Help! My kitten will only eat tuna out of a tin!

samhuzz

I wonder if someone can advise please. I got a new kitten on Monday, I already have one cat who is aged 1. Anyway, my kitten didn't seem to be interested in any food I gave him. For starters I was worried that he hadn't been weaned properly as he only drank cat milk and wouldn't try biscuits (I mashed them up with water) or Whiskas pouches (the ones in sauce or the smoked fish ones). In desperation to get him to eat something I opened a tin of tuna, and mashed it up and he wolfs that down! Tonight I gave it to him after leaving food out for him whilst I was at work and he actually bit my finger and drew blood, he was so hungry. What can I do (if anything).


Thanks, Sam

SnowyOwl_2

At least he's eating something. Tuna though is not a good food for cats - it's far too salty to be consumed long term, but you can use it to get his taste buds transferred to some other offering. I would suggest that old trick of mixing a bit of the new stuff into the tuna then gradually adjusting the ratio of new to tuna so that he's getting more and more of the new, then eventually the tuna is withdrawn completely. With my cats if I know they are hungry but are just being fussy and turning their noses up at perfectly good food if I put a little bit of their favourite on top they usually just keep eating until they are no longer hungry. Your kitten's tummy is very small, so if you can manage it perhaps you could try feeding him little (about a walnut size portion) and often. He's only a little baby but he already has you wrapped around his furry little paw!

scaredy_cat

get some cheap white fish or chichen/turkey (poach it in a saucepan) if he won't eat cat food for a few days. Are you giving him the kitten food?

cyberbob

Tinned Tuna is not good for long term feeding. Not only is it high in salt (if it's in brine) As it's high in Phosphorous it can change urinary PH and cause urinary problems. It also contains an enzyme that destroys Thaimine (Vitamin B1). It is also low in Taurine which is essential for good cat health.

Due to the smell cats do go crazy for it and if you feed it to much some cats will struggle to eat anything else as they look for their next Tuna Fix. It's OK for the odd treat but as a long term food it's totally unsuitable.

You need to persevere with other foods to get you cat to eat. If your going for tinned foods go for the higher quality ones such as Almo nature. The seafood ones of those are a big hit in our house.

LittleTinker

samhuzz wrote: »

I wonder if someone can advise please. I got a new kitten on Monday, I already have one cat who is aged 1. Anyway, my kitten didn't seem to be interested in any food I gave him. For starters I was worried that he hadn't been weaned properly as he only drank cat milk and wouldn't try biscuits (I mashed them up with water) or Whiskas pouches (the ones in sauce or the smoked fish ones). In desperation to get him to eat something I opened a tin of tuna, and mashed it up and he wolfs that down! Tonight I gave it to him after leaving food out for him whilst I was at work and he actually bit my finger and drew blood, he was so hungry. What can I do (if anything).


Thanks, Sam

Stop giving him tuna for a start off as all you are doing is encouraging him to be fussy and its also not providing him with all the nutrients he needs.

Did the previous owner tell you what he was eating at their house?
If so, use that food. If they didnt tell you then just get some kitten food and feed hiim that. He will take it if he is hungry.

You dont say how old the kitten is but I assume hes just come from his Mum as you say he may not be weaned properly........if that is the case, then he isnt likely to want biscuits just yet and he needs something very strong smelling. (hence the like of Tuna)

Some kitten pouches will do the trick.

paddypaws101

If he loves the tuna try cat food tuna, I know Morrisons sell one and I am sure other brands do too. This way it will have the smell he likes but more likely to be complete and suitable for a cat. I agree though that it should be mixed gradually with other foods to break the 'habit'

samhuzz

I have bought him three different lots of pouches and he won't eat any of them. I've got him some of the Whiskas Oh So Fishy ones now, so we'll see, they are quite strong smelling! I also put kitten biscuits down in a separate dish because that's what I do for my older cat as I'm out at work in the day. I think I am just worried that without having the tuna, he will starve, but surely if he was hungry he'd eat whatever was there? My older cat didn't use to like biscuits but she eats them now as she doesn't get fresh meat in the day, only in the morning and at night.

Owain_Moneysaver

Get a tin of tuna in olive oil.

Drain the oil into his food and mix it in.

Have the tuna for your lunch.

paddypaws101

Owain_Moneysaver wrote: »

Get a tin of tuna in olive oil.

Drain the oil into his food and mix it in.

I think you will find that Olive oil is a pretty potent laxative....so if you do this you will probably find your self scraping kitten s**t off various surfaces....

Beckyy

Try something like Applaws wet food. It's 100% natural and my cats ADORE it, it's also a million times healthier than most other wet food which are full of rubbish. You can buy it online, or you can get a couple of tins from Pets at Home to try first. It's around 70p for a tin, 80p for a pouch and they also have a 80% meat dry food. There's a kitten one in their range, and although it does seem expensive, if you buy it online in larger quantities it's much cheaper and well worth it! Their wet food doesn't seem to smell like pet food so much, it's more human food smells!

I'd also really suggest mixing dry food with something wet/smelly etc. It's not going to be very appealig for him on it's own,e specially when he prefers tuna. What brands do you feed?

Although you must be worried I doubt he'd starve himself, he's probably just taking time to adjust to new food, giving him special foods like tinned tuna will probably make him more of a fussy eater. How many weeks old is he?

samhuzz

He is 8 weeks old approx, he was born on 4 July. We've now found something else he will eat, cheese and ham from a Dairylea Lunchable! My son had one yesterday and Benji wouldn't leave him alone, I think he had more of the cheese and ham than James did! Still no further forward on the eating cat food thing, I've tried mixing the canned tuna with the cat food but he eats around the cat food! He won't touch the kitten biscuits either, but Ruby prefers them to her own adult cat biscuits!