How get my new kitten to eat regular cat food?

[SiameseR4Me]

My new kitten (I've only had her 2 weeks) was fed a raw meat diet by her previous owner and since I do not feed this diet to my other cats I have been giving her regular kitten food (Iams for kittens) and Fancy Feast soft food. She has not been eating and I am extremely worried about her. She will examine the food and then walk away without eating it! On a good day, I can barely get her to taste the food I put in front of her! I do not know how to wean a kitten off a raw meat diet and entice her to eat regular kitten kibble and soft food? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[catinthemirror]

Usually people who come to this board are asking the opposite question - they want to get their cats from commercial food onto raw food. To be honest I'm sure a lot of people would be thrilled to get a kitten that was raised on raw!

First of all, you really need to make sure your kitten is eating. I can't stress this enough - it is very dangerous for cats to go with out food, and I would think it's even worse for a small, growing kitten to be refusing food. Did the previous owner give you a sample of what they were feeding the kitten? Did they explain how their raw diet works, so you would know what the kitten was used to? Were they using some kind of commercial raw product you would be able to purchase, or were they using franken prey (animal parts like muscle meat, bones and organs) or whole prey (whole mice, quail, rats etc.) Do you have any way of contacting this person? I would really suggest trying to get assistance from the previous owner ASAP, since you have no experience with raw food for cats before now. Your kitten really needs to eat, and I'm sure the sudden stress of going to a new home and no longer having the food she's used to is not helping her adjust.

Next I just want to mention that raw food is extremely healthy, and it doesn't have to be too complicated. There are commercially made ground raw food diets that are as easy as just defrosting and serving to your cat. Many cats actually benefit from a raw food diet (I've seen the benefit myself in my own senior cat especially). Your kitten is used to an extremely healthy, natural, high protein diet that does not at all resemble commercial pet food in taste or texture. She has no idea that the commercial food your giving her is actually food.

If you truly want to transition your kitten from raw food to commercial food you can probably do that gradually by mixing raw with the desired canned food, but I would really recommend transitioning her onto a high quality (if possible grain-free) canned food. Grain free canned food is most similar to raw food in moisture content (which is extremely important for cats, who have a low natural thirst drive) and is more easily digested and healthier than food containing grains, especially fillers like corn or brewers rice. The mere fact that cats can thrive on a diet of meat, organs and bones proves they don't need grains in their diet - and cats actually need to eat less when they're eating high protein food with few fillers.

I'm not sure what kind of Iams you feed your cats, but I know Iams does contain corn as one of the main ingredients. Corn is a common allergen in cats, and can sometimes trigger digestive upsets because it's not a natural food for a carnivore's system to process. Some varieties of Fancy Feast are actually grain-free (some contain wheat gluten), but all flavors contain something called Menadione Sodium Bisulfite, which is an artificial source of vitamin K. Menadione is a controversial ingredient in pet food because it's been banned in America by the FDA from human supplements because of it's potential toxicity. Fancy Feast also contains a lot of meat by-products, which aren't always the best source of protein and nutrition. If you're interested, there are a lot of healthier alternatives in cat food available that would probably be healthier for your new kitten and your other cats.

So please please try to get in touch with the previous owner and ask them for assistance. If you have no way of getting in touch with this person, I would suggest going to the supermarket for some raw, unenhanced chicken. Just grab a package of chicken thighs, strip the meat off the bone, and give the meat to your kitten. Your kitten NEEDS to eat or she could possibly develop fatty liver disease, which can be fatal. Whatever you have to do, make absolutely sure your kitten is eating before you think about changing her diet.

[catinthemirror]

Originally Posted by catinthemirror

Usually people who come to this board are asking the opposite question - they want to get their cats from commercial food onto raw food. To be honest I'm sure a lot of people would be thrilled to get a kitten that was raised on raw!

Oops, just realized this wasn't posted on the raw board - that's what I get for keeping too many tabs open!

[marie73]

You're not crazy (well, not totally).

It was in the raw section, but since the OP is seeking hints about feeding non-raw, I moved it.

[SiameseR4Me]

Originally Posted by catinthemirror

Usually people who come to this board are asking the opposite question - they want to get their cats from commercial food onto raw food. To be honest I'm sure a lot of people would be thrilled to get a kitten that was raised on raw!

