Kittens Just Slurp Moist Food

Hi,
I'm new to boards and new to kittens (I adopted my late cat when she was 2-2.5 years old). I recently adopted two now tweleve week old kittens from a coworker who does rescue work. Lionel and Audra are a brother/sister duo who are so cute, cuddly, and into everything

Anyhooo, I have a question about moist food. Their foster mother was feeding Nutro Kitten dry food and the Nutro Pouches. She had given them can foods a few times too but they weren't too interested in that.

I've had them for two weeks now and they chow down like no tomorrow on Nutro Kitten dry food but they only like to slurp up the gravy from the pouch food. I've tried different flavors and even a different brand (Eukanuba pouches) but all they still slurp up the the gravy and leave behind the meat. Ocassionally, they will eat the meat chunck but its only happened a few times and they never clean their plates.

I've been picking up the plates with pouches after an hour or so since I don't the food to go bad and give my babies a tummy ache.

I've tried Nutro canned food and they lick the little bit of juice off of it and refuse to touch the rest.

Any ideas? I feel like I'm just throwing money away with pouches and I've heard that a dry food only diet isn't good for kittens or cats.

I looked through my "Kittens for Dummies Book" (go ahead and laugh - my coworkers thought it was a hoot that I bought a Dummies book) and th author recommended Nutro, Iams, and Dick Van Patten (the 8 is Enough guy makes kitty food? ) but didn't really offer any insight into slurpers or the whole dry food/moist food thing.

Thanks in advance!

I think you're really talking about wet food, right? Moist food is like dry food with water in it, and its about the worst thing you can give them because they have to put so many preservatives in them. Your mention of gravy makes me think its just pouched wet food.

If so, what you cats are doing is totally normal. The chunks are too big for their little mouths! Zissou was just a tad bit younger than your two when I got her, and until she was about five months old all she could do was lick the gravy off the chunks. You can try a pate wet food, although you said they weren't too into that. I mushed up the chunks for her, and she ate those just fine. When you put the pouched food on the plate, just take a regular old fork and mush it up a little so the pieces end up being smaller, and then stir it all around. They also don't quite have all their teeth yet, which may have something to do with it.

I would try loaf or pate' style Nutro cans and make the food soupy.
That way they can slurp and still get actual food in them instead of just gravy.
Slowly reduce the ammount of water in it until they are just getting mooshed up canned food.

mash the squares with a fork ... this mixes meat and gravey

Thanks for the prompt replies. I handn't thought about the tooth issue - I'll try mooshing up the food with a fork tonight and hope we have better luck.

Zissou'sMom - this is the link to the food I'm talking about http://www.nutroproducts.com/nccatpckitten.asp

Hope its ok to put links in the forum....

Your kittens are not the only ones that only love the gravy. My Loki only eats the gravy and leaves the meat - it's his daily treat. Even the vendor reps from Nutro mentioned that a lot of their customers mentioned that their cats only eat the gravy !!!!

Maybe a texture issue and how things feel in their mouths - who knows.

Neither of mine will eat the chunks unless I mash them with a fork. And they aren't kittens, they just don't like chunks in their food

When I ran into that I took the rest of the pouch and stuck it in my mini food processor and then it didn't go to waste.

Quirky, why is the "dry food only diet" bad for them? I actually thought that it was great for preventing obesity and tooth decay as long as they are satisfied with it.

My 8 yr old male cat Fluffy eats dry food throughout the day and 1/2 can Fancy Feast at 6pm each evening. We used to give him one whole can but he's now obese

I have a 4 mo old calico now and am only feeding her AUTHORITY Brand Cat Food (dry) for kittens.
Is this a bad thing? She loves it and seems content. Anyone have some answers?

Thanks

Feeding dry only can promote obesity, it's got far more carbs than needed and much more carbs than canned. Cats, being desert animals originally, are not hardwired to consume lots of water, and a dry only diet increases the chance of UTI and Urine crystals. The whole tooth health thing is a myth, dry food is far more likely to get trapped between the teeth and at the gum line.

Wet foods by volume have more meat and less grain, fewer carbs, higher protein and most importantly higher moisture content, more closely mimicing a natural diet.

