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Join our community of cat lovers on the Mumsnet Cat forum for kitten advice and help with cat behaviour.

Original poster

If they don't like Dreamies.....

19 replies

Toounhappynow · 11/09/2015 01:31

What treat do you give them?

We have just adopted a year old cat and her kitten and another kitten. They get on ok and she cleans and snuggles up with both kittens. She also takes them to task and gives them both a bit of a biff if she is grumpy/disciplining!. The step-kitten is very timid (all are strays); treats have helped the mother and kitty trust us but step kitten does not seem to like any. Tbh the mum has only just started to approach us. We have tried so many. Dreamies, Thrive, Felix Crispies and Natures Menu. He is not interested in any of them. It would be nice if we could produce a tempting treat to coax him. He is so wary of us all. We have had them 6 days now. They are fed on felix wet pouches kitten food and IAMS dry food as that is what they used in the rescue however the mum has had some (fresh and very little) blood in her stools so I have been advised to swap to chicken until her system calms. It is celia Hammond resuce. They are all de-fleaed, wormed and neutered.

Any ideas on getting the kitten to trust us or treats he may like. He is my 10 yr old sons cat and he is worried about him. We were assured they were all friendly and would get on and I think they do but I am surprised they are still so timid. Is this normal? The step kitten sounds sniffly too.

OP posts:
ChristineDePisan · 11/09/2015 02:04

6 days isn't very long at all to learn to trust you!

Mine don't care for Dreamies at all, but love Whiskas Dentabits

HellKitty · 11/09/2015 03:39

Mine hate Dreamies too. He'd rather have a crisp!

Fluffycloudland77 · 11/09/2015 07:07

Hand carved ham goes down well, a slice would last you ages. Or hand carved turkey.

SoupDragon · 11/09/2015 07:09

None.

The occasional piece of meat if I'm dishing up dinner but not very often.

hebihebi · 11/09/2015 07:25

I don't give mine treats either. They can take a while to settle down. My rescue cat was six months old when we got him and he lived in a cupboard for the first month. He's very loving now though.

strawberrypenguin · 11/09/2015 07:34

Have you tried fish paste? My cat growing up used to love it and lick it off your finger!

cozietoesie · 11/09/2015 10:03

Seniorboy won't touch Dreamies but is fond - despite his poor dentition - of Vet's Kitchen treats. (They're not as easy to get hold of as Dreamies but that's par for the course: I've spent hours tracking down obscure items for him from time to time.)

There's no substitute for love and fun with him. He'd always turn down nectar and ambrosia for a cuddle in bed with Mum for example. Step kitten should come round in a bit - 6 days is nothing really with their background. No time at all.

I was a little concerned about the 'sniffly' thing you mentioned though. What exactly are you seeing or hearing?

Lonecatwithkitten · 11/09/2015 11:58

It is really, really early in cat settling days. Some cats can take up to 18months to settle into a home and if the kitten is outside of the socialisation period it will be vary wary.
Take a huge step back stop the tempting and just allow him to come to you on his terms it may take a while, but in the long run is likely to be more successful.

Lurkedforever1 · 11/09/2015 12:06

Ours like proper meat and fish as treats. Bought ones, the chew sticks- whiskas, webbox and Aldis own, whiskas temptations, catnip drops, whiskas dentabites. One also likes peas. The other will eat pretty much anything but dreamies, she's not greedy and also prefers caught dinner to cat food. Her favourite treats are dentabites, although her absolute favourite is cod.

sashh · 13/09/2015 12:02

Ham.

It isn't good for them so only small amounts but I have yet to meet a cat that can resist.

RainbowFlutterby · 13/09/2015 12:05

Pickles.

(It's the name of another cat treat, I don't mean things like gherkins! You can get them at Pets At Home.)

MrsSchadenfreude · 13/09/2015 12:09

Small pieces of ham, or olives, both in moderation. I had a cat who would clear a whole dish of olives, put on the coffee table, if your back was turned for five minutes. One of mine likes blue cheese, too.

MargaretCabbage · 13/09/2015 12:11

Felix Seaside Mix treats and Cosma Snackies are the favourites in our house.

TheOneWiththeNicestSmile · 13/09/2015 12:38

Mine are a bit meh about Dreamies but they all love Smilla Toothies Smile

www.zooplus.co.uk/shop/cats/cat_treats_catnip/smilla_cat_snacks/treats/172551

TheOneWiththeNicestSmile · 13/09/2015 12:41

there are Hearties too (which they also like)

www.zooplus.co.uk/shop/cats/cat_treats_catnip/smilla_cat_snacks/treats/199655#more

Archfarchnad · 13/09/2015 17:05

It's always a good idea to put a bit of effort into finding The One Thing They Cannot Resist, and then training them that they get a small amount of it only if they come back when you call. DD1 has trained ArchCat to sit neatly in a particular spot in the kitchen in order to get his treat (in our case Dreamies works nicely). But it also means that when we call him in the evenings - his flap gets locked at dusk - he actually comes belting in (most of the time) because he knows something delicious is waiting.

givemushypeasachance · 15/09/2015 15:32

How are things getting on? It can be a slow process to gain a timid cat's trust in a new environment with new people - when I adopted my two boys from a rescue last year one of them hid down by some shelves for the first 24 hours and then spent a lot of time hiding under my bed, and it took two months of coaxing before he'd finally let me touch him. Now he's a proper little lovebug who weaves around my ankles and jumps up to rub his head against my hands. Some of the coaxing was achieved through hand-feeding pieces of cooked chicken breast - to start with I had to throw it down for him several feet away, then he'd take it from my hands and run off with it, then he finally had to come and stand on my lap to reach it and I'd hold it firm so he had to nibble bits off gradually. Little bits of cheese were also very popular. He also liked to play but was intimidated if I came too close at first, so fishing rod type toys were good - especially the Flying Frenzy which is irresistible!

AmyLouKin · 15/09/2015 17:20

My cats were never fond of dreamies but loved the whiskas temptations treats that came in the box shaped like a cat face! In fact, one cat used to try to find them and knock them on the floor so the lid would fly off and she could scoff! We had to find inventive places to hide them! I swear she could smell them a mile off! Failing that, cheese, ham or tuna seem to work well for our current cat. Open a can of tuna and she appears!
Good luck, I'm sure with patience your rescue will come round! My cat is a rescue and hated being picked up, kisses and having her tum tickled but let's me do all that now!

Northumberlandlass · 16/09/2015 08:49

Lulu will turn her nose up at dreamies and pretty much every other cat treat. However she can smell a mature cheddar being opened from the top of the house!

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