Hello all,
finally my 10-week-old kitten Bengu arrive. How happy I am - unbelievable happy. Bengu gives me a difficult time writing this post! Anyway, Bengu doesn't eat dry food. He likes ProPlan kitten wet food and I mix some Canine Royal dry to it with some kitten milk. He eats that.

Today we had a whole chicken for dinner and I gave him a little piece of the white meat. Unbelievable, he became a wild animal. How much he loved it. He played with it and he ate it. And he wanted more. I'd like him on dry food, how can I make it attractive to him? Any advice/suggestions are very welcome.

Thank you and enjoy your day. Best, Bixi

One of the tricks I use with rescue kittens who need to be weaned/changed over is that I mix a bit of high grade kitten food (dry) into the wet, let it sit for a bit so it gets soggy, and then feed it to them. Sometimes they wolf it right down. Sometimes they eat around it. Most of the time it takes about 2 days of this before they realize it's "good" and they can eat it.

Keep in mind that a kit who is pretty young hasn't quite managed the whole "teeth" thing yet, so they're still investigating how it all works. I find this mixing technique really, really handy for getting babies to eat dry as well as wet food.

And my vet approves (and uses the same trick when she needs to handle a young cat with similar circumstances). BTW, this isn't specifically for Bengals, but it's worked on every kit I've worked with, so I'd give it a go.

Regards-
Noni

Dear Noni,

Very good and nice and helpful reply. I've been doing this strategy with Bengu for the last few days and sometimes he's eating more than other time. I think that I have to be more consitant in my approach and not giving him other treats.

Thank you again,
Birgit

Generally speaking, a diet of all dry food is good for Bengals and their digestive system, and it has the benefit of keeping teeth white and healthy.

I give mine "wet" food from a pouch once a week as a treat, along with the occasional can of tuna-in-water, baby food, and cooked chicken breast meet shredded up for them.

As kittens they would growl and hiss if I tried to interrupt their chicken feast... they wolfed it down like wild animals... but they have simmered down quite a bit and eat it like civilized cats now.

Hello jeff30189,

Thank you very much for your response. Bengu is eating much better and more since he has arrived. I hardly have to use any wet food to mix with his dry food anymore. He's eating like a little wild one. Very beautiful to watch a hungry kitten eating!

Best,
Bixi (from a sunny and summery New Zealand!)