Fussy kitten/cat after brother died

[Oleandernat]

Hi
My 11 month old kitten has suddenly become a picky eater post death of his best friend.
I have an 11 month old ragdoll and have just lost my 8 month old norweign forest cat to feline infectious peritionitis.
Whiskey would eat biscuits and wet food very happily but Stormy ( the ragdoll) has never been on biscuits.... and i tried.

I had a very traumatic miscarriage and during my recovery is when Whiskey got sick. When Whiskey got sick we had to tempt him with anything we could get him to eat and that was mostly chicken. So i admit everything got out of routine and the normal food stopped and the special food started

Now that Whiskey is no longer with us i am trying to get Stormy back to a normal routine, but hes had so Much change in his short life ( was given to us as a 14 week old kitten because previous owners were allergic, then getting whiskey who he loved... they were inseparable, me being sick constantly now, and loosing whiskey his best friend)
So i cant get him to eat the food he has been on since we got him... he just wants chicken based food and not the complete diet stuff, the small cans that actually look like shedded chicken.
We dont over treat him... he gets one liquid treat every 2 days.... and i have tried it on the pet food. He very occastionally get a bit of chicken from our meals... but not often.

I am wasting so much food! I only buy the top food for him and we are on such a limited budget, i am spending so much money on food he wont eat which means i cant afford to feed us (no work currently due to health concerns post miscarriage).... not complaining hes my baby i will do anything.
Any hits or clues on how to get him to eat his old food or am i stuck trying to find good quality chickenbased kitten food.... supply is limited here for kittens. Or any hints on how to get him on biscuits? We need to fly him to New Zealand at some point.
Also .... ragdolls when shoukd we switch to adult food. Hes a very small boy but was a good weight to him. Was runt of the litter and hand rared .. hence the fussyness.
Any ideas would be great. He wants the food just goes to it and tries to bury it.
Which scares me as whiskey did that when he was gettting sick. (Stormy has been to vet no signs of FIP)

 

[Willowy]

He doesn't need to eat biscuits; dry food isn't the best for cats, especially males. Will he eat any kind of tinned food, besides the treat kind?

 

[Oleandernat]

I dont mind about the biscuits but with a 30 hour plane ride in his future i thought biscuits might be good. But thats not for a few years.
There is one he ate but i am worried if i only give him that he will get bored.
He never had a problem with his normal food until now. We stopped giving it to him about 6 months ago. Its beef based not chicken.

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

I have an extremely picky cat and have to put toppers on every single meal he eats, plus often have to hold his bowl up to him to get him to eat. He's now 12 years old and started this as a kitten .

Will he eat the cat food with the liquid treat on top? You mentioned you have tried that. And what about if you crush a bisquit and sprinkle that on top? Will he eat the wet cat food then? With my guy, I usually have to give him a little taste of the topper first, then put in on top of his food to get him interested. Oh the things we have to do to get our picky eaters to eat. But in the end, it's worth it because as you said, they are our babies.

 

[Oleandernat]

He licks the liquid treat off. So stubborn.
Hes mote likely to eat if i hand feed him which is not another new habit i want him to develop. But when he gets hungry he does eat small amounts on his own.
He can be a guts and watching him not eat snd scratch next to the bowl is giving me flashbacks to my other kitten. I am super paranoid now and doubt that will change