First of all, you really need to make sure your kitten is eating. I can't stress this enough - it is very dangerous for cats to go with out food, and I would think it's even worse for a small, growing kitten to be refusing food. Did the previous owner give you a sample of what they were feeding the kitten? Did they explain how their raw diet works, so you would know what the kitten was used to? Were they using some kind of commercial raw product you would be able to purchase, or were they using franken prey (animal parts like muscle meat, bones and organs) or whole prey (whole mice, quail, rats etc.) Do you have any way of contacting this person? I would really suggest trying to get assistance from the previous owner ASAP, since you have no experience with raw food for cats before now. Your kitten really needs to eat, and I'm sure the sudden stress of going to a new home and no longer having the food she's used to is not helping her adjust.

Next I just want to mention that raw food is extremely healthy, and it doesn't have to be too complicated. There are commercially made ground raw food diets that are as easy as just defrosting and serving to your cat. Many cats actually benefit from a raw food diet (I've seen the benefit myself in my own senior cat especially). Your kitten is used to an extremely healthy, natural, high protein diet that does not at all resemble commercial pet food in taste or texture. She has no idea that the commercial food your giving her is actually food.

If you truly want to transition your kitten from raw food to commercial food you can probably do that gradually by mixing raw with the desired canned food, but I would really recommend transitioning her onto a high quality (if possible grain-free) canned food. Grain free canned food is most similar to raw food in moisture content (which is extremely important for cats, who have a low natural thirst drive) and is more easily digested and healthier than food containing grains, especially fillers like corn or brewers rice. The mere fact that cats can thrive on a diet of meat, organs and bones proves they don't need grains in their diet - and cats actually need to eat less when they're eating high protein food with few fillers.

I'm not sure what kind of Iams you feed your cats, but I know Iams does contain corn as one of the main ingredients. Corn is a common allergen in cats, and can sometimes trigger digestive upsets because it's not a natural food for a carnivore's system to process. Some varieties of Fancy Feast are actually grain-free (some contain wheat gluten), but all flavors contain something called Menadione Sodium Bisulfite, which is an artificial source of vitamin K. Menadione is a controversial ingredient in pet food because it's been banned in America by the FDA from human supplements because of it's potential toxicity. Fancy Feast also contains a lot of meat by-products, which aren't always the best source of protein and nutrition. If you're interested, there are a lot of healthier alternatives in cat food available that would probably be healthier for your new kitten and your other cats.

So please please try to get in touch with the previous owner and ask them for assistance. If you have no way of getting in touch with this person, I would suggest going to the supermarket for some raw, unenhanced chicken. Just grab a package of chicken thighs, strip the meat off the bone, and give the meat to your kitten. Your kitten NEEDS to eat or she could possibly develop fatty liver disease, which can be fatal. Whatever you have to do, make absolutely sure your kitten is eating before you think about changing her diet.

Thanks for your response. I contacted the owner but have not heard back as of yet (1 week now?) and I'm starting to really worry. The previous owner did not give details of the raw diet so I am really in the dark on this (aside from your helpful post!)

As for keeping her on a raw diet, I would gladly do so only I'm not entirely sure how the diet works and I would feel nervous taking on such a change when I'm uninformed about it and my other cats are used to store bought food. Of course, I will follow your advice and mix raw with regular cat food for the time being. I didn't realize it could be as simple as cooking up some ground beef or chicken thighs and stripping off the meat. --Did I mention I've also moved recently to a different state?---so this adds to the kitten's stress and mine! Could that be contributing to her refusal to eat? Just a thought.

Thanks for letting me know about the Iams and the Fancy Feast. I did not have any issues with allergies in my other cats but this one will not even touch Iams so it looks like it has to go! I never realized Fancy Feast contained such a controversial ingredient. I guess I will try to transition my other cats (and the kitten) onto Innova Evo formula. My older male is prone to bouts of diarrhea, though, so this could prove challenging, but no doubt worthwhile in the long run...

[catinthemirror]

I'm so sorry to hear that the previous owner didn't explain anything about your cat's diet to you! And now they can't be reached. In my opinion that's really irresponsible - raw IS something that takes some prior research to understand, and most people aren't familiar with it. That said it really isn't rocket science, and if you are interested I'd be happy to answer any questions and help you out however I can. The people on the raw board are all really great and knowledgeable.

The reason I suggest mixing raw with the canned food is that raw is what her body is used to, and also what she recognizes as food. It'll be a whole lot easier on her (and you!) to do a gradual transition, which should be easier on her system. Stress can DEFINITELY contribute to your kitten not wanting to eat. She could even be picking up on your stress about the move - and I'm sure her not eating is only adding to your stress, so it's all just a vicious cycle.

