Hi,

We have had outr new kittens for a couple of weeks now. Over the last couple of weeks I have been giving them wiskas kitten meat twice a day and a 2 or 3 little bowls of cat milk as well as some moistened wiskas buiscuits. Now, they seem to me more intersted in the milk than anything else. But they refuse to drink water at all! Their poo is very grey to be honest. I'm just wondering if I am doin the right thing always leaving milk down for them? I've never had cats this young. I had rosie when she was about 6 months old. They had their jabs yesterday as well as being fleaed.

any advice would be brilliant!

Thanks

Ken

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RIP Rosie my little baby girl who left us on the 23/8/11. Our special little cat X You will always be in my heart X

I think you are maybe giving them too much milk. Milk is not used as a drink, it is used as a food so just because they are drinking the milk it doesn't mean they are actually drinking. My two don't seem to drink any water either which is why they are on a solely wet diet and I have ordered them a fountain to try and encourage them to drink.

I'd suggest a fountain and giving them a solely wet diet, whiskas etc aren't very good though so I would look into moving them onto a high quality, high meat content food. There is lots of info in the Cat Health and Nutrition sector.

Also, they should really be on more meals than just 2 a day, my 2 are 4 months old and still having up to 4 meals a day. Ideally, kittens should be fed often and they should always have an unlimited supply of wet food as they are growing all the time. They are very savvy though and don't tend to eat more than they need to so you don't really need to worry about them over eating.

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when you say milk, do you mean a proper kitten formula? because if you are feeding kitten/cat milk brought in a bottle or carton this is just a treat! Not something they should be having all the time. To be honest they will cope without any milk now. I wouldn't be feeding whiskas as the meat content isn't very high. I have been using pets at home Pure range which has 90% meat content and i also leave down dry food (Royal canin babycat34) you may have to order this from the internet, but i highly recommend this as a dry food. Cats aren't big drinkers, and to be honest if you leave water down they WILL drink it when thirsty. Mine likes to drink out of the bathroom tap they need to be on at least 4 meals a day if not up to 6, as much as you can get them to eat. You will see a significant appetite increase when you drop the milk

Hi, This may be of help to you: Feeding cats for beginners (and more seasoned cat owners alike)
They are still very young kitties but I would think they are perfectly fine with a good quality food and water without any cat/kitten milk.

And of course, a very important thing... we need photographs!!

Hmm not sure you need to moisten the biscuit, just leave a bowl of it out all day dry ((for grazing on)) along with wet meals a few times a day, if they won't drink water...have a go at slowly diluting the milk down.

I'd look at slowly changing them onto a better dry & wet food ((we started out like you)) whiskers biscuit & pouches. Maisie now has dry Orijen out all day along with 2-3 wet meals of Smilla at the moment

Please stop giving them cat/kitten milk. They are old enough now to do without kitten formula milk, and the other kind of cat milk is purely meant as an occasional treat.

Please free feed your kittens as much wet food as they can eat. This may be up to and beyond 400g each a day, ideally a minimum of 4 meals a day should be offered . If you are worried about them not drinking much water you could always put a couple of table spoons full into their wet food and mix it up before serving. Or consider a water fountain as suggested above

Also, if you can feed a wet only diet (no dry) then I would. Dry food is not a natural diet for cats. Their bodies are not built to tolerate dry food, and they could never drink enough water to counteract that. Eventually you could wind up with cats who suffer from water infections and worse. It's also a complete myth that dry food does their teeth any good. Some would actually say it's worse for their teeth as all the little crumbs get pushed up into their gums when chomping on it.

I agree also ... we need pics of your little monkey's

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Wow, thanks so much for all the great info!

They are not eating all their meat at the minute. I give them busicuits twice a day too. But they don't eat them all to be honest! I didnt realasie I should be giving them milk all the time! I'll remove that from them then. I'll go to pets at home and see what I can find! I guess they are far too reliant on their milk at the moment.

Guys as always thanks

Oh, the piccies are here Our new Kittens There are also some on thte last page

Ken

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RIP Rosie my little baby girl who left us on the 23/8/11. Our special little cat X You will always be in my heart X

They probably aren't eating it all due to the milk filling them up. I refill my bowls whenever they empty them which is sometimes 4 times a day and that's without any dry food - it's just not good for them at all and will mean they will need more water and if they aren't really drinking any at the moment it will make them more dehydrated.

They are lovely btw

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Which food would you advise out of these to go for? Kitten Food for Sale at Pets At Home: Dry Kitten Food and Wet Kitten Food sold online

Having done a bit of reading, I think I will go wet only route! The little tinkers are not impressed they no longer have milk!

Thanks

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RIP Rosie my little baby girl who left us on the 23/8/11. Our special little cat X You will always be in my heart X

out of those only Natures Menu

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