condier changing him to a decent wet food once he's settled in and such? Whiskas, felix, go cat, iams etc are all pretty awful.


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## reds (Jun 30, 2010)

he has started to eaet teh dry food (whole not crushed up) if it is mixed in with the wet stuff, so in the morning / evening he is getting some dry too mixed in, so that he can get used to it / we can leave it for him during the day - without any wet / on its own he still wont touch it, so just a matter of time i reckon !!!


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## Bellini (Mar 30, 2009)

I have always used an automatic feeder that has a cooling tray in the bottom that you put in the freezer and keeps the wet food fresh. You set the timer so it pops up after 4/5 hours or whenever you want it.

Millie has stopped eating certain things (a WHOLE different story) so good luck and keep going xxx


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