Best wet food to pack on the pounds???

Hi everyone!

We just picked up our first Bengal kitten from his breeder on Thursday. The breeder told us he was a little thin, but I would say he's downright skinny. At 12 weeks of age, he weighed in at only 1.8 pounds yesterday (according to the vet's scale). You can feel every vertebrae and rib in his little body.

The vet said that everything appears to be in normal working order...we just need to get some meat on his bones. He loves wet food, so does anyone recommend something that will help to add on weight relatively quickly? He is not at all interested in dry food, which we hope to change once he's on track with his weight.

Also, in all my years of owning/breeding cats, I have never had a kitten that didn't want to drink water. We have a fountain and thought it might be scaring him. We put out a bowl of water to see if that helped, but we still have only seen him drink from it once. I know he's getting some fluids from his wet food, but still...

Thanks in advance!

I kind of have the same drinking problem as you, we leave bowls of water aroudn the house, but my 3 year old doesnt liek to drink from them.. I made the unfortunate mistake of thinking it was "cute" and "funny" when he pawed at the fauced when he was a kitten, and would obliginly turn on the faucet... I can tell you , its not funny anymore, because you cant walk into a bathroom without seing his fat bum poking up in the air and him licking the dry faucet then turning to give you a look that clearly says "Turn the freaking water on" xD Mmmm Im not really sure what a fountain is O_O but ellito seems to like moving water more? like If I put an ice cube in the water, or move it with my fingers he will like to drink it.... sometimes I think he cant even see the water because he looks at teh bowl like its empty.... you could always try to keep water around you and try doing different things like, pouring some in your hands and holding them out to the kitten... or maybe even though he is 12 weeks old he might still have gotten milk from his mother and still isnt quite sure about how to drink water? You could try soaking a towel or something with water and seeing if he will drink it. If he was underweight that could mean many things, but the breeder might not have taken as good care of him as they should have. Im sure some of the "experts" will come along soon and give you better advice

Well, our kitten seems uninterested in water all together. The flowing water of the pet fountain doesn't spark any interested. Ice cubes in a regular water bowl doesn't do anything for him either.

My kitten's litter was bottle-fed from day 1 since his momma had no milk. He has been weaned from bottle-feedings for several weeks. He eats wet food great, which is why I want to find a brand that will add on the weight quickly. That's my main concern right now. I know he is getting at least some fluid/moisture from the wet food he's eating...

I have been breeding for several years, and I have never once had kittens not start drinking water on their own as the weaning process began. I am just perplexed as to why he's this way. I just don't want him to get dehydrated...

I just read in a thread about a cat who was spraying... in the thread I think it was hissy or someone who reccomended that for the cat who might have an infection, that you just add a bit more water to the wet food? Your cat doesnt have the problem of spraying obviously but I thought you could apply this technique for your cat? this way it will get more fluids in it w/o it knowing it. Hecka ll teh cat will think is "Mmmm even more tasties then normal!" I watched a episode of Emergency vets on Animal planet once where this woman had an extremely spoiled poodle that would only drink water with fruitjuice ect and she was afraid it was getting dehydrated, well it turns out the poodle was only stubborn, and after about two days it started drinking water Your kitten could be just adjusting still to the new environment, maybe hes a bit afraid. Do you have several things of water aroud the house? maybe put one behind something wehre the kitten likes to go that is not really visible by you so taht the cat can feel more secure and maybe will start drinking? Thats about all i got until some people who can give you better advice come (which might not be until tommorrow afternoon sadly )

I've heard of some people giving dropperfuls of pedialyte to help slightly dehydrated little ones perk up. There's also a recipe for "kitten glop" that always seems to be circulating which most people swear by. Emma was a bit underweight when we got her, but was already eating adult food, so I just gave her the fattiest food I could find (the kind that comes in a pouch and is chunky w/ a sort of gravy--there's a couple different brands but she really liked the Iams kind) and didn't limit her.
Keeping her food away from her tubbilicious big bro Oliver was a bit more of a challenge!
Try searching the forums for the "kitten glop" recipe: I'm thinking that might be helpful. Good luck!

Kitten Glop
Here it is, it's helped my little one, who's a 2 month old runt the size of a 4 week old.

Many of Petguards canned formulas are high calorie. I would probably try those if its available to you.

I think any good quality wet food should help re fattening this kitten up, just more of it, offered more often would be what I would do. I would also try adding a bit of warm water or plain chicken broth to the canned food, to increase his water intake.

If you want just to add quality extra protein - the Wysong Just Meat canned foods for cats (not complete, not for exclusive use without supplementation) are excellent. PetGuard as mentioned is a very good brand, you could also try Merrick, Felidae, Active Life.

Thanks for the suggestions. We have been feeding him Felidae, which seems to be working so far.

Any thoughts on how to get him to start drinking water on his own though? When I add liquid to his wet food, he just eats the top of the food that isn't really sitting in the water...

I'd use just enough water to really make the felidae soupier all the way through, so a consistently thinner consistency..nothing on top for him to eat and then ignore the liquid.

That said, I've never had this happen when I was raising litters, and I'll be curious to see what others have to advise. The kitten glop might be a good idea to see if he'd like this in addition to his food.

With real young babies just being weaned, I'd use something shallow - even a plastic can cover for water, and put water on their nose, to get them to lick it...to try and introduce them to drinking. But I've never had a kitten this old that wasn't noticeably drinking.