How can I get my 1 year old cat to eat a balanced diet?

Question

When we bought him the breeder had struggled to get him weaned away from his mother. The only thing he would eat was freshly cooked chicken. Now he won't eat anything else! He does drink cat milk, so is getting calcium, but his diet (apart from being expensive) is not good for him long-term. Obviously, starving him is out of the question because cats will starve themselves to death. Any suggestions?

Answer 1

We have two animal rescue kitties who have been very finicky. I will tell you that eating nothing but chicken is not the best diet (although it could certainly be worse!)

I just took a trip to PetSmart and picked up a large variety of kitten food. They do eat the Science Diet dry food, so they always have access to that, day and night, along with fresh water. They will eat that at night when they're hungry. The wet food was the issue, as Science Diet recently changed their formula and the kitties stopped eating it.

What I discovered is that these cats like anything that's sliced and in gravy. They lick the bowl clean. I got a couple of pouches/cans of every decent quality food carried by the store and so far what they respond to best is the slices/chunks in gravy.

I think the steps should be:

1. Put the chicken in a little gravy

2. Mix the chicken and gravy with a little chunky/sliced cat food in gravy... gradually increasing the amount of cat food vs. chicken/gravy over time

3. Pour the mixture over dry food

4. Hopefully eventually he will be eating cat food chunks in gravy over dry food.

You're right that he needs other nutrition and it's a shame his diet has been so limited for the first year because this is a time of a lot of brain growth... but the plus side is that he's had plenty of protein during this time. I'm assuming this is a fairly lightweight cat at this point...

Good first cat foods to try would be Iams Chicken in Gravy for kittens (comes in a foil pouch) and Nutro MaxCat Kitten Chicken and Tomato dinner (also in foil pouch.) Both are available at PetSmart. Good luck!!

P.S. - Should have added that yes, as soon as he's established on kitten food, begin to gradually switch to same style adult cat food. Typically they will accept kitten food easier... so I'd start with that first :)

Answer 2

At 1 year of age, he should be on adult cat food.

The key is to switch his diet over very slowly because many cats dislike change. I would suggest taking at least 2 weeks to completely change his diet, although it may take even longer because he is so picky. Canned food comes in a couple of different varieties, and I would suggest any chicken-flavoured kind that has chunks of food in gravy (as opposed to the solid type of food without gravy). You can try dry food instead, but my cats have always found canned food more appetizing.

At first, just add a teeny bit of this in with his chicken. You can also try to start giving it to him as a reward or treat when he is being a good kitty. Do this for a few days, and then add a little bit more of the canned food. Eventually, all of the food will (hopefully!) be cat food.

Some brands of food are higher quality than others (for example, most brands available in grocery stores are lower quality than those available only in pet stores or vet offices). However, a good starting point might be to get him to eat any tasty brand of balanced cat food.

Answer 3

he SHOULD be eating kitten food. I'd probably get him used to some canned kitten food and mix the chicken gradually into that. chicken is people food. cow's milk isn't good for cats. That's an old wives tale. You shouldn't even give him the cat's milk too often though. it's a treat, not to be given every day. they do have some that is designed for cats. But try gradually adding some canned food to the bits of chicken finely cut and gradually decrease the chicken and increase the kitten food. eventually you'll be able to switch over to the dry food. by then he'll be an adult and you'll switch over to that formula when he no longer needs the extra calories. You need to stay consistent. Cats can't handle alot of variety in food like people can. The most important thing is to make the chnage gradually especially with changing from CHICKEN! hopefully you are consulting your vet on this.

Answer 4

No he won't starve himself to death, he'll just yowl and shine and give you the silent meow until you give in. It seems that everybody in his life from Momcat thru breeder to you has given in to the Little Prince and now it will be hell getting him to realize he must eat cat food.
I like the idea to gradually mixing cat food in with the cooked chicken. Leave out some kibbles with the chicken. He eats the kibbles or no more food. Try soaking the kibbles with broth form the chicken or in the cat milk. Don't listen to him. Don't even pet him when he yowls. Go to a movie. Go to 2 movies.
When he eats kibble praise him to the skies.
If necessary call the vet and ask for a referral to an animal behaviorist. This stuff has got to stop.
Pavlov's cat here has got you trained too good.
I don't want to seem unsympathetic but you know , he will die on this diet of cooked chicken, or you wouldn't have written in.
Oh and get him some kitty vitamins at the pet store. At least for the transition period. They come in a paste. Of course he won't eat them voluntarily. You smear the paste on his paw and he cleans it up.

Answer 5

fussy animals can be a problem. I have a dog who is not only fussy but has a sensitive tummy as well.
I'm guessing that he prefers food that are easy to chew so won't eat dry food. Try buying some cat food that is made with fresh ingrediants only (you know the expensive ones like sheba, and whiskas slow cooked). Try making the food warm. Try mixing fresh chicken in with the food.
Always make sure there is water available to the cat as well as your added treat of cat milk.
If the cat food doesn't work then feed him a human healthy diet. mix 7 or 8 peas into butter and mash it into the chicken. Mix it with pastas, rice, steamed carrots. you know things with goodness just mushed up. I know it can be done for dogs so I imagine it wouldn't too be much different for a cat.
Good luck with your little prince.

Answer 6

You know, his diet is not fully unbalanced... just somewhat. If you expect him to eat greens, you shouldn't.

Generally, the fact that the chicken is cooked is not very good either.

Check out www.catnutrition.org and see if you can use some of the advice given there. There are recipes for home-made food which are good and balanced - muscle meat, organ meat, bones, and vitamins, and if he's used to high-quality meet (chicken), it would be a crime to force the cat-food junk (and most of it is junk, especially dry food).

Don't feed human-balanced food to a cat. I mean DON'T! It is good for dogs, but it's bad for cats. Dogs are omnivores; cats are carnivores. As simple as that.

Answer 7

No animal will purposley starve it self...silly. Get chicken flavored canned food...leave it out for 3-4 days, give him NO OTHER OPTION. he will eat the cat food...


Also a 1 year old cat should be on a adult food now, no more kitten food! It is too fattening, and high in protein for an adult cat...he need to be on an adult or maintenance cat food...

Answer 8

Pour some dry cat food, Purina Cat Chow, is the best. It is
well balanced. Try hand feeding your cat a few pieces of
dry food at a time. Hold your kitty and coax. When kitty eats the
first morsel say,"good kitty". Keep doing that until kitty gets
interested and then place kitty in front of the bowl. After a while kitty will be eatting dry food.

Answer 9

Add some thing else to his diet a little at a time and then gradually wean him off the chicken

Answer 10

You need to mix some kitten food in with the chicken, changing the proportions gradually until it's all kitten food. Then start mixing in a few biscuits (good for their teeth) and then finally do a gentle mix swap over from kitten to cat food.