Expert: Ali - 1/11/2010

Question
Hi,My 5 month old kitten will not eat any type of cat food or meat.She is the only kitten from my older cat who eats normally.The kitten will eat scones i.e.the fruit,smash with butter and cheese,and dogs porky strips which I have to cut up in to small pieces for her also cranberry cheese. The vet told me I should starve her,I did this for a day but it did not make any difference.The vet said she's healthy but must be very fussy.Hopefully you will be able to give me some advice.Thank you.

Answer
Allyson,

This is a problem that I haven't encountered quite this way - I have met cats who absolutely would refuse to eat anything beyond a specific brand or flavor of cat food, but refusing to eat the protein and nutrients that are crucial to her overall health and development at this stage in her life is odd. You can try things like a commercially produced kitten weaning formula or kitten milk replacer, but it's certainly not a long term solution. I think that it would be a good idea for you to seek the advice of a holistic vet as there may be something useful within alternative medical approaches that might prove effective in terms of helping this little girl understand what she's supposed to be eating. It's quite possible that alternative therapies will help to restore balance and curb this kitten's cravings for odd food items (odd in terms of the way most cats see food). I do have a couple of questions for you aimed at giving me a clearer picture of what's going on with this kitty's diet:

- Does this kitten go outside?

- If so is there any indication that she might be supplementing her own diet with small mammals or birds?

- Is it possible that this kitten is simply eating her meals at someone else's house and coming home for treats?

- Other than scones with butter, fruit & cheese or dog treats is there anything else this kitten will eat?

Based on the fact that cats are obligate carnivores by nature my suspicion is that your baby is simply spoiled - not that it's a bad thing to spoil a pet, but in this case indulging her on any kind of longer term basis could cause her to have serious health problems which could prove to be fatal. Cats need animal protein as their main dietary staple to ensure that their eyes, heart and major organ systems function properly. Cats are not made to eat a high carb diet, they absolutely need the animal protein either from a high quality commercially produced cat food or a properly balanced homemade diet. All that matters now is that this baby gets some proper food into her and is gradually put onto a more appropriate diet ASAP over the next few weeks. It's quite possible that your kitten will pout and try to guilt you into caving in, but you need to remember that getting her onto a proper diet is crucial to her having the ability to live a long and healthy life as your precious companion.

I think it's important for this kitten to be getting high quality supplements to help fill in the gaps where her food intake falls short of what she needs to be healthy. I would completely cut out the dog treats since they're not doing her system any favors at this point, cheese is helping to ensure that she's getting calcium and other nutrients. My recommendation at this point would be to try and get this baby eating something different than you've offered her up until this point - you could try low sodium versions of canned fish like tuna, salmon or sardines to see if your kitten is willing to at least try something new on a voluntary basis. Commercially produced meat/broth baby foods (free of salt, garlic and onions of course) are another good choice to help get her onto a more appropriate diet. You could also try mixing tiny amounts of appropriate food in with her usual fare with the goal of gradually increasing the amount of appropriate foods she's getting and decreasing less nutritious foods. You could also try giving her raw egg yolks to supplement her diet - if you want to give her the egg white be sure that they're lightly cooked first. You may also want to check out catinfo.org, it's a site created by a veterinarian with the goal of helping pet parents understand the unique nutritional needs of their feline companions - maybe your kitten will respond well to the high quality, properly balanced raw diet recipe on this site. I'm more than willing to help you to the best of my ability when it comes to trying to get this baby's diet to include more nutritious foods, however it's fair to warn you that you may end up trying the things that I've suggested without success. If this happens it's possible that the only ways to help ensure that your kitten gets the nutrients she needs may be to choose a high quality diet (commercially prepared or homemade depending on your preference) and force feed her by syringe until she begins eating higher quality foods that are more able to meet her nutritional needs on her own. Hopefully between combining alternative therapies with the expertise of a holistic vet and being persistant about introducing new foods into your kitten's diet she'll soon realize that she needs to eat a diet made up of a variety of foods rather than her fairly restricted diet at this point. If you have any further cat related questions please feel free to contact me again, I will do my best to help you find solutions to this unique situation.