Hi there, I have got a bengal x mainecoon kitten. He is now 13 weeks old and wont eat his dried food. Open the fridge and he's up on your shoulder in a flash too see whats inside. As his tail has just grown again and his feet have suddenly got bigger im expecting a growth spurt for his body to catch up, but im worried that he isnt getting enough food. He looks healthy is jumping around and running about and causing the dogs life a misery lol. Do i carry on trying to find one he likes, no fresh chicken till he eats his biscuits etc or do i let him win this battle. I love my boy too bits :)

If he won't eat dry food, then buy some wet food. Cats are extremely finicky eaters at times. You need to feed him what he enjoys eating or he simply won't eat! There are countless varieties of dry foods as well. You try until you find something that he will devour! You are being unfair if you are forcing him to eat the dry food he doesn't not enjoy. So many varieties as well -- chicken, tuna, shrimp, beef, turkey, salmon. I'm sure you can find a favorite for him. If he is used to getting treats and prefers them, stop giving him treats until you have his eating under control. Mine at times will beg for treats and I'll give him a few and then he will go eat his regular food.

I'm wondering when the vet last looked at the wet food market (please remember vets don't receive anything bar very limited training in nutrition). Certain wet foods such as whiskas or felix are like McDonald's but you can also now buy premium brands which are almost pure meat content so they are the same as you feeding cooked chicken with extra minerals. Also feeding an 100% dry diet actually causes kidney issues so wet food is recommended regularly.

Also you will find as you have been feeding chicken he will wait for that instead of eating the dry, I know people say cats won't starve themselves but I've had one before that tried to because I wouldn't feed her what she wanted to eat and you can't make them eat what they don't like.

Which dry food was he actually on previously? Considering vets are happy to sell Royal Canin and Hills science diet which are worse than feeding McDonald's in my opinion and full of grains, starch and other fillers which no cat needs in their diet. Where do you live and I'm sure some people can tell you some brands. I would recommend looking for a brand which 80% meat protein or more if your cat will eat it. As Sherry said above some bengals are terrible eaters and owners have to feed poorer quality brands because it's better they eat something than nothing but you can supplement this by also feeding a high calorie vitamin paste along with their food.

If you are in the UK you could try Lily's Kitchen, Thrive or Applaws to name a few brands I feed mine which are all very high protein content no filler and provide both wet and dry products.

Hope this helped some.

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- Sarah
Arya 24/04/16 - Seal Lynx Point Rosetted Bengal
Griffith 16/04/16 - Silver Seal Lynx Point Rosetted Bengal
Mina (in my avatar)- 1999-2016 - Seal Mink Spotted Bengal (Snow) - run free at rainbow bridge

Its weird that your vet said so. I know a few vets, none of them suggested that feeding dry food is better than wet. Wet food only be bad when it has tons of fillers, while dry food always has tons of fillers to keep the shape so it works more like McDonald's.

Mercury doesnt eat any dry food since the beginning. I feed him cooked meat and some pure meat can food for minerals and vitamins. Try some can foods or cook by yourself, find out what you cat like the most and stick to it.

me and my boy.jpg

Thank you all, after an hour this morning in Pets At Home so far Applaws wet is going down ok.

I'm you found something he likes my two love Applaws also they like the kitten dry as well which is also very high meat content.

If you are worried about him not getting enough nutrients you can also give him nutrical as a supplement it also helps them grow to their full potential. Using it made my teeny girl grow from 0.4kg at 13 weeks to 2kg at 21 weeks.

I recommend the kitten one as it also has extra Taurine but sadly its something you need to import it but it's not too badly priced atm

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B002Y0 ... ref=plSrch

That's a link up the normal cat one which Amazon sell
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B000FO ... n+nutrical

Also your little guy is adorable can't wait to see how he grows

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- Sarah
Arya 24/04/16 - Seal Lynx Point Rosetted Bengal
Griffith 16/04/16 - Silver Seal Lynx Point Rosetted Bengal
Mina (in my avatar)- 1999-2016 - Seal Mink Spotted Bengal (Snow) - run free at rainbow bridge