My kitten is not interested in her food. What to do?

Question

Before coming to stay with me my kitten and her sister were taken care of by my grandmother. She fed them dry kitten food and a specially formulated Kitten Milk every 3-4 hours. I don't want to keep my kitten on the Kitten Milk but she doesn't seem to be interested in the dry food? How do I "ween" her off the kitten milk to water? Her sister likes both either way.

Thank you so far for all the help I am getting alot of ideas. I agree that the milk should be only as a treat. I read the back of the package and that's even what it says. It's the main reason I want to stop feeding it to her regularly.

Oh, sorry I forgot to mention how old she is. She is almost 8 weeks old. And I assume she is old enough to eat dry food. I haven't had a cat in years and I just recently researched about how to care for them.

I am also open to name suggestions. She's totally black but she's kind of like a leopard in a way that you can see another color of black stripes and spots. She also has these amazing blue eyes. So far I have come up with Gypsy or Saphire.

Answer 1

Darn, misread the question!

Right - you can add a little water to the milk, and then gradually increase the amount until the milk becomes watery, and then water only.

Add water to the dry food, this will make it more palatable. She might find canned food yummier at first - you can wean her from this to dry food as described. Keep in mind it's not bad for kitty's to eat tinned so long as it's high quality!

Your kitten will drink water if she's thirsty - you just won't see her do it much because cat's drink far less water than us. The only reason she drank lots of kitty milk is because it was yummy! My cat was given cow's milk to drink exclusively until she was about 10 and I found out how bad it is! I just gave her water right away - hardly ever saw her drink it but I knew she would if she was thirsty, and when she wasn't dead after 3 days I knew she was drinking it! She lived to 18 by the way!

Chalice

Answer 2

I had a kitty like that too. She was abandoned by her mother at about 6 weeks but she was not completely weaned yet. Before I tried the moist food, I would soften her hard kitten food with the kitten milk and then slowly ease up on the milk. Then from time to time, it would not hurt to give her a little bit of kitten milk as a special treat, but only after she is eating her dry food well. It has been my experience that eventually, they tend to outgrow the milk thing if you let them have it from time to time as a treat.

Answer 3

Sounds like Grandma had some orphans on her hands!!!! *She qualifies for sainthood*. If this is so, your kitty may still need the nutrients in the milk....or is the baby just finicky???
Just thin the milk with water at first. Then give less milk /water and always leave out fresh water. The kittens I have bred and raised were fed condensed milk and water mixed with human baby oatmeal to a thin consistency as their first solid food at 3 weeks. They were then offered Purina kitten chow as directed or various rice dishes flavored with natural meat broth and/or pureed baby food meats and water. Dry food is tuff on their little mouths, so we have to soften it at first, especially for the main meals of the day. By 4 months they were eating dry with H2O on the side...all babies are different, so don't worry to much.
Check with a vet or maybe a cattery if you can.
At my house they all played with the dry food at first....aaahhhh the memories of manic little furballs!!!!

Answer 4

you got to keep giving her the kitten milk but not as much. Everyday use less and less and keep the dry food to the side. It may take some time but eventually she'll use more ofthe dry food instead of the milk...or you could even mix the two together but not alot and have dry food on the side until she gets out of it. Is she old enough to have dry food yet???

Answer 5

Get a shallow bowl - you'll find them in the lizard section of the pet store, and give your kitten a human quality soft food like Wellness or Innova. Just give small amounts, and you can start her by feeding just a bit on your finger so she can lick it off, then put a teaspoon in the shallow bowl. Soon, you can give larger amounts until you're feeding her about an once and a half in the morning, then a couple of onces of kibble in the evening.

Answer 6

keep giving the cat what he is used to eating but once a week take something off and add something diferent like instead of 3-4 hours of milk change it to 2-3 hours of milk and 1 hour of water the cat will get used to the new stuff and soon you will be able to feed her what you want her to eat.

Answer 7

Try putting a little bit of water on the food before you give it to her. That way the food gets a little soggy and softer. Then once she gets use to that slowly start adding less water until it is just reg. hard food again.

Answer 8

i would definetly take her to the vet.