In any case a balanced raw diet is a little more complicated than just using one source of meat (just to very briefly explain, the method I'm currently using with my cats is just feeding them a variety of meats, organs and small edible bones in a certain percentage to mimic a cats natural prey). However in your situation I would personally just be concerned with getting your kitten to eat something at the moment, and chicken thighs are a relatively inexpensive meat source that is rich is taurine.

Also just a reminder that raw feeding means just that - you don't cook the meat before you feed it to them as cooking actually destroys a significant amount of the taurine in the meat. If it makes you feel more comfortable to start out you could lightly (very lightly!) sear the outsides of the meat to kill surface bacteria. Gently rinsing the meat in cold water can help accomplish the same thing, without changing the texture or smell. I just mention that because my cats actually refuse most cooked meat because they're used to the raw now. On the other hand lightly searing the outside of the meat might make it smell more strongly and entice your kitten to eat, so just experiment. You can't just feed her chicken long term, but if it helps get her eating for now it's a good thing.

You should also probably avoid ground beef, because as I understand it ground meat has a much higher surface area for bacteria to grow. Ground raw food for pets is usually frozen shortly after being ground, rather than sitting around in coolers at supermarkets. I frequently buy inexpensive cuts of beef like round steak or stew meat however, and my cats both absolutely love beef

To be honest, it was finding out what was actually in the cat food I was feeding my pets that finally pushed me into trying the whole raw food thing. My older cat ate only Nutro dry cat food her whole life (that food is loaded with corn and I've found out it has had serious quality control issues in the past). Just switching her from that to a grain-free, high protein kibble made such a huge impact in her health and energy levels - and that was nothing compared to when I switched her to grain-free canned food. In my opinion good quality canned foods like Innova Evo are a great option if you're not comfortable feeding your cats raw. If I ever couldn't feed my cats raw for whatever reason that's what I would go back to If you have any cans of EVO around you could also see if your kitten would prefer that to the Fancy Feast. I still think giving her something raw that she's more familiar with is your best bet to help transition her, but you can also try offering her different kinds of canned food - you're bound to find something she likes eventually if you keep at it.

So anyway, good luck. I really hope you're able to get your kitten eating, but if you're not you should consider a vet visit to make sure everything is ok with her. I understand she is eating a little at the moment right? If her appetite changes again or doesn't pick up I'd definitely not hesitate to take her to the vet.

[catinthemirror]

Originally Posted by marie73

You're not crazy (well, not totally).

It was in the raw section, but since the OP is seeking hints about feeding non-raw, I moved it.

LOL ok thank goodness for that! I was seriously questioning myself last night - I didn't think I was THAT tired.

[SiameseR4Me]

Hi again, I tried your advice and got her some chicken thighs, stripped the chicken off the bone, shredded it, and fed it to her. I also tried fish after taking it off the bone and slicing it into thin strips. When neither of these methods worked, I tried Innova Evo soft food and hard food and other natural food of several varieties (Blue Wilderness, Wellness, Healthwise.) She doesn't seem to even taste the food before rejecting it. I don't know what to do next. She is not eating and has lost weight. I need to take her to the vet as soon as possible but I have no transportation right now as my car is out of service. Is there any kind of transit service that can transport animals to the vet?

[marie73]

Call a taxi, take a bus. Kittens will go downhill very quickly if they don't eat.

[laurief]

Buy some inexpensive beef (not ground), pork, and chicken. Cut a small amount (maybe 1/8 c) of each one into small, bite-sized pieces and put each type of meat into a separate plastic baggie. Then put the baggies into a bowl or sink of hot water for a few minutes to warm up the meat (do NOT cook the meat). When the raw meats are warm and aromatic, put each one in a separate little bowl or plate, and serve them (warm) to the kitten. A lot of cats and kittens won't eat cold meat from the fridge, so you need to warm it to "mouse body temp". Also, warmed meat has more odor, and odor is what triggers appetite in cats.

Many felines prefer one type of meat over another, so try as many different meats as you can get your hands on. Venison and other game meats are VERY popular with cats, so if you know any hunters or have any specialty meat markets in your area, you might want to check and see if you can get any game meats from them.

Marie is correct. A kitten who isn't eating is in SERIOUS and IMMEDIATE trouble, and should be seen by a vet right away.

Laurie