Advice on Kitten Food & Gravy Lover

To make a long story short, I took my kitten in after she was found in someone's engine block while camping on my honeymoon in the middle of September. She was 7 weeks old at that point and very underweight - a little over a pound. 

At first, we had to feed her adult food (Frisky's pate) because that was all the little shop in the mountains had. When we got home, we switched her over to Fancy Feast's kitten food. We also picked up some Hill's Healthy Development kibble because she was teething and clearly needed something crunchy in her life, and she loves that and still eats it. 

She gained about a pound in 3 weeks when we went back to the vet. We were advised us to keep feeding her the same brand if possible and to only switch if we noticed any physical problems.

Fast forward: our local stores can't keep the Fancy Feast kitten food stocked on their shelves. We went in three times (and to different stores) to get the same brand, but by then we were out of kitten food and I didn't want her only eating dry food. I bought some Gravy Lover's just to tide her over until the kitten food could come in.

Fast forward a week after feeding her wet with gravy, when I tried feeding her a can of the kitten food - she wouldn't touch it. She would only go after the food with gravy, so I have kept feeding it to her because that is all she will really eat. 

I took her back to the vet two weeks ago and she gained another pound, but I am worried about her nutrition. I know adult food does not contain the same nutrients kitten food does, and I am worried she is not getting what she needs. This is especially worrisome because she was so small when we got her and is still on the small side.

Aside from only wanting to eat food with gravy, she also does not like any form of chicken and despises any food with liver in it. I have tried to trick her into eating kitten food by adding the Broth packets that Fancy Feast has, but she licks the gravy and bits off and leaves the food underneath. (She won't touch it if I mix the gravy into the kitten food.) I have tried giving her other brands of kitten wet food and she hates them. I have tried not giving her any other wet food for a day or so to see if hunger compels her to eat and she'd rather starve than give in.

She is still eating the Hill's kitten kibble, but I am curious what I can do to get her to eat the kitten formula wet food too. Is there a gravy I can make at home to add to it? Is there a brand of kitten formula with gravy that I have missed?

I just want my girl to be healthy.

I'm sure you can get the Fancy Feast kitten online - it may well work out cheaper too. I get almost all my cat food online - I get access to a much wider choice and pay less! I'm in the UK, but a lot of people here use Chewy.com and Amazon for their food.

As far as gravy goes - I got my resolutely gravy-only cat onto paté style foods by mashing it and mixing with enough hot water to make the whole thing a thickish gravy texture. Free, easy and definitely worth a try!

Columbine said:

I'm sure you can get the Fancy Feast kitten online - it may well work out cheaper too. I get almost all my cat food online - I get access to a much wider choice and pay less! I'm in the UK, but a lot of people here use Chewy.com and Amazon for their food.

As far as gravy goes - I got my resolutely gravy-only cat onto paté style foods by mashing it and mixing with enough hot water to make the whole thing a thickish gravy texture. Free, easy and definitely worth a try!

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I have tried looking online and the cost of food plus the cost of shipping is about twice as much as what I get in the local store. I might try once, but it's definitely not worth it for a regular deal.

As for the hot water, I actually tried that a few times. She turns her nose up at it. Maybe it's because it's hot, maybe it's because it isn't the same "kind" of gravy as the other food. I can always try again I suppose!

Damn (on both counts!)

Have you thought of ordering the fancy feast from your local store. That way it would be put aside for you.

In the short term I wouldn't stress too much - the kibble is age appropriate, so she should be fine.

Other tricks for fussy eaters are things like topping the food with a little treat - crumbled Purebites, FortiFlora, tuna water (soak tuna - spring water version only - in a couple of cups of water for a few hours. Remove the tuna and feed the water), a little finely grated parmesan etc etc can work wonders.

You could also try draining the gravy from the Gravy Lover's and pouring it over the Fancy Feast. That might be enough to tempt her.

I know this isn't exactly what you're doing, but there are some good tips here[article="31138"][/article]

Hopefully some other members can chime in with food brand suggestions.

Columbine said:

Damn

(on both counts!)

Have you thought of ordering the fancy feast from your local store. That way it would be put aside for you.

In the short term I wouldn't stress too much - the kibble is age appropriate, so she should be fine.

Other tricks for fussy eaters are things like topping the food with a little treat - crumbled Purebites, FortiFlora, tuna water (soak tuna - spring water version only - in a couple of cups of water for a few hours. Remove the tuna and feed the water), a little finely grated parmesan etc etc can work wonders.

You could also try draining the gravy from the Gravy Lover's and pouring it over the Fancy Feast. That might be enough to tempt her.

I know this isn't exactly what you're doing, but there are some good tips here[article="31138"]Transitioning Your Cat From Kibble To A New Type Of Food Canned Raw Or Homemade  [/article]

Hopefully some other members can chime in with food brand suggestions.

Click to expand...

I actually did order the Fancy Feast from a local store, and the day it came in, when I went to go pick it up, someone in the store had already stocked it and then they promptly sold out of it. I am still mad about that so I haven't gone in to try ordering it again.

We don't actually give her any/many treats - she doesn't react to them when we give them to her so we don't bother much. (She goes bananas for the kibble though - scales her cat tree and runs around acting the fool.)

I can try the tuna water to see if she takes to it, but should I try giving it to her before putting it on the food to see if it is something she'll even take to?

The gravy straining will have to be a last resort, because I already know she doesn't seem to like it when "flavors mix."

Letting her try the tuna water might be a good idea as she's so fussy.

On other though - you could try grinding up a few bits of kibble and using that as a topper to get her interested.

Good luck with her. I hope you find a solution soon

Columbine said:

Letting her try the tuna water might be a good idea as she's so fussy.

On other though - you could try grinding up a few bits of kibble and using that as a topper to get her interested.

Good luck with her. I hope you find a solution soon

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I'll try both. Hopefully they work! I will post updates if we run into issues.

What if you just blended the whole gravy lovers can so it's all juice?

Molly22 said:

What if you just blended the whole gravy lovers can so it's all juice?

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That might be worth a try, but again, she doesn't seem to like it when you put two flavors (even if the ingredients are almost the same) together.

Oceanfish pate with Oceanfish with gravy? Nope.

I mean just one can put in the blender.
Also my one cat hates chicken too. I gave up on that.

I have a similar problem. My older cat will ONLY eat the fancy feast beef in gravy (gravy lovers, not chicken, he's sort of eat the seafood) and my 5 month old kitten figured out that her brother was getting "yummier" food than hers and now refuses the kitten pate' so she's eating kitten dry food and adult wet. How much of the dry food is she eating? The only real difference between kitten and adult cat food is calories and fat and as long as she's eating around 40% of the kitten dry it should be okay.

If you were in Australia I'd tell you try Dine Kitten in the tub as it's a similar texture. There might be something similar in texture over there and that way she can have her gravy lovers once per day and then kitten food the rest of the time?

Just done some research - Gravy Lover's is suitable for all life stages. This means it's fine to feed to kittens. Fancy Feast simply say that kittens will need up to double the quantity as an adult cat of a similar size. Hope that helps

I am glad gravy lovers is good for all kitties! I feed her about two cans a day, one in the morning and one at night. She also eats about a quarter cup of kitten kibble a day, which I offer as a "grazing" food for whenever.

I am so happy for this forum and you awesome parents. You've eased this momma's mind quite a lot!

Update:

She's eating the gravy food! She has turned her nose up at the kitten formula when it's in her dish but eats it just fine if I pick some up in a spoon and hold it up for her.

Talk about spoiled.