kitten only eating dry food

[Fredd]

My wife and i recently adopted a 10 week old kitten. A couple weeks ago, she was diagnosed with an infection by the shelter for which she received a course of clavamox. She is now over the infection and seems happy and playful (she was lethargic during treatment). Her last Clavamox dosage was 4 days ago.

Our concern is that she only wants to eat dry food. She is very picky about wet food. She'll lap up the liquid from soupy wet food but won't eat much else of it. She eats the Hills Science Diet dry kitten food fine and she has been gaining weight.

She has been playing a lot - she's a little spitfire so she seems ok besides the picky eating. Our concern is that we have other cats and we don't want them catching anything. She was monitored carefully by the vet at the shelter and they actually delayed the adoption because they wanted to be sure she was OK. She had her last vet checkup the day before we adopted her on 7/22, but we have her isolated in another room just to be cautious.

Does it seem like we have anything to worry about - especially regarding infections? Could her picky eating be a lingering result of the clavamox? I just wanted to get an overall opinion from others before we do anything.

 

[Tagrendy]

My cat is exactly like that. Dry food - eats fine, wet food - only drinks to liquid on it. The only way I can get him to eat the wet food is by blending it all up. He used to eat wet food fine, not sure what made the change, but he never had any infections, so I don't think infection has much to do with it.

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

I would say if she was cleared by a Vet just four days ago, she is fine. She probably never ate wet food at the shelter, and doesn't really know what it is. She may also be picky and either doesn't like the flavor or doesn't like the type (flakes, mince, pate), or brand. Cats can be extremely picky about their food. I can feed one of mine chicken pate of one brand, and try to feed him another chicken pate with almost the exact same ingredient of another brand and he won't touch it. Cats! Gotta love 'em

 

[Fredd]

Yeah, they can be picky. We've just never had a kitten that didn't go for the wet food. You may be right though. We don't know what they were feeding her at the shelter. Maybe she's just not used to wet food. Thanks.

 

[cindy321]

we had kittens with opposite problem before, only eatting raw food and refuse dry food

 

[oyster]

I would recommend trying different brands and flavors of wet food. As a kitten, it would be easier to accustom her to wet food now. I gave mine occasional raw chicken and switched to wet food as I can't keep up with a completely raw diet. Anyway, our cat had to make this transition because he got urinary stones and our vet told us to switch to wet food. He still loves kibbles but only gets them as a treat. Wet food is generally better for cats but they don't necessarily understand that.

 

[BlackCatOp]

Does it seem like we have anything to worry about - especially regarding infections? Could her picky eating be a lingering result of the clavamox? I just wanted to get an overall opinion from others before we do anything.

Prior to introducing her to my other cats, I would want to make sure she tests neg for FeLv and intestinal parasites. Even if the shelter has already run a test for FeLv, I always like to have my vet confirm with a second test. As far as not eating wet food, I would offer her several brands/ flavors to entice her to try it. And agree, the shelter probably fed dry so that’s been her only exposure to food.