Hi,
A few weeks ago my boyfriend and I adopted two cats, a mama and her only surviving kitten. When we first got them, the kitten wasn't fully weaned (she was about 9 weeks) and our vet told us not to worry about it and that mama would help her wean. Sure enough, about a week and a half/two weeks ago mama stopped letting her nurse entirely - she had already been stopping her sometimes when we took them home so we'd put wet food out, she'd eat it, no problems. She actually made the transition to wet food quite easily, she eats whenever she's hungry and eats like a horse. Both were underweight when we first adopted them but no longer have pokey ribs.
My question is this - since the kitten won't eat kibble yet, we've been feeding her wet food. It hasn't been a problem but over the last few days mama has been ignoring her dry food and pushing the kitten out of the way to get to the wet food. We redirect her to her own food and feed the kitten on the other side of the house so the smell isn't distracting mama, but mama still goes. Kitten eats all of her food, mama licks the bowl and won't go back to eat her own food. She went from eating at least two bowls of dry food a day to not even finishing one.
I'm not opposed to feeding her wet food but our vet feels that a combination of wet and dry is best for her. I'm just not sure how to get her to go back to eating her dry food??? I think his suggestion was dry in the morning and wet in the PM, does that sound right? We went over so many things with him at the last appointment (mama was a stray so she's getting the same shots as the kitten) that I can't quite remember. A great pet store near us gave us a bunch of samples that we've been mixing with her usual food and nothing tempts her - duck, turkey, chicken. The boyfriend picked up this batch of wet food that we're feeding the kitten and I wonder if that's the problem - some of it is seafood-based (salmon I think), could that be tempting her enough that she wouldn't want to eat the dry food she was normally inhaling?
And yes, they always have fresh water, I change it a couple of times a day. These are my first cats, I've only had finicky family dogs before, so I'm stressed. I'm worried she's going to lose the weight she only just gained!
A few weeks ago my boyfriend and I adopted two cats, a mama and her only surviving kitten. When we first got them, the kitten wasn't fully weaned (she was about 9 weeks) and our vet told us not to worry about it and that mama would help her wean. Sure enough, about a week and a half/two weeks ago mama stopped letting her nurse entirely - she had already been stopping her sometimes when we took them home so we'd put wet food out, she'd eat it, no problems. She actually made the transition to wet food quite easily, she eats whenever she's hungry and eats like a horse. Both were underweight when we first adopted them but no longer have pokey ribs.
My question is this - since the kitten won't eat kibble yet, we've been feeding her wet food. It hasn't been a problem but over the last few days mama has been ignoring her dry food and pushing the kitten out of the way to get to the wet food. We redirect her to her own food and feed the kitten on the other side of the house so the smell isn't distracting mama, but mama still goes. Kitten eats all of her food, mama licks the bowl and won't go back to eat her own food. She went from eating at least two bowls of dry food a day to not even finishing one.
I'm not opposed to feeding her wet food but our vet feels that a combination of wet and dry is best for her. I'm just not sure how to get her to go back to eating her dry food??? I think his suggestion was dry in the morning and wet in the PM, does that sound right? We went over so many things with him at the last appointment (mama was a stray so she's getting the same shots as the kitten) that I can't quite remember. A great pet store near us gave us a bunch of samples that we've been mixing with her usual food and nothing tempts her - duck, turkey, chicken. The boyfriend picked up this batch of wet food that we're feeding the kitten and I wonder if that's the problem - some of it is seafood-based (salmon I think), could that be tempting her enough that she wouldn't want to eat the dry food she was normally inhaling?
And yes, they always have fresh water, I change it a couple of times a day. These are my first cats, I've only had finicky family dogs before, so I'm stressed. I'm worried she's going to lose the weight she only just gained!
