Kitten wont eat cat food

[Ellaraine]

We re homed two kittens,sisters,from the same litter three weeks ago. They have settled in great and have brought so much happiness to our home. My only issue is one of them will not touch any type of cat food. I've tried them all including the very expensive ones from the vet. Vet told me that she would have to get used to it and dont feed her anything else. I tried this for a day and kitten would not touch the food,was hungry and miaowing so I caved and gave her some cooked chicken which she devoured. I've tried heating cat food,mixing cat food with chicken, pouring some meat juices on top,nothing,she won't touch it. Ive been cooking her own little meals of mince,chicken,turkey with some vegetables . She eats them. I'm going to get her some vitamins too when she's a little older.

Will she be OK not eating cat food but cooked meats and vegetables with some vitamins. She is healthy, active,very loving and affectionate.

Is it dry or wet cat food you're offering or both?
No, cooked meats/veg won't have all the nutrients she needs.

Cats need organ meat and ground bones if you’re feeding non-cat food. It’s SO important when they’re this age that they’re getting all the correct nutrients so they can grow.

You really need to try a complete wet food (I’m assuming you’re just offering kibble?) or even a ready prepared raw kitten food if she’ll go for that.

She needs vitamins now not when she's older. Cats need taurine for a start which is in chicken liver not the white flesh so you're risking a deficiency which is v serious.

What were they being fed before and did you stick to it?

Meat and veg will not be adequate.

We have tried wet and dry food. Royal Canin which was recommended by the vet. We also tried Hunters Choice dry food. Her sister eats everything. Vet said she is in good health and there's only a couple of grams in weight between them. I would just prefer her to eat cat food as I know she will be getting all her vitamins and minerals.

They told us that both of them ate wet and dry food,raw mince ,sour cream and milk. Obviously I didn't give them raw mince,sour cream or milk. I get the feeling that maybe they were fed from the table.

I am trying my best with her..

Should I just offer cat food from now?.

You can buy commercially prepared raw cat food. Or try other wet foods. Pets at home sell individual tins I think so you could try other varieties.

Oh bless I know it's hard but think you've got to be tough and not give into her. She'll eat when hungry enough, if you keep giving in she'll learn not to eat.

Have you tried the royal cain fussy eaters range? My cat is a wet food fan (will only eat Felix as good as it looks, sometimes only eats the jelly!) he's not a dried food fan but will eat Royal Cain savour version.

Welcome to the world off cats, love them but my god there stubborn when it comes to food

Mine wouldn't eat any of the expensive recommended food, loves Felix

Have you tried gourmet?

I've tried

Royal Canin
Hunters Choice
Whiskas Kitten/Cat Food
Sheba
Cheap supermarket dry and wet food
Expensive supermarket dry and wet food
Samples of dry and wet from pet store

Have you tried different textures of the wet food? Mine will only touch either (a few) pate/terrine types or ones with small fine bits of meat like Sheba Fine Flakes. Anything with big chunks in gets ignored once the jelly is licked off.

I have a fussy one like this. At one point I thought I'd have to cook proper meat for her as she really wasn't a cat food fan, but we found she would eat a little if they were fishy flavours and she particularly likes the hi life tuna selection so we have a subscription set up on amazon for the big packs now!
You can get single hi life sachets in b&m which may be worth a try. They only sell the adult version but would he worth trying and if they go down well you can get packs of kitten version online and in pets at home

Mine likes the pate, chunks not so much unless I mash them.

Felix as good as it looks usually goes down a treat with any cat.

What food was she on before?

Are you buying food in gravy or jelly? What about pate style foods? Have you tried mixing something like tuna water or chicken broth in with their biscuits?

My three love Felix AGAIL. They won't eat food in gravy - it has to be in jelly they won't eat the pate style foods either.

Cats must have taurine in their diet so she does need to eat cat food or she could become very very unwell.

I would try Katkin. It's a subscription service and they do an introductory offer.
It's a whole wet food and it's good quality.
It got a bit expensive for us as, although the serving guide was one pouch per day, one of ours is a bit of a unit and it just wasn't enough.
Their coats were beautiful though and the litter tray was significantly more pleasant to clean.

Our DCat has a mixture of KatKin and Untamed (we found he got bored eating the same pouch of KatKin all day, so now he has half a pouch of KatKin and two different tins of Untamed and loves them all). We don't feed any dry at all.

From what you've said I would definitely try Untamed chicken flavours - they are basically just shredded chicken in gravy. Add a bit of mayo and you could happily serve it up in a sandwich, it is very good quality.

Have you tried Hills. All the cats I've had have always eaten this with no problem. A vet said not many cats turn up their noses at Hills.

Stop this now. You have good intentions but will kill her. She needs organ meat - vegetables are no good to her - and she needs these nutrients now, not when she’s older.

The closest complete wet cat food to cooked chicken breast will be Thrive chicken. You can get it in Waitrose and various other places. It’s expensive but potentially a route to training her onto other cat foods.

Seconding Untamed. It has over 60% meat in it. It does not look (or smell) like cat food. I had tipped the chicken one on to a little plate and my husband thought that was chicken for our lunch

Thrive chicken wet food is literally shredded chicken and a complete food. They are amazing! Highly recommend

Thanks for all the replies. Was at the vets today for second vaccination. Spoke to her about kitten refusing to eat cat food and all the tricks we have tried. She checked kitten and her weight is normal,not dehydrated and she is very healthy ,shiny coat, bright eyes etc. Vet said that some cats are fed on a cooked food diet and once she was getting protein,vegetables and carbohydrates its fine. I asked about vitamins and she said she wouldn't have any concerns about her needing additional supplements at the minute.

Cats are obligate carnivores and dont need vegetables or carbohydrates. They need taurine and you won't get that from cooked meat and veg.

@dementedpixie, I asked about a taurine supplement and was told it was not necessary.