posted 01-14-2004 04:53 PM         

I just got 2 7 week old kittens (same litter) from a cat rescue centre. They are happy to take a little bit of water, and one of them just gulped a bit of warm semi-skimmed milk, but they are both turning up their noses at the kitten food I have bought (comes in pouches).

I've only had them for about 12 hours at the time of this message, how long do you think it will be before they start eating? Will hunger drive them to eat a food they may not like?

posted 01-14-2004 05:05 PM         

They didn't hesitate to eat that!

I'm going to try mixing it with their kitten food (it comes in pouches with jelly), and see if they'll accept the mixture.

posted 01-14-2004 05:56 PM         

Understand that your kittens are just babies and they were used to drinking their mother's milk (or bottle fed).

Try this and see how it goes. Just remember that after one week to keep adding less and less powder to the mixture (the correct amount to give is on the back of the can....never give more than what is meant for their age/weight). After two weeks they should be eating without any powder in the soft food. Also you can add little pieces of hard food to the mixture to get them used to that. Also, always have hard food available to them at all times. Tuna water is better than nothing, but not the best source of nutrients (it lacks a lot of things their growing bodies need).

Good luck and keep us posted

p.s. I'm not saying this is the best soft food available for kittens, but at the time I was giving them Max Kitten soft food. They sure liked it with the KMR.

posted 01-14-2004 08:11 PM         

They are probably disoriented and scared from being in a new environment, so they may just need some time.

Tuna is ok in the short term, but I wouldn't do it for more than a few days. It has a lot of murcury and doesn't have the taurine cats need. And if they're full of tuna they won't be hungry enough to even try the kitten food. And you don't want them to beg every time you eat a tuna sandwitch! Cows milk can cause loose stools and should be avoided.

posted 01-15-2004 10:48 AM         

I haven't seem them eat anything other than the Tuna, and they only ate a very small amount of that.

Right now, when I leave the house, on my return they are sleeping behind the sofa, under the radiator where its warm. When I'm wandering about the house, they follow me all over. Today they followed me into my back bedroom, which is upstairs, pretty brave considering their size.

As I'm typing this, they're both clambering over the keyboard! They seem quite content, but I don't yet understand their personalities enough to know if they're hungry or not.

They're still drinking water. How long should I wait?

Argh! They're eating my hair now!

BTW, I live in the UK, so some of the brands mentioned on this board cannot be found here.

posted 01-16-2004 08:59 AM         

I just need to see the other kitten eating some food, and I can go away happy. I have to travel away for a week next week, the neighbours have promised to feed them and clean them.

posted 01-24-2004 04:17 PM         

Glad they are eating well i know kittens can be very fussy and are even worse when they grow up hehehehe

Good luck with the little guys.