I fed my late cat Pushka a diet of dry food only until the late fall of 2001 when she lost half her upper teeth due to a nasty gum infection complicated by the fact she was diabetic - so much for the tooth protection thing

Anyhooo, after Pushka's last bout with acidosis, I learned lots about cat food from her new vets and started reading up on food. I learned about all the things I had done to contribute to my poor critter's condition. I'm so steamed that her previous vets didn't tell me about the quality of grocery store food, the fillers they use, and the fact that some manufacturers put sugars in their food. In the end, it was my fault for not being a better cat mommy and learning more about cats (she was my first).

From my understanding - Dry food dehydrates them, has more carbs and fillers, and doesn't do anything for their teeth or gums. Moist food not only keeps them hydrated (I've also read that its a big plus to the guy critters because otherwise they end up with urinary problems), but also satisifies their inner carnivoire.

I think its like the differnce between backed spam or beef jerkey and a nice juicy T-Bone steak.....

last night and this morning.

Last night, they didn't touch the meat and looked at me like I had given them some horrible poisionous thing or cauliflower ....

This morning, they ate most of the meat. Yea! Yea! Of course, they slurpped up all the gravy first, played, and then came back to breakfast....
You know kittens.

On a food related note, does anyone know where I can find an objective study (like Consumer Reports) on the best cat and kitten foods? My late cat's specialist had her on ProPlan and I was happy with that (though the nasty "fish head" variety did stink up the house) but I've only heard mixed reviews or bad things about ProPlan since I started asking. Part of the reason Pushka was put on ProPlan was because of its strong odor - they wanted to stimulate her tummy to eat more....but that's another story.


Thanks for the great advice!


edited for spelling.... sure there are still more boo-boos...

all reviews are jaded to one liking or another... I read all then compare and contrast .... Talking with a holistic or like minded vet helps too..

Pro plan is not a favorite but some of it aint half bad .... but in the same price range many high end foods are avail

I use about ten brands.... Pro pac, Nutro, Natural Balence , Merrick, Felidea , Meow mix( most groceries and walmart carry) , Natural Life ( walmart ) , Eagle Pack , Evangers ... It is late so I likely missed a few .,..

Fancy feast has some good ones but most I would nt feed

Fancy Feast is a bit like McDonalds for cats - OK as a treat but not enough nutrients to feed every day.

sooner - the Grandmeow and Grandpaw are up for a visit and so things have been a little nuts....

Pushka's specialist didn't like Fancy Feast - she said it had sugar and sugar related compounds in it... but then Pushka was a diabetic.

These two furkids seem to be adapting to the mushed up Nutro very well. I gave them some Iams pouch food the other day and it didn't sit well with them - lots of stinkies if 'ya know what I mean

When I was Petco last week I ran into a rep for Nutro and she said the difference between their brand and all the others was no-by-products - no beaks, feet, or internal organs. Well ewwww - who'd want to eat that? But a woman where I work who does rescue work said that by products dont hurt them - it fulfills some type of nutritional need (she couldn't explain it very clearly) and that you needed to avoid meal in foods (chicken meal). She's a little wacky (and not in the fun loving favorite Aunt kind of way) so I'm not sure I'd give her opinion much value (unless y'all say something different).

Well, I need to get back to supervising the Grandmeow and Grandpaw - they look at cats and kittens as tiny dogs and puppies....

Originally Posted by quirkygal

sooner -



When I was Petco last week I ran into a rep for Nutro and she said the difference between their brand and all the others was no-by-products - no beaks, feet, or internal organs. Well ewwww - who'd want to eat that? But a woman where I work who does rescue work said that by products dont hurt them - it fulfills some type of nutritional need (she couldn't explain it very clearly) and that you needed to avoid meal in foods (chicken meal). She's a little wacky (and not in the fun loving favorite Aunt kind of way) so I'm not sure I'd give her opinion much value (unless y'all say something different).

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Click to expand...

I would only agree that organs meats have there place... as with whole prey cats arent like snakes that eat whole and regurgitate the rest(sorry for this being graphic)... heads ft and intestines only may have some mositure and calcium but I WONT FEED THEM ...

Meal is good ... chicken meal is chicken that has the water and some fat removed ( think beef jerky) ... most here agree that having both chicken and chicken meal in a formula is good but most will agree meal is good as it DOESNT contain the by products....