F3 Iniko will only eat canned food...cause for concern?

[Jenni]

Hi all! I brought my first SV, Iniko, home on June 10. She is a F3, and is now just shy of 5 months old and weighs 4.6lbs. She has a ferocious appetite, and until recently she was eating raw chicken twice daily and only one can of fancy feast. However, she now refuses to eat anything except the fancy feast, and I also can’t get her to eat any kibble. She is now also eating approximately 12oz of canned food each day, and I am very concerned that the canned food alone is not a healthy diet. For awhile I was able to mix dry food in, but she quickly caught on and stopped eating if she realized there was kibble in the mix. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to expand the diet with such a picky eater?

 

[Brigitte Cowell]

Canned food is designed to be a complete diet and doesn't need any supplementation. There's no reason to mix dry food in there as it doesn't add anything she needs and she is healthier without it. The only reason you might work on getting her to eat kibble is the convenience of being able to leave out kibble.

I'd say that the Fancy Feast is kinda like fast food and the raw chicken while healthier is not as attractive to her taste. Sometimes there's no accounting for personal taste and we have to compromise what our cats' diet is between what is best for them and what they will eat. But we can also work on making the diet as healthy as possible while still having her eat.

What raw chicken was she eating? Was it pieces, were you grinding up chicken or was it a commercial raw diet you were offering? Were you adding any supplements that she didn't like?

 

[admin]

Hi all! I brought my first SV, Iniko, home on June 10. She is a F3, and is now just shy of 5 months old and weighs 4.6lbs. She has a ferocious appetite, and until recently she was eating raw chicken twice daily and only one can of fancy feast. However, she now refuses to eat anything except the fancy feast, and I also can’t get her to eat any kibble. She is now also eating approximately 12oz of canned food each day, and I am very concerned that the canned food alone is not a healthy diet. For awhile I was able to mix dry food in, but she quickly caught on and stopped eating if she realized there was kibble in the mix. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to expand the diet with such a picky eater?

Hi jenni,

There is absolutely nothing wrong with canned food, although Fancy feast is kind of like kitty crack! Which type of FF are you feeding? Can you try something like Ziwipeak or Feline Natural are kind of a raw food alternative and very dense, so keeps kittens full longer, in my experience. Kittens are going to eat more than adults....often people say that raw is the only way to go, but that simply is not true...what type of raw chicken were you feeding? You may want to try a different protein source for your raw, if Iniko no longer eats it.

 

[Jenni]

I was grinding her chicken (primarily using thighs with bone because that’s what the breeder was feeding her). I was adding supplement but she stopped eating with that, so I stopped the supplement but she only ate the chicken for about 3 weeks after coming home. I am trying to switch her over to Blue Buffalo canned, but I haven’t had much success in the transition. She may be hooked on the kitty crack! I have always fed my 3 domestics a little fancy feast with their eat Blue Buffalo dry; I was hoping Iniko would do the same. I think my best course is to get her on a better quality canned food. I just want to start her off on the right foot!

 

[Manu+Horde]

Hi Jenni,

picky eaters can occour anytime ... so maybe if Iniko was eating raw before you can try day old chicken baby as full prey food.
Here in germany we are able to buy in a zoo/pet shop frozen day old chicken - my Savannah only prefers full prey and high quality kibble - with raw meat plus supplements i was runinng through concrete ... my Nabila (F1) was that picky from beginning as i adopted her with 18 month - so anything i tried was not interesting - frozen mice and baby chicken without a problem - Bozita high quality kibble - some treats are working fine for her - sometimes she likes also a bit wet food from our DSH's but mostly the sauce. Normally she eats 2-3 baby chicken per day a bit wet food from the other cats and kibble at will - besides she is in heat - then her appetite slow's down to nearly only chicken heads ... and the rest of the baby chicken will belong then to little Lina (DSH red Tabby) ...

Maybe you can try that ... eventually you have to play the full prey to wake up the interest (but be careful the cats will start bite and catch the prey - don't get your hands involved when they protect their catched food by growling/hissing at you - let it go an let them eat it)

give it a try if you want ...

Greets from the Horde

 

[admin]

I was grinding her chicken (primarily using thighs with bone because that’s what the breeder was feeding her). I was adding supplement but she stopped eating with that, so I stopped the supplement but she only ate the chicken for about 3 weeks after coming home. I am trying to switch her over to Blue Buffalo canned, but I haven’t had much success in the transition. She may be hooked on the kitty crack! I have always fed my 3 domestics a little fancy feast with their eat Blue Buffalo dry; I was hoping Iniko would do the same. I think my best course is to get her on a better quality canned food. I just want to start her off on the right foot!

I get something called chicken sprinkles from catmandoo and put it on top of any food for picky eaters...it works wonders


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[Brigitte Cowell]

I was grinding her chicken (primarily using thighs with bone because that’s what the breeder was feeding her). I was adding supplement but she stopped eating with that, so I stopped the supplement but she only ate the chicken for about 3 weeks after coming home. I am trying to switch her over to Blue Buffalo canned, but I haven’t had much success in the transition. She may be hooked on the kitty crack! I have always fed my 3 domestics a little fancy feast with their eat Blue Buffalo dry; I was hoping Iniko would do the same. I think my best course is to get her on a better quality canned food. I just want to start her off on the right foot!

It just may be that she doesn't like that particular brand of a better quality cat food. Mine like Wellness and Earthborn Holistics chicken canned foods...it just might require a little trial and error to find something your kitten likes.

 

[Jenni]

Iniko update...after two weeks of trial and error I think I may have a winner! She seems to be fond of all canned food by Instinct. Still no luck with any kibble, but as long as she is getting protein packed wet food I don’t mind having to feed her multiple times throughout the day. She will occasionally eat raw chicken, but those cravings seem to come in waves (so no live (or frozen) prey needed at this point thank goodness). Fingers crossed that the Instinct continues to work!