Hello! So I'll start by saying that my kitten is currently on an all wet diet. I'd like to add a small amount of kibble though and am having the worst time in finding something that he will eat. I've gone through six brands of kibble in the last week or so that I've had him and he's turned his nose up to all of them. Every last one. He wouldn't even nibble them once I'd added toppers or cooked chicken. Have any of you had this issue? Is there any way to get him to like/try kibble?
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Kitten Refusing All Kibble?
- Thread starter Freyr
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Were you just offering kibble in place of a wet meal?
I've read that it's best to start slow and can take cat's a while to even realize that kibble is food if they've never had it before. You can start by placing a small serving of kibble in a separate dish next to the wet food at each feeding and just let kitty choose. It's fine if they choose their usual wet over the dry at first, the point is just to get them to associate the kibble with feeding time.
From there, you could try cutting back on the wet food a bit so kitty will hopefully still be a little hungry and more motivated to try the dry. Perhaps try topping the usual wet food with some pieces of kibble so kitty gets used to the crunchy texture.
I've read that it's best to start slow and can take cat's a while to even realize that kibble is food if they've never had it before. You can start by placing a small serving of kibble in a separate dish next to the wet food at each feeding and just let kitty choose. It's fine if they choose their usual wet over the dry at first, the point is just to get them to associate the kibble with feeding time.
From there, you could try cutting back on the wet food a bit so kitty will hopefully still be a little hungry and more motivated to try the dry. Perhaps try topping the usual wet food with some pieces of kibble so kitty gets used to the crunchy texture.
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- #3
I've always had the dishes of wet and kibble next to each other, he always goes for the wet and leaves the kibble. I'll take your suggestion and add some bits of kibble to the top of his wet. I thought maybe it was the size, but his Instinct kibble is tiny and he'll only eat the freeze dried bits out and then come screaming at me for food.
How old is your cat? Freya didn't even want to touch the kibble until she was about 3 and something months old. I offered It to her on its own and mixed with wet, but she would spit the kibble 
If he eats just the freeze dried pieces, why not just feed freeze dried raw food instead? Or air dired raw food which is kidn of hard like kibble. There aren't any feeze dried or air dried raw foods for kittens but if you're mostly feeding kitten canned food it's ok. Many brands of freeze dried foods are for all life stages.
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My boy cat is very picky about his kibble, he doesn't like the expensive stuff.
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #7
He's almost two months old. I'm trying to use the kibble as a way to add some extra calories without hiking up the pet food bill too much. He's already eating 2-3 5oz cans a day. I've only ever seen the freeze dried or air dried food in small bags and I'm afraid he'd go through them much too quickly.
He is probably just too young, then. My best suggestion then would be using a blender to make some sort of puree with kibble and hoy water, maybe adding some wet food to it so the scent os the one your cat likes.
Kittens eat a lot of food so the food bill might be high for another few months. As long as your kitten is eating plenty of canned food and isn't screaming for more, then you are feeding enough. Any dry food can be given as a small snack. You can also look into kitten milk replacer and high calorie supplements like Nutri-Cal but the kitten food should be providing enough calories and nutrients.
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- #10
The plan was to use kibble as a small meal/snack. I understand the importance of his diet being mostly canned, but I see no issue with him having kibble. I'll try tipping his wet with kibble and possibly blending it as
Alejandra Rico
suggested.
Alejandra Rico
suggested.
I actually think that (high end) kibble has a lot going for it, and that wet foods are pushed a bit hard by a lot of people...
With that said, if your cat only likes wet food, then your cat only likes wet food,and that's okay. My cat wont' touch the stuff, and trying to get her to eat some was mostly a very expensive excercise in frustration.
Still, if you want to try kibble, my cat first ate kibble from a bowl of mostly water. It took a few tries. The brand she likes was Merrick Kitten.
other brands she's liked have been nature's variety duck, addiction duck, and solid gold Indigo moon.
The last 3 are "all life stages", rather than kitten foods, if that matters to you.
With that said, if your cat only likes wet food, then your cat only likes wet food,and that's okay. My cat wont' touch the stuff, and trying to get her to eat some was mostly a very expensive excercise in frustration.
Still, if you want to try kibble, my cat first ate kibble from a bowl of mostly water. It took a few tries. The brand she likes was Merrick Kitten.
other brands she's liked have been nature's variety duck, addiction duck, and solid gold Indigo moon.
The last 3 are "all life stages", rather than kitten foods, if that matters to you.
