The kitten does not eat homemade food. How to wean a cat off food? What to feed a domestic cat. Why is it so difficult to wean a cat off ready-made food?

Many people are sure that there is nothing difficult about caring for a cat. It is enough to pour food from a bag into her bowl. What could be simpler?

But such owners do not think about the fact that such food can cause harm to the animal. If you already have a cat accustomed to food in your hands, it is absolutely not necessary to poison the fluffy further. With a little persistence and patience, you can wean your cat off food. We will tell you how to do this in today’s article.

Why is it difficult to wean a cat from drying?

This task can indeed be quite difficult. When looking for a way to wean a cat off dry food, many pet owners may encounter surprising stubbornness of the animal. Cat habits are much more stable than human ones, and therefore more difficult to fight. In addition, many people who have never dealt with these furry animals often simply do not know what to feed domestic cat. What does she like? Can I give her soup, candy or milk?

Another difficulty is that most manufacturers add a variety of flavor enhancers, flavorings and nutritional supplements. Cats get so used to this “chemistry” that it is sometimes simply impossible to change their preferences. Compared to store-bought crackers, homemade food seems simply tasteless to them.

If you want to save money and buy cheap food for your animal, get ready to become regular customer veterinarian Budget “drying” contains a record amount of carcinogens, which a priori will not add health to your pet.

Why is it worth weaning your cat off dry food?

If you are ready to think about how to wean your cat off food, then you already understand the disadvantages of canned food:

• Manufacturers add stimulants to the vast majority of feeds. The cat eats a lot, but does not become full.
• With this method of feeding, the animal’s stomach loses its ability to stretch. As a result, it becomes physically difficult for the cat to eat regular food.
• Even the most expensive brands of dry food are very far from ideal. They contain only chemical elements, nothing natural.
• Cat food of more or less passable quality costs a lot of money. If you are trying to feed your animal budget food, get ready to visit the veterinary clinic.
• Ready cat food most often in the form of small granules, pates, purees or small pieces. The animal has absolutely no need to load its teeth. It just swallows the food. This is fraught with the appearance of tartar, plaque and other troubles.
• The cat eats the same food. The composition of the granules is almost the same. Only the smell is different, and even then not always. You can easily verify this by opening two or three packs of food with different flavors at the same time and comparing their contents.

If you are still not sure whether cats can eat raw meat, and prefer to make do with granules, study the list of troubles that store-bought “crackers” can cause your pet:

• vitamin deficiency - in the vast majority of dry food, the amount of vitamins stated on the pack does not correspond to the internal contents;
• kidney failure - “crackers” are terribly salty, so the kidneys of many animals simply cannot cope with excreting such an amount of salt;
• dysbacteriosis - beneficial bacteria in the stomach of the animal they die over time, diarrhea may develop;
• allergies - if the cat’s food is not suitable, ulcers may appear and hair may fall out;
• poisoning - cheap food contains a lot of dyes that are not at all beneficial for the animal;
• oncology - most dry food contains monosodium glutamate (a very dangerous substance that can cause cancer).

What should be included in the diet?

So that your pet lives a long and healthy life, it must be fed properly. What do cats like to eat and what should be included in their weekly diet?

Try to regularly give your cat the following foods:

• Raw lean meat. Chicken, rabbit, turkey or beef are great.
• Fish. It also should not be greasy and must undergo heat treatment.
• Egg yolk. One piece per week is enough.

• A variety of dairy products. Here, too, you need to remember about fat content.
• Broths and soups. Diversity is allowed here. The main thing is that the pet likes it.
• Boiled liver and offal.
• Raw and stewed vegetables. It all depends on the individual preferences of the animal. Some people like melon, others like cucumbers.
• Cereals in the form of porridges and casseroles.

Many less experienced owners are interested in whether cats can have cheese? On the one hand, it seems milk product, on the other hand, it is quite fatty and can cause harm to the animal. The answer in this case is quite simple. If you occasionally pamper your pet with a small piece, nothing bad will happen. But you shouldn't feed your cat cheese regularly.

How to accustom a cat to natural products?

If you don't know how to wean your cat off food, take a look at one of the two options below.

