Kitten Refuses To Eat Hard Food

MyHeartAshi

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Hey y'all, so I have a 6 month old kitten who is underweight at 3 pounds. He is always voraciously hungry but he refuses to eat hard food! I've tried different types and he will try to eat them and then decided not to. He will eat it a bit if it is wet down and soft though. He does eat pate wet food and minced with gravy wet foods. Does anyone have tips to get kittens to eat harder food?

ps. please no preaching about how kibble isn't good for cats. My kittens receive grain-free kibble and wet food twice a day. they don't need homemade meals or raw food.
 

duckpond

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Has he been to the vet? has he been treated for parasites? If not then that would be the first thing to do.

I also feed kibble, and wet food twice a day. Have you tried kitten specific dry kibble? My guys always liked Merrick kitten kibble. I know Purina makes one too. My cats are fussy about their foods too, and they honestly do not like a lot of the grain free dry foods..Dr. Elseys chicken is about the only one they like. They also like most Farmina foods. you may just need to keep buying small bags of different food until you can find one he likes, and maybe try one thats not grain free, they are often easier to get a cat to eat, you can always try switching later after he is older and at a good weight, if grain free is important to you? until you find a dry he does like i would feed more wet if he is acting hungry. Sounds like he needs a bit of weight, and a lot of food?
 
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MyHeartAshi

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I also feed kibble, and wet food twice a day. Have you tried kitten specific dry kibble? My guys always liked Merrick kitten kibble. I know Purina makes one too.
Yup he's been to the vet. He has been dewormed probably every two weeks from 3 weeks old to 4 months and then once more at 4.5 months. the weight issue is something he's struggled with for basically his whole life.
I currently feed them Merricks kitten and Purina focus kitten mixed together (though I finally finished the purina and am going to continue on only Merricks). My other kitten is doing great on it, though I may try a normal one that isn't grain free, see if that attracts him! I never thought there would be a difference!
Im also in the middle of transitioning him from 1 3 oz can of wet food a day to 1 3oz can twice a day so that he is getting more now that he's (finally) 3 pounds
 

duckpond

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some cats will not do well with grain free. try some other ones, at his age even an all life stages dry. and yes i think he needs at least 2 or 3 of the 3oz cans, if he is not eating much in the way of dry. Some cats, like my little white one are really picky on what they will eat.

3 of my cats will eat a fairly decent variety of foods. And they love it when they get some dry that is higher carb than normal, usually any dry with corn makes them happy, purina naturals, the original, not the high fiber indoor food is a big fav. They normally only get Dr. Elseys chicken for dry, but i give them some of the other as a little treat now and again.

My little white cat is the picky one. she will eat only dr. elseys dry, and almo nature salmon and apple for wet, nothing else, even treats she will not touch. Its hard, and i worry about not being able to find her food. Took a lot of trial and error to find food she was happy and healthy with. Best of luck to you and your guys! keep us updated on what you find!
 

FeebysOwner

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Would it be worth it for you to try sprinkling some broken up dry food on top of the wet food (or, maybe even mixing it in the wet)? If he eats it that way, you could add more gradually over time. Perhaps, he would end up liking the taste of the dried as well - and maybe even eat it by itself. Trial and error with different dried foods in this scenario as well.
 

Jem

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I know you tried different dry foods, but did you notice at all, the size and shape of the individual pieces? Were they all pretty much the same? You're cat might not like kibble because of texture, size or shape. I've seen kibble that has the same shape and texture of "Temptations" cat treats. Sorry can't remember the brand. I've also seen dry food with mini little kibble bits that are slightly triangular. Off hand the only brand I can think of that makes really small bits like I described is Fromm, not sure of all the flavors but definitely the beef flavored one.

That's all I can really think of that might help that may not have been already posted. :dunno:
 

Pjg8r

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Have you tried tossing individual kibbles on the floor? One of mine would chase and eat some that way when he was underweight but didn’t want any in a bowl. They also would eat out of a puzzle feeder which seemed more like a game than food I guess.
 

Kflowers

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Since you say he tries to eat the dry food, he seems to want it, and then he leaves it, the problem may be his teeth or a tooth. There may be a broken one, a cracked one, or one that doesn't line up right. If the food is pinging against a 'bad' tooth it may hurt him to eat dry food.

Did the vet check his teeth? I mean really check his teeth not just the glance and on to something else. There is no reason that every kitten's teeth come in perfectly.

Admittedly, cats tend to swallow dry food whole - I've seen the x-rays of mine's stomach after a meal, the food looked just like it did in the bag.
 

maggiedemi

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I agree, try a dry food that isn't grain-free. My cats don't like most grain-free ones.
 
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