We adopted 4 kittens from the shelter 10 days ago. Three boys -- Hamilton, Harrison and Mango; and one girl, Molly.
I really want to get these guys on good feeding/nutrition habits early. I made the mistake of letting my two older cats eat a fairly poor quality dry food for most of their lives (I was young and didn't have a ton of money for food!) and I know their health later in life suffered -- they refused to ever eat any wet food at all, and later in life one was diagnosed with diabetes, both had kidney disease, ultimately both had cancer -- and their refusal to eat wet foods really hindered their health.
So, I want to start off better this time! The shelter fed Purina Pro wet and Purina Pro dry. I admit, I don't feel like I have the time to do a raw diet, but I would like to feed as high quality canned food as they will eat.
The first couple of days the kitties all ate well -- I had a variety of Instinct Kitten wet, Wellness and Wellness Core wet, Merrick wet, Koku wet and Hound and Gatos wet. I also had Wellness Core kitten dry. They weren't a fan of the dry food, so I ended up getting some of the Purina Pro and have been mixing it with the Wellness Core dry.
I have been feeding them wet food twice a day, and leaving small amount of the dry food in several bowls around their space (they are currently restricted to one floor of our house as my 16 year old who has cancer is fading, but still alive, and I don't want to disrupt her in any way).
Again, for the first couple of days all went well. But in the past 4-5 days, two of the kittens (Mango and Molly) have become finicky. If it's not the Purina Pro wet chicken, they turn their noses up and won't eat it. I usually try to leave it be for about an hour, but then if they haven't eaten then I cave and given them some of the Purina. If these were older cats I wouldn't give in so easily, but as they are kittens I know they need food!
I do offer Molly and Mango their bowls in a separate location sometimes, in case they aren't into eating close to the others. Neither cat seems to have the personality where they wouldn't be OK rebuking their siblings if the sibs tried to eat their food while they were enjoying it, but I do know that many kitties instinctively prefer not to eat next to other kitties. When they are all enjoying their wet food they will often switch off and eat from each others bowls but it seems to be agreeable to everyone. If someone noses in when the kitten isn't into sharing, they'll bop him on the head (often it's Harrison...)
At any rate, putting the kittens into their own 'space' for feeding hasn't improved Mango or Molly's willingness to eat the other wet foods.
While Mango and Molly are being finicky, Harrison is our resident chunky monkey. He seems to always be hungry, even though he eats a ton. He will finish his bowl, and then move on to eat from the other bowls if the kittens have left food. He is the also the one who has his nose in the dry food bowl the most often.
They saw the vet last week and while I don't remember the weights, all of them were within normal ranges, but Harrison did weight a bit more than the rest. He was the runt of the litter (at least of the litter that survived -- they found outside very little and sans a mama when they were probably 2 weeks old) and has an overall smaller body than the rest of the kittens, but has quite a solid tummy.
How can I best accommodate the needs of growing kittens while also trying to wean them off of the Purina Pro when two of them are turning up their noses at all wet foods so far? Should I just feed them whatever food they want at this age? Should I be trying to restrict Harrison from eating so much, or as a kitten should I let him eat as much as he wants?
If I let them eat whatever they like best now, I'm worried that transitioning them to a better quality food later is going to be even harder, if not impossible (as I found with my two other cats). Or, am I being too critical of the Purina Pro when its just as 'healthy' as any of the other canned food I have? I keep reading about cat nutrition and admit that some of it makes my head hurt because there are differing opinions -- but I try to come to some reasonable conclusions and go from there.
TIA for any input and advice.
I really want to get these guys on good feeding/nutrition habits early. I made the mistake of letting my two older cats eat a fairly poor quality dry food for most of their lives (I was young and didn't have a ton of money for food!) and I know their health later in life suffered -- they refused to ever eat any wet food at all, and later in life one was diagnosed with diabetes, both had kidney disease, ultimately both had cancer -- and their refusal to eat wet foods really hindered their health.
So, I want to start off better this time! The shelter fed Purina Pro wet and Purina Pro dry. I admit, I don't feel like I have the time to do a raw diet, but I would like to feed as high quality canned food as they will eat.
The first couple of days the kitties all ate well -- I had a variety of Instinct Kitten wet, Wellness and Wellness Core wet, Merrick wet, Koku wet and Hound and Gatos wet. I also had Wellness Core kitten dry. They weren't a fan of the dry food, so I ended up getting some of the Purina Pro and have been mixing it with the Wellness Core dry.
I have been feeding them wet food twice a day, and leaving small amount of the dry food in several bowls around their space (they are currently restricted to one floor of our house as my 16 year old who has cancer is fading, but still alive, and I don't want to disrupt her in any way).
Again, for the first couple of days all went well. But in the past 4-5 days, two of the kittens (Mango and Molly) have become finicky. If it's not the Purina Pro wet chicken, they turn their noses up and won't eat it. I usually try to leave it be for about an hour, but then if they haven't eaten then I cave and given them some of the Purina. If these were older cats I wouldn't give in so easily, but as they are kittens I know they need food!
I do offer Molly and Mango their bowls in a separate location sometimes, in case they aren't into eating close to the others. Neither cat seems to have the personality where they wouldn't be OK rebuking their siblings if the sibs tried to eat their food while they were enjoying it, but I do know that many kitties instinctively prefer not to eat next to other kitties. When they are all enjoying their wet food they will often switch off and eat from each others bowls but it seems to be agreeable to everyone. If someone noses in when the kitten isn't into sharing, they'll bop him on the head (often it's Harrison...)
At any rate, putting the kittens into their own 'space' for feeding hasn't improved Mango or Molly's willingness to eat the other wet foods.
While Mango and Molly are being finicky, Harrison is our resident chunky monkey. He seems to always be hungry, even though he eats a ton. He will finish his bowl, and then move on to eat from the other bowls if the kittens have left food. He is the also the one who has his nose in the dry food bowl the most often.
They saw the vet last week and while I don't remember the weights, all of them were within normal ranges, but Harrison did weight a bit more than the rest. He was the runt of the litter (at least of the litter that survived -- they found outside very little and sans a mama when they were probably 2 weeks old) and has an overall smaller body than the rest of the kittens, but has quite a solid tummy.
How can I best accommodate the needs of growing kittens while also trying to wean them off of the Purina Pro when two of them are turning up their noses at all wet foods so far? Should I just feed them whatever food they want at this age? Should I be trying to restrict Harrison from eating so much, or as a kitten should I let him eat as much as he wants?
If I let them eat whatever they like best now, I'm worried that transitioning them to a better quality food later is going to be even harder, if not impossible (as I found with my two other cats). Or, am I being too critical of the Purina Pro when its just as 'healthy' as any of the other canned food I have? I keep reading about cat nutrition and admit that some of it makes my head hurt because there are differing opinions -- but I try to come to some reasonable conclusions and go from there.
TIA for any input and advice.
otherwise. Hopefully Harrison slows down eventually - I'm wondering if he's in catch-up mode, or afraid the food will go away...?