Method No. 1

The cat needs to be fed 3-4 times a day. Therefore, try to alternate “crackers” with regular food. Give the usual food in the first half of the day. At this time of day, digestion is just “waking up”. To reduce the saltiness of dry food, pour a portion big amount water. When the “crackers” are soaked, drain the liquid and give the wet lumps to the cat.

Make sure your pet always has a sufficient amount of clean water.

Offer your animal natural food for lunch and dinner. Do not give in to the indignant cries of your pet demanding canned food. If the cat has not eaten, remove the bowl after 20-25 minutes until the next feeding.

Method No. 2

This option involves mixing canned food with regular food. On the first day, soak the crackers, drain excess water and enjoy with homemade food. The proportion is approximately this: 5 parts canned food, 1 part natural food. Repeat the procedure for lunch and dinner. Feed the animal this way for 3 to 5 days.

After this, start diluting the feed in a ratio of 4:2, and after a week switch to the 3:3 option. Every week, reduce the portion of dry food by 1 part, and gradually increase the portion of homemade food.

If you found suitable way, how to wean a cat off dry food, complete the action. Do not succumb to cat provocations and expressive “hungry” looks. Act confidently and persistently. Stick to your plan.

If an animal has declared a boycott, do not starve it for weeks. It may be dangerous. Try to arouse interest in homemade food by treating them to some kind of delicacy. Offer a little different food: a piece of meat, sausage, a slice of bread, a slice of cucumber, a slice of potato. A hungry animal will definitely be interested in something.

What not to do

Have you already chosen a way to wean your cat off food? Then remember a few rules:

1. Take your time. Sometimes it can take months to relearn. Abrupt change the usual diet will ruin your relationship, lead to a boycott and changes in the animal’s well-being.
2. Don't spoil your pet. Of course, sometimes it’s not only possible, but also necessary to treat you to something tasty. But you should not “put” food into the animal’s mouth. You're not going to indulge all his whims for the rest of your life, are you? This is not the way to start. The attitude towards the animal should remain equal and friendly, as always.

Important points

In the process of retraining an animal, it is important to be persistent and consistent. If you do not live alone, agree with all household members to act rationally. Keep an especially close eye on children. Protecting their furry pet from the “monster and tyrant”, they can feed him the usual and favorite crackers. Such “concern” will negate all efforts and fruitful work on retraining.

Explain to your children that you are doing this not because you don’t love Barsik or Murka. But because you don’t want the fluffy to get sick. Ask for help and assign your child to make sure there is always plenty of fresh water near the pussy. More often than not, this tactic works flawlessly.

What should

We have already told you what can be included in the diet of an adult animal. Now let's talk about proportions. Proper nutrition, providing the cat with everything necessary elements, should look something like this:

• 45% - meat and other protein food(dairy products, eggs, sometimes fish);
• 20% - offal (offal, lungs, liver, heart);
• 20% - vegetables, cereals, various sources of fiber and microelements;
• 5% - vitamin complexes, butter, bone meal.

Conclusion

Weaning pet Not very healthy store-bought food can take up a lot of your time and effort. But in return you will receive a beautiful and healthy animal. If something doesn't bother you, you should consult a veterinarian or cat nutrition specialist. He will be able to choose an individual diet for your pet and tell you how else you can wean your cat off dry food.

A tiny fluffy ball, not yet able to do anything on its own, may appear in the house by various reasons: separated from the mother cat early, picked up on the street, turned out to be an orphan, etc. Naturally, the new owners who shelter him will be puzzled by questions: how to teach a kitten to eat on its own and what to feed it.

If the kitten has not yet reached one month old, the owner will have to do everything to at least partially replace the baby’s mother, because such a baby has not yet learned anything on his own, and somehow needs to eat in order to survive.

In fact, teaching a kitten to eat and drink is both a difficult and simple task.

It will take a lot of patience, it will take some time sleepless nights, and the baby won’t be able to learn everything right away. But to help caring owners natural instincts always come, embedded in furry babies from the very early childhood. They will speed up the process of accustoming the kitten to feeding on its own.

How to train a kitten to eat

The pitifully squeaking lump is already hungry, but he himself has not yet learned how to tame this feeling. The baby is not even able to lap from a saucer, let alone absorb more serious food. And here all hope lies solely with its owners: it is they who will have to literally hand-feed the baby at first and very gradually teach the kitten to eat on its own.

