My BSH kitten is 5 months old and WILL NOT TOUCH dry food. My three other BSH are fed a mixed diet of ad lib dry and then one sachet each per day of wet, more as a treat than for any nutritional reason!

My kitten is out of one of our own queens and bred ourselves so we have only ourselves to blame but we have literally tried everything to entice her.

We are having one last try over the next few days but if not I think we will have to relent and allow her to have a solely wet diet. Can someone please advice me as to the best wet food around (preferably kitten as she is only 5 months old).

Money isn't a concern (not that I'm rich!) but the other three girls do very well on their mixed diet so it will only be her. Also, on a solely wet diet some companies suggest for her age she should be eating 4 sachets a day! She is maybe eating one and thats about it. This is having no affect on her health, she's very active and healthy but if I'm honest she is a little bit leaner than I would like (not skinny by any stretch)

My Mom finds it amazing that I'm worried about her not eating the dry "Back in my day those dry biscuits were full of cr**! You wouldn't want them to eat it!"

Also, what affect will this have on her teeth without the biscuits to remove the tartar etc?

Advice please?

Your mum is right, and that still stands now! People on here will not encourage you to feed a dry diet and most cats on here are on a solely wet diet and only given dry to graze on as a snack.

Kittens don't need to be fed 'kitten' food, unless you are feeding a low quality supermarket brand like Felix or Whiskas. The only reason the kitten versions of these foods need to be fed is because they contain more nutrients etc than the adult version that kittens need when growing. My two 5 month old kittens are on Smilla at the moment, hoping to get them onto some Animonda Carny, Grau and Bozita pate so I can use rotation. That is, if I don't go down the raw diet route. I would recommend going onto Zooplus.co.uk as they have very good offers and very good prices. They sell good quality foreign foods that aren't available in shops in the UK. The four I have mentioned above are the most commonly used high quality foods from that site. Brands like Felix, Whiskas etc say they need 4 pouches a day because they are mainly full of jelly and gravy and not much meat, where with these foods they have a high meat content so they don't need as much.

However, a kitten should be offered unlimited food (within reason). My two used to eat over 400g each some days but since I have changed onto Smilla that has gone down a bit now and only about 300g at the moment. I refill their bowls whenever they are empty so they always have the option of food should they need it.

Dry biscuits do nothing for tartar build up Cats very seldom chew dry food, so how is that doing any good for tartar? Most people on here feed a chicken wing weekly to help with teeth

I say, well done your cat for not wanting dry food, she must know it isn't good for her

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Have a read of this thread: Feeding cats for beginners (and more seasoned cat owners alike).
Though still work in progress it talks about dry food and why it isn't a good idea (and your mum is right, it used to contain crap and a lot of brands still do). It also debunks as a myth the claim that dry food helps with dental hygiene.

However, it sounds as though you need to up the amount she eats or perhaps it might be worthwhile changing her on to a more nutritious food.

Hmmm, it would seem I have a great deal of research to do into feline nutrition! I'll be honest, I have always stuck with Royal Canin Babycat then Royal Canin 36 for kittens then onto their indoor food as this is what my breeding mentor used and all my cats and kittens have thrived off it (if it isn't broke why fix it?) but maybe my fussy girl has done me a favour then?

Thanks guys, will check out zoo plus now

Have learnt the error of my ways in the past two hours of research

I've ordered 2x Animonda Carny Kitten to begin with just to make sure they actually eat it (!!!) but then I plan to also indroduce the Bozita chunks or pate (any advice as to which is better?) to rotate with.

Can't realistically afford the other companies if all four are changing (which they now are!) but I'm happy in the knowledge that the little'un will be getting all she needs now

Hopefully they'll take to it and by then more flavours of the Animonda Carny will be in too

I think Smilla is possibly the cheapest of the four. I also think the Bozita pate is better than chunks. They are quite dense though so you may need to mix a bit of water with them.

Good luck

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Ah brill, thanks, thats worth knowing! Any idea how long it normally takes to deliver? I'm excited now! (What a sad life I lead!). I half wish I'd carried on living in ignorance though as its quite disgusting what some so called 'foods' contain! Bless little Cleo, opening my eyes to all of this forgery.

Even with good makes such as the above, do you think its still worth going for the kitten rather than the adult if its available? I know it says in the sticky you shouldn't have to but if its available and at the same price?

Have you ordered from Zooplus? I find mine usually come 2 days after receiving the dispatch email although it does seem to very for people on here.

I would still order the adult, there isn't really any need for them to be on kitten food.

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