8 Week Old Kitten

[Chief Brody]

I have an 8 week old kitten who refuses to eat crunchy cat food. I've tried mixing into his wet food, and he eats that to a certain extent, but won't eat the crunchy food alone. Anyone have some ideas?

 

[LTS3]

Smart kitten In general, dry food isn't good for a cat's health anyways. You can read more on the dry vs canned / wet concerns at Catinfo.org The popular belief that dry food is good for dental health is a myth so if you're concerned about that, don't be. Does Dry Food Actually Clean Your Cat's Teeth?

Just feed your kitten plenty of canned food. Kittens need a lot of food for the next couple of months. It's ok to leave canned food out all day. You can use a programmable timed feeder. There are various ways to keep food in a feeder from drying out, such as adding extra water or freezing the food into portion sizes first. Canned food is a cooked product so it won't spoil if left out all day but do throw away leftovers at the end of the day.

You can try moistening a small amount of kitten dry food in some water to make it a little softer to eat. If the kitten doesn't eat the moist dry food after an hour or so, throw the food out to avoid a potentially upset tummy. You can also try freeze dried raw food. The texture is a lot softer than regular dry food. While many brands of freeze dried raw are meant to be rehydrated before feeding, you can feed it dry and leave some out in a bowl for snacking on. Stella and Chewy's is one brand of a complete freeze dried raw food.