Any cat owners out there ?

[CHHAS]

I need some help with my kitten.

She absolutely refuses to eat dry food, I've tried 3 different brands with no luck. If I mix in a bit of tuna she'll gulp it right down, but she completely ignores dry food on it's own.

Suggestions anyone ?

[EchoWars]

My cat-pound refugee of a feline had refused to eat dry cat food her entire life. I have tried to force her by giving her nothing but dry for days on end...instead she raids the dinner table after everyone has finished, has nightly garbage-can demolishing episodes, and in general lost weight and looked unhealthy. So I started buying 'moist' cat food, along with some canned. She went for that. Only problem is that the moist stuff is not as good for the teeth, so she gets 'em cleaned every couple of years.

Seems to be just as good for her as the dry...she turns 19 in a few weeks. BTW, at this point in her life, she gets anything she wants to eat

[KvHagedorn]

If this is your major problem, rejoice. Feed her what she likes to eat. Raising a kitten is a lot like raising a human child.. a little patience and discipline now go a long way later. At least she doesn't have opposable thumbs to crush the dry food into crumbs and throw it all over the kitchen!

I'd also consider getting her declawed and keeping her indoors. I've seen too many cats and dogs wind up as roadkill. I would never let that happen to my cat if I could prevent it.. and I can. He's almost 15 now and still happy and healthy (knock wood).

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Kind Regards,

KvH

[Greebe]

Buy the rounchiest smelling canned tuna (usually the cheapest) and (completely) mix a little with dry. I'll suggest a good kitten chow, here in the US, Purina is one of the best. If you juice the dry she'll even like it better. She may eat around it at first, but given time she'll come around.

BTW Tuna is one of the worst foods you can feed a cat. Yes they luv it, but it's one of hardest on feline kidneys.

[dZeus]

ok, several possibilities:

- you should change the brand of the dry food every once in a while, because cats can get fed up with the same brand (but the same goes for the food in the tins).

- your cat has some teeth-infections or something? because they have to bite on the dry food quite a bit harder, it may hurt it? Usually if this is the case, it will eat a bit if it's hungry, but it'll quit eating the food as soon as it feels the pain in it's mouth again.

[Gurm]

Yeah, some thoughts:

Declawing: NO NO NO. I know it saves your furniture. But you can buy furniture-safe sprays that repel kitties. A little bit on the table legs and couch corners and you won't have a problem. And declawing is so cruel. How would you like YOUR fingernails cauterized off?

Feeding: Iams. It's just the best. If the kitten really won't eat dry, do what Greebe suggested and mix in a little bit of el-cheapo tuna. Some kittens just don't like dry food. How old is she? She may just be a little too young for it. DON'T get her 100% spoiled on wet-food though or you'll spend the rest of her life buying it.

Discipline: Get a small super-soaker. Use it liberally along with a firm "NO".

- Gurm, who has to go cuddle his two kitties some more now.

[EDIT:] Do take it to a vet. It needs a bunch of shots now, and a few more later, as well as a visit yearly once it reaches adulthood. And have its teeth checked, as was suggested above.

And yeah, if it never eats dry food, that's the least of your worries. It took me three tries to find a brand of anti-chew spray (different from the anti-scratch spray) that kept mine from eating their favorite delicacy - mouse cables and speaker wire.

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Listen up, you primitive screwheads! See this? This is my BOOMSTICK! Etc. etc.

[This message has been edited by Gurm (edited 19 February 2001).]

[CHHAS]

Thanks for the suggestions.

As for declawing: No way! Nuff said.

She's quite content eating IAMS dry food for kittens if I mix in a bit of tuna, so I guess I'll continue to feed her that for now.

She's 4½ months old now, going to take her to a vet to get neutralized and checked when she's about 6 months.

I'm going to get some catnip spray for her scratching boards (she has 2 of them), so hopefully she'll use them instead of my speakers ... (don't know why she keeps scratching them, she's been sprayed liberally with water each time I've caught her, and bolts for cover if discovered.)

[cerb]

CHHAS: My girlfriend's sister is part of the <a href="http://ukrn.topcities.com">Unweened Kitten Rescue Network</a> and we've had 9 kittens (different litters) under our care during the past 4 months.

We still have two out of the first litter (we're keeping them) and they're also at about 4 1/2 months old. They get fed IAMS soaked in water. The biscuits are soaked water and then kept in the fridge. This then is mixed with kitten tin food. They love it (and so do the other cats we have, who clean up any leftovers quick smart! )

Although, they also eat the dry food out of the dog's bowl, as well as the big cats (we have 3 old cats) dry IAMS, so .

