Kitten feeding advice please!

[CatOfTheDay]

I can't believe I'm asking for cat advice, this is my 9th one and people usually ask ME!

Anyway, Luna is about 4 months old, we adopted her from our local rescue centre two weeks ago.

Our other cats eat dry food (Sanabelle for 7 of them, and one is prone to cystitis so we feed her Hills c/d separately).

Luna ate adult Royal Canin at the cat's home - they gave us some to take with us when we picked her up, but now she won't touch ANY dry food, she'd rather try to steal from our plates! She's been on Whiskas Kitten pouches since she moved in, and I got her some of the Whiskas Kitten dry food too, but she won't eat it even when I cunningly try to hide some in the wet food.

We'd ideally like to have them ALL on dry food, as it's easier - and we have to stand there whilst she eats her pouches to fend off the other cats, who all think that kitten food smells GREAT.

She won't eat Dreamies either - she's intrigued when the other cats do, but won't eat them herself.

She's drinking OK - and I checked her teeth and they look fine. She's a normal crazy kitten in every way.

Is she just being fussy? DP wants to stop the wet food to see if she'll eat the Sanabelle eventually - I'm soft and am worried about starving the poor kitten (and I think she knows it!)

I'm going to drop an email to the cats' home to see if she was fussy there - she was in with another kitten, but must have been eating SOMETHING!

Any advice gratefully received - thanks!

Some cats don't like dried much so it may simply be that. Maybe she'll take to it as as she gets older but myself, I'd not take any chances with a growing cat and keep her on wet at the moment.

Are her adult teeth all coming in OK? (I know you said you looked but I'm wondering if she might have a dental issue which makes wet food easier for her.)

PS - Is she to be spayed soonish? (If she has a GA for that, the vet could give her teeth a good review while she's out for the count.)

She will be spayed soon yes - she was going to be done before we got her but the vet thought she was a bit too small but certainly in the next couple of months.

Her teeth look like a fine set of little teeth - and certainly feel like it when she nibbles on my finger!

Pics on profile - one of her snuggling with Bruce who is the 20 month old boy we adopted with her (he eats anything, no problems there!)
:)

She's just gorgeous - and Bruce is something else!

I'd feed her wet for the time being but ask the vet to give her teeth a going over while she's under for spaying. You never know.

I just gave her a cocktail of half wet food and half kitten biscuits - she started off by picking the wet food out, and spitting out any biscuits she got by mistake in disgust - but she's definitely eaten some!
Maybe we could try mixing a bit of warm water with biscuits to make them squishier.

Today she grudgingly ate some Sanabelle with a bit of warm water to soften the biscuits! :)

You just squeezed out from under the paw, there.

Haha we are now firmly back UNDER the paw - and it was actually DP who cracked first (it only took her 24hrs to break him with her poor little starving kitten act hehe!)

We're going to feed her the wet food til she's bigger and a vet has checked her out for any physical reason she won't eat the biscuits.

There is NOTHING wrong with her teeth however - she was licking my finger after I'd got lunch ready (it tasted of ham!) and decided to take a bite - she actually broke the skin! If I had been a cat biscuit I would have been devoured in seconds!

I guess I was partly wondering whether her teeth coming in made it sorer to chomp down on dry than slurp some wet. (Not having been a kitten - and having teethed to adult human teeth so long ago - I have no idea whether her mouth might be tender at the moment.) She may still take a liking to dried food later.

And your DP is a broken reed!