The poor little fellow cannot be taught to eat in the same way as, for example, a month-old pet. The baby will have to drink from a pipette or syringe cannula with the only food he is familiar with - milk. And you will have to do this often, about 8 times a day, including at night. After eating, the kitten is shown light massage well-fed belly- this is what his mother would do, licking her child, if she were nearby, and now the owner also has to learn how to do this. Massage is necessary for correct formation intestines, so you should not neglect the procedure.

Once you reach 6 weeks, it’s time to teach your kitten to eat on his own. You need to start by learning to lap:

• prepare a bowl high enough so that the kitten does not have to bend over low (this will make it awkward for him to learn to lap);
• pour milk or special dairy nutrition for kittens;
• bring the baby to the bowl and lightly dip his face in the milk.

This is enough for the baby to taste the food while licking its lips. But this does not mean that you are immediately lucky to teach a kitten to feed itself. It may take some more time before your pet can handle food on its own.. But the main thing is not to force the baby to lap it forcibly and not to dip it deeply: this will only develop disgust and dislike for the bowl and the learning process itself. You need to act according to the principle “if you get hungry, you eat.”

Even if the kitten drank just a little, it may not be enough for him. this moment enough to get enough or understand the principle of lapping.

And don’t be afraid if, when trying to learn to drink on your own, your pet suddenly chokes or coughs: if this goes away quickly, nothing bad has happened. This is just overcoming small difficulties and getting used to a new “work” for the kitten.

Tip: you can teach your baby to drink from your finger by dipping it in milk and letting it lick off the drops. But you shouldn’t overuse this method: it’s easier than lapping on your own, so sometimes lazy kittens refuse to drink without help and don’t want to “work.”

In particular difficult cases Even the stubborn ones have to go on a small hunger strike so that they eventually learn to eat themselves.

What to feed

In any case, the first food for a kitten of several weeks old will be only milk or a milk substitute from a pet store. But at the age of 1 month, you can gradually introduce the first complementary foods into the baby’s diet (but still not excluding milk from the menu).

Important: it is better to show a pet that is weaned from its mother early to a veterinarian to discuss further nutrition. The specialist will teach you what to feed the baby, based on age, health (foundlings are often weakened) and the breed of the fluffy.

The list of foods allowed for such a small kitten is not yet long:

• milk;
• soft cottage cheese dissolved in milk;
• ground beef or chicken (frozen and then cooked);
• tender beef or poultry pate.

At the same time, it is forbidden to feed the kitten:

• smoked meats, salty foods;
• pork;
• food from the master's table;
• expired or poor quality food.

Recommendation: if the baby “doesn’t understand” what to do with the minced meat, you can put a tiny piece of this food in his mouth. Like a true (albeit still small) predator, the kitten will respond to your prompts and very soon, having acquired a taste, will learn to eat “adult” food.

The tiny fluffy ball is still very small, but caring for it will require effort, time, and patience on the part of the owners. Replacing a kitten's mother and teaching it everything is a touching, but at the same time responsible job. Somewhere in the depths of his still very childish soul, the pet feels in whose hands his life is now, and the strong and powerful will deceive him in his hopes. big man You just don't have the right.

Many cat owners have encountered the fact that a kitten bought from a breeder or in a nursery refuses to eat any other food other than ready-made store food. This behavior may be due to the fact that the kitten’s old owners fed it only these foods, and he went to them. I'm used to it.

It is necessary to wean a kitten off such food not just because it is expensive to buy food for it, but also because it can harm its health. Almost all veterinarians claim that ready-made feed(no matter dry or wet) cats not only don't get everything essential vitamins, but it also harms them.

How can you train a cat to eat homemade food? There are several methods - the most popular and effective method, is to gradually replace the food with another food. To do this, on the first day it is necessary to replace ten percent of the usual amount of feed with regular food- if the kitten prefers wet food, you can add various cereals to it, and if he usually eats dry food, then it would be best if you prepare a special porridge for the kitten - it is done quite simply - you need to boil the sausage trimmings (or you can boil some plain meat), and just add cereals there. Over time, every day or every other day, reduce the amount of food in the bowl, and eventually leave only homemade food- the kitten will already get used to it and will eat it with pleasure.

There are more quick way- immediately put other food in his bowl instead of food - sooner or later the kitten will get hungry, and still eat what is given.