But we've got 2 little kittens (4 weeks) that we've just started weening off the bottle and they're gulping down the soaked IAMS as fast as we can give them to them!

[Rags]

Declawing is NOT cruel! It is also not always necessary, either. My cat HAD to be declawed, the poor guy had problems retracting and I always had to unlock him from my carpet.

Rags

[Gurm]

I'd take her to the vet's sooner, rather than later. You'll need ANOTHER visit at 6 months for spaying (PLEASE do this for your female cat, being in heat is no fun for them OR you).

As for the speakers, go to your local supermarket and they should have some training spray which makes your speakers "unattractive" to her. Worked for my kitties.

Also, catnip really isn't good for kittens, they're wound up enough as it is. I avoid any and all toys with catnip in them.

- Gurm

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Listen up, you primitive screwheads! See this? This is my BOOMSTICK! Etc. etc.

[Joel]

I have owned or been around cats for most of my life and I have to agree with Rags that declawing is NOT cruel, but I do have one rule of thumb for declawing. After it is done never, ever let the cat go outside without supervision. I have three cats all declawed and neutered and the Vet is always complimenting me on how healthy they are when I take them in. I don't do anything special except for the fact that they are strictly indoor cats. The only time my cats go out, and it's only the oldest one who does it, is when the backdoor gets left open. Of course we are quick to retrieve him but he never really goes much further than the garage door anyway. My cats get fed a mixture of dry and wet food. For the dry I make sure that they have about equal portion of Whisks brand Original Recipe and Hills Science Diet Hairball Control Formula(this gives them some of the roughage that they need to digest hair) in their bowl and the wife will usually give them one of the small cans of wet in the morning. The best thing though to remember about food for your cat is to find one that they like and stick with it. Cats, like dogs, tend to have a lot of digestive problems if you switch their food too often or too quickly. If you do have to change foods just be sure to try and do it slowly.

Joel

BTW: In all my time of owning cats I have not had to worry about getting their teeth cleaned. Dry food is the key to that.



[This message has been edited by Joel (edited 19 February 2001).]

[Greebe]

CHAAS, don't intoduce cat nip til they are a year old... it takes puberty for it to have any real effect.

If you have to, declaw only the front feet and leave the back alone. I like Matt, have had a unlockable velcro cat before. Leaving the rear claws intact (esp when kitty makes the great escape) in absolutely neccessary. Reason, cats have a defensive ploy they use on larger animals, that if they can't get away, they'll drop to the ground roll over on their backs which normally causes the larger animal to over run them. As this happens kitty will kick with their rear feet and open the underbelly of the larger animal.

Very nasty, and very effective.

BTW best cat toy ever made is the laser pointer! Just make sure you don't blast her eyes and she'll have the time of her life!
(it's also effective on Oscar's too!)

[CHHAS]

I bought some cat-repellant spray om my way home from work, some citrus flavour that I don't mind, but Amie (that's my cat) certainly doesn't like it one bit , so I guess I can mark that down as one problem solved.

As for the food, I've gone back to giving her dry food with tuna, so she's happy now. I'll try gradually decreasing the tuna amount over a few months.

[Gurm]

You see, my dream is that someday... (cue soft music) someday... I might live in a peaceful and quiet country dwelling, where my kitties can romp and roam far and free, over hill and dell, returning for the warmth and comfort of home at the end of a long day of bird-chasing, mouse-catching, and meadow-napping.

So I can't have them declawed. My friend's cats were, however, and they seem fairly happy. Of course they still don't KNOW that they've been declawed (despite it happening over 3 years ago), so it's amusing to see them try to stop on a smooth surface.

- Gurm

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Listen up, you primitive screwheads! See this? This is my BOOMSTICK! Etc. etc.

[Greebe]

Once my father decided to lube some tools up that were inadvertantly left out in the rain.

His miscellanious drawer were he kept the (silicone) lube and right next to (and around the corner from) where he fed his cats. When dinner time came, only the sound of the can opener was needed for them to come a runnin. Problem was they normally took long naps in the family room which was a straight shot long ways down the backside of his place. For the first week (or so hehe) as they came rinning full bore for dinner to the very spot where the 90 degree turn was initiated was where it spilt... and of course with the lubed toesies lost all traction. Directly across from that was the pantry... and the imprints of where they tried their darnedest to stop before colliding head on into the doors!

He had to get some TSP and clean it up before they risked further injury. (funniest thing you ever did see tho!