Kitten with an eating disorder

Original_Sin

This is a bit random but our kitten seems to have an eating disorder in that he will only eat whiskas kitten food as a daily food, if we try him with the likes of whiskas tinned food he will sniff it then look at us with 'that' look!!!! Also, when we do feed him we have to stand and watch him to make sure he eats otherwise he will just wander off to fight with the other cats!!!!

He will eat fresh chicken leftovers but obviously we cant only feed him that, we've tried giving him cream, butter and egg yokes to try get some weight onto him but hes not interested!!!

Hes a very energetic(maybe too energetic) kitten and can hold his own when he play fights with the adult cats so he seems to be healthy enough, he's about 3months old now,

We're at a bit of a loss now about what to do with him other than carry on for a bit and see if he gets less picky with food so any ideas would be appreciated,

thanks again

ValerieR

Hi - Your kitten is still quite young and I would keep feeding him kitten food until he's at least 6 or 8 months old.
Some cats can be very fussy with their food and will not accept a change in their diet. To get him used to a new food, I would mix the 2 foods together increasing progressively the quantity of the new food in the mixture ...
Hope this helps.
ValerieR

Original_Sin

Ill give that a shot and see how we get on, there was a point tho where he wasnt even eating the kitten food and we had to mix it with milk to try make him eat it

waraf

Original_Sin wrote: »

This is a bit random but our kitten seems to have an eating disorder in that he will only eat whiskas kitten food as a daily food, if we try him with the likes of whiskas tinned food he will sniff it then look at us with 'that' look!!!! Also, when we do feed him we have to stand and watch him to make sure he eats otherwise he will just wander off to fight with the other cats!!!!

One of mine is three months old too and she's exactly the same. I've tried mixing in a bit of dried food (like 5 or 6 pieces of dried food in a full pouch of whiskas) but she just eats the whiskas and leaves the pieces of dried food behind in the bowl. I'm not worried TBH. She's only a kid and at least she's eating something.

Original_Sin

I get that because they are only 'children' they will be very fussy about what they eat, its more the fact we have to stand over him and make sure he eats that has us concerned

The Sweeper

Is your kitten very underweight, with pointed ribs and hip bones?

If not, then you don't have to stand over him and make sure he eats. Your kitten won't starve if there's edible food available. He's expressing a preference between one thing and another, but you're projecting your own worry that he won't eat what you've put down.

My cats will regularly demand food, then sniff what's provided and walk away from it. I leave it there, and a few hours later it's all gone. When you have more than one cat, they often don't like to eat all together and will graze in shifts. With my lot, the juveniles eat first, the kitten next and the big cats come back last when all the fuss has died down and eat at their leisure.

Whiskas is designed to be extremely palatable to cats because they use a lot of fish in their products and it smells very strong. Cats are strongly scent-driven with their food.
Keep mixing in different foods over time. Your kitten needs to eat about four times a day at 12 weeks. If the other cats are nicking his food, feed him separately.

When is the last time you wormed him? He needs worming once a month up to 6 months, and use a vet-bought wormer that will tackle everything including tape worm. Virtually all kittens have worms and you dose them once a month to ensure you catch the worms at every stage of their lifecycle and eradicate them. Then the cats can move onto a maintenance dose of once every three months.

Some kittens do go through skinny periods, where their metabolisms are high, their energy higher and their appetities finicky. Try a range of foods, make sure they stay hydrated, worm them on schedule and don't worry too much about it. If they have high energy, clear eyes and an overall sort of 'brightness', they're doing fine and eventually their metabolism will settle. Kitten's metabolism will also settle on neutering, so be sure to adjust his diet when that happens.