Even if the kitten does not eat porridge and soups, it is unlikely that he will refuse a piece of meat or sausage. If he eats this, then next time try putting meat mixed with bread, pasta, or other food in his bowl. Still, it is unlikely that you have the opportunity to feed him only meat. Gradually he will get used to it and will start eating it all without adding sausage.

Another option is to feed the kitten twice a day, preferably always at the same time. In the morning, put meat in his bowl instead of food, it could be beef or chicken, cut into small pieces. You can give your kitten both raw and cooked meat. If the kitten won't eat it, just put it in the refrigerator. During the day he will probably get hungry, and if in the evening you again offer him the same thing that you gave him in the morning, most likely he will still eat it. Surely, if this repeats day after day, and the kitten understands that his favorite food will no longer be given to him, he will start eating homemade food.

When appears in the family new member- fluffy and meowing, then the owners immediately face the question of its nutrition. After all, today cats and kittens are more likely a decorative element of the house than a hunter getting their food on the street. Therefore, you need to know how to feed your cat correctly, how to accustom him to healthy homemade food.

Today, many cat owners have accustomed their pets to dry food. This is a kind of cat fast food. This food does not need to be prepared, just pour it into a bowl - and lunch (breakfast, dinner) is ready. Of course, this is more convenient for the cat owner. Less hassle and time goes into caring for your pet. But to be honest, this is just laziness and selfishness in relation to the shaggy one. Food is addictive. They are harmful if consumed systematically by cats. And they are also not cheap. Therefore, it is cheaper, more rational, and more competent to accustom a kitten from the first days to the food that is considered natural and healthy.

Your pet's inclinations towards certain foods will be visible from the first days of his stay in your home. Cats don't always eat what is offered to them. They, like people, can be picky eaters. But there are also those who eat with great pleasure everything that their owners give them.

If you want to teach your cat to eat properly, you will need to make an effort. But first you need to have information about the products that can be given to pets. For healthy diet cat fit:

1. Meat. It should be raw and low-fat. Beef, chicken, turkey, and horse meat are preferable.
2. Fish. It is better to give boiled and low-fat food three times a week.
3. Boiled egg yolk. One piece can be offered once a week.
4. Liver. It needs to be boiled.
5. Dairy products.

As for the owner's diet, which can be shared with the cat, these are low-fat soups and broths, buckwheat and barley porridge, wheat and oatmeal. To avoid constipation in cats, they should only be given rice cooked in milk.

Very often, from childhood, cats show interest in vegetables and fruits. Some eat raw potatoes, the second - cucumbers in fresh, still others prefer beets, others simply adore Exotic fruits. If you notice such tendencies, then that's great. They need to be encouraged. Vegetables are an excellent and healthy component of a kitten's menu. It's good if cats eat melons and watermelons. This gives them the opportunity to cleanse the kidneys, which is extremely important when feeding a cat dry food even occasionally.

Milk should be given to kittens with caution. It shouldn't be greasy. It's better to let it be dairy products. You will introduce raw milk into the diet when the cat gets a little older.

The list of the above products in the kitten menu should be from a very young age. But there is no need to follow the lead of kittens, who will beg with annoying meows for an additional portion of meat or fish - foods that they really like.

If you pick up a kitten on the street, it will simply live near its bowl. But this does not mean that he should be pitied and fattened until he drops. Cats are very curious by nature and are always asking for food.

Kittens need to be fed in small portions, but often. As you age, portions need to be increased. From the first days of a kitten’s stay in your home, food should not be multi-ingredient. This means one meal - one product. This way your pet will develop a healthy stomach, and it will be easier for you to determine his preferences.

By the way, many cats can simply ignore certain foods. For example, they can sniff and demonstratively turn away from buckwheat. Well, let them be capricious. Not a single cat has ever died if there was food in his plate. It’s difficult with animals in this regard, but you don’t need to feel sorry for them.

Accustoming your pet to healthy food, always make sure the food is fresh, good quality. A cat, having once eaten a bad product, for example, not quite fresh fish, will never touch it again.

Make sure that the water in the drinking bowl is always fresh.

Unlike dogs, cats need to be fed more often. Three meals a day suits them perfectly. Well, if it happens that the cat refuses any food for more than two days, then there is no way to do without the help of a veterinarian. She's probably sick and needs to be taken to the doctor.