When to stop buying milk for cat?

[Italiangreyhound]

Our beloved kitten had his first sortie out into the garden. he was so excited. Now he is back and lying on the computer table next to me as type. The world is opening up to him.

He is much much calmer now and we are less exhasperated by having to keep doors shut!

We tried him with an elasticated collar but he hated it and once back inside the house he managed to get it stick around his mouth, I am so pleased that he was indoors when it happened and I spotted him and was able to get it off with the help of a friend who is more expereinced with cats. So now he is collarless (although chipped).

Anyway, that is all a pre-amble. He will be 14 weeks soon. He still loves his cat milk. When should I stop giving that? The vet said to switch to crunhy cat food so have got Iams instead of wet food but he doesn't seem that keen. He is addicted to Dreamies!

Any advice on food and milk, please?

Thanks.

You can get snap release collars, much much safer than elastic collars.

Wet foods not evil, if he prefers it why not feed him with that and biscuits mixed in?.

He can stop cat milk at any time. I didn't bother buying it for ours but he was 17weeks when I got him.

Wet food is fine - buy him that and give him some biscuits as well in a separate bowl. he'll enjoy the contrasting flavours and textures.

I'd simply withdraw the cat milk (substituting water) and the Dreamies - leaving the Dreamies as a treat for good behaviour. If you just give him Dreamies as a matter of everyday nosh then they'll eventually lose their power as a special persuader because he'll get used to them.

Glad he's doing well and is a happy chap.

My vet says she prefers giving wet food for the additional water intake.
My cat is 9 and she still enjoys the occasional splash of cat milk.

I have never given my cats cat milk, they just need water if they are old enough to be away from their mum

wet food is better than dry, especially so for a boy cat, stops them getting urine infections

we found iams to be like crack for cats as and now just give tins of Felix and various biscuits

vets are very happy with out cats

Thanks so much.

Our kitten doesn't seem to like Go cat or Iams, prefering cheapo Tesco one! I might get some more wet kitten food.

The collar was disaster! Not trying again. He is chipped and he knows where his bread is buttered.

he seems to like the milk and I kind of like to give him a treat but not if it is harmful.

Try pouring some warm boiled water on the dry food, it gives off a better smell for the kittens and they sometimes eat it then, they usually all prefer wet though. I give mine mixture of both and they all drink water

I cracked and got some wet food tonight. he's only had dry food for days and seemed to love the wet food. Why did vet recomemend dry! He said for his teeth, i am going to give both for now! Feel naughty disobaying vet!

Drys not perfect for teeth, it's just not as bad.

Some cats love dry food, others just don't like it.

Seniorboy has been fed on mostly wet all of his life, OP. His teeth aren't great - but then he's 18 so is allowed a few issues.

If the kit prefers wet food, I'd just let him have it. You'll be keeping an eye on his teeth anyway so I wouldn't worry about it. (Seniorboy didn't see a vet for maybe 10-12 years in his younger days so his teeth might have been a whole load better if he had had regular checkups and maybe a tooth cleaning or two.)

Oh dear, 'I will be keeping an eye on his teeth!! How??? No idea how to do that. I am not sure what he likes best apart from Dreamies!

Via the vet. You'll doubtless be taking him for annual appointments anyway to get his booster shots and vets usually throw in a basic check up with those - just ask the vet to look at his teeth if she doesn't do it anyway. (Many cats get antsy if you try to look at their teeth so it would be good if you could try to do the odd very short and gentle foray on pushing lips back (with a Dreamie reward) to accustom him to it.)

In between checkups, you'll notice any odd behaviour anyway.

Dry food does nothing for a cats teeth. It's cracks and splinters on the very tip of the cats tooth which they then swallow. Watch a cat eat dry food. They don't chew on it and it barely touches the tooth. If you want your cat to clean their teeth on food, give them a raw (NOT COOKED!) chicken wing a couple of times a week or some big chunks of raw meat that they really need to get their teeth into and chew on properly :D

Wet is much better than dry. I wouldn't give dry at all truthfully as it's got no moisture content and is hard on the kidneys, especially for male cats.

A high-meat content wet food or raw food IMO is the best diet.

They never need cat milk unless they're on kitten formula prescribed by a vet, it's just a treat!

We give our fostered cats and kittens water and biscuits all the time, and wet food occasionally. All 4 litters we've had have been on this diet and it works well :-)

We have never given a kitten cat milk.

Save your money and forget the cat milk and Dreamies. They are unnecessary treats and the Dreamies are full of all kinds of crap, just like giving sweets to kids.

Feed wet food at mealtimes and leave a small amount of dry available freely. He'll then have the option of both and the odd nibble on the dry will help keep his teeth a bit cleaner. Always have water available.

There are lots of opinions on good/poor quality wet and dry cat food and diff cats prefer diff combinations. Mine were on Butchers Classic tinned wet (cereal free and cheap from supermarkets) and Royal Canin Kitten. After they changed from RC Kitten to RC Fit 32 as they turned 1 yr old we had sloppy poo despite swapping gradually. Now on Applaws dry and poo gone back to normal.

Previous cats loved Iams and had no issues, although some cats have problems with it. Go Cat made them have blood in urine, it's really not good at all.

There is no point at which cats need cat milk so just don't buy any more. Dreamiest are kitty crack though I still give a few occasionally.
I would err away from offering continuous food this is the fastest route to cat obesity which is very common.