8 wk kitten does like kitten cat food

if it were me, I would switch him to raw. you need to make sure to get assistance on how to make it ballanced. my one cat has never even touched kibble or canned. I can shoot you a menu if you like. you may also want to shop around for a vet that dosnt mind raw. vets aren’t taught about the benifits of raw, so most are still aginst it. my vet dosnt like raw, but he is willing to learn about it and that is really all I can ask.

Here’s a fabulous forum if you are interested in learning more about raw feeding. I think it may be the one you had in mind, jcat….

http://www.thecatsite.com/f/65/raw-feeding-for-cats

Lots of knowledgeable folks….mine eat raw and I learn so much there. I think your vet was probably so concerned because lots of people give cats meat for their meals not realizing they need the proper balance of organ meat and calcium too. Serious health problems can develop but it takes time for those deficiencies to take effect. Good luck!

Forgot to mention, this is a supplement you can sprinkle on meat to add the nutrients they would be getting from organs and bone…

http://www.petfooddirect.com/Product/3245/Wysong-Call-of-the-Wild-Supplement-for-Dogs-and-Cats

I believe you can add it to cooked or raw meat. I just bought some for some of my cats’ raw meals. Anyways, it would turn plain meat into a balanced meal. And if you do want him to eat commercial food, keep trying. He’s young enough to learn. You could try adding in the meat he likes to get him interested.

Salmonella is always a possibility, not only with uncooked meat, poultry and fish but also with eggs and vegetables, salad greens — anything that could have been contaminated by faeces at some stage along the way, whether it was irrigated with dirty water at the beginning of the food chain or whether the kitchen it was prepared in wasn’t perfectly hygienic just before it reaches the table. With animals, as with humans, the best way to avoid it is to make sure your food comes from a reliable source, and that you follow basic good hygiene practices. Any meat you buy for your pet from the supermarket intended for human consumption should be fine — it has been inspected to be safe for humans and should be safe for your pet as well. The raw meat I buy from the supermarket is specifically for animals but it is a trusted and reputable pet meat company that specialises in raw meat. Buy from safe and trusted sources and you should be fine. Bottom line, if it’s not good enough for me to eat cooked, I wouldn’t risk feeding it to my animals uncooked. And keep cooked and raw meats separate (with separate utensils and chopping boards if possible, well-scrubbed in hot water if not), if the juice from uncooked meat (of any kind) drips onto cooked meat, then the cooked meat is no longer safe. Hope that helps!

I agree with the above about not buying ground meat from the supermarket for raw feeding. There is more opportunity for contamination with grinding. And it does lose some nutritional value. I do feed some meat that has been ground with organ and bone, but it is from a company that deep freezes it immediately upon grinding and has a great reputation for the quality of their meat. And then I add a supplement in case nutrients were lost in the grinding. But mine eat chunks of meat too. When I get those from the supermarket I just make sure no sodium solutions were added.

Basically, when feeding raw you want 80 percent muscle meat, 10 percent bone or other calcium source, 5 percent liver and 5 percent other secreting organ.

I know you are planning on doing a raw diet, but have you tried giving the kitty dry cat food? I have a kitty who is also a picky eater. When I first got him, I tried giving him canned cat food but Neo kitty would not eat it. He will only eat dry cat food. If I mix anything in the dry kitty food (even milk or water), he will not eat it. Neo won’t even drink milk by itself! Neo won’t eat cheese or chicken or fish or anything really. Neo kit will also only eat two types of dry cat food, Meow Mix Tender Centers and Whiskas Meaty Selections. If I buy any other dry cat food, he’ll take a couple bites and then turn up his nose to it.

At eight weeks, the kitty is old enough for dry cat food so maybe you can try to give the kitty some.

My vets thinks cats should eat raw or homemade. My own cats don’t eat dry/kibble either (I don’t try either).

Since your cat likes cooked chicken, maybe you can try cooking your cat’s food? My vet put up this recipe – https://docs.google.com/document/d/1BUDWEz2CDAj4ZQMB6XUhNgI9XXLIDXn9xdmCxhoXm3g/edit

The recipe is for dogs and cats, to make it more cat, you can omit the grain and make sure the multi-vitamin you’re using contains taurine. A lot of people on here cautioned against ground meat – so I would suggest trying to find a local butcher who will grind the meat you select right there in front of you. I’ve been able to find a few in my area.