new cat wont eat

Question
I got 2 new cats (sisters) who are both 2 years old on Saturday it is now monday and they are not eating. I got them from the lady who had had them since they were 8 weeks old. She gave me all of their stuff and Purina Naturals cat chow telling me this was the only food they would eat and when she had tried other foods in the past they had gotten sick. They  are hiding which we expected and only come out at night. We have 2 two year old children in the house who of course can be loud so we figure thats why they only come out at night but they have not touched their food and we've only noticed a little water missing from their bowls. Please help we already love these cats and don't want them to make themselves sick trying to adjust.

Answer
Hi Chrystal,

Congratulations on your new kitties! You are right that not eating for 2 days can be unhealthy for cats. I would recommend trying a canned food, preferably a really smelly one to get them to eat something. My cats love Tikicat canned fish foods as a treat. If your local pet store doesn't carry Tikicat you can try one of the following recommended foods:

- Nature's Variety Instinct canned food any flavor
- Newman's Own Grain-Free canned food (beef or beef and liver)
- Wellness Grain Free canned food any flavor
- Merrick Before Grain canned any flavor

You'll notice I only recommend canned foods with no grain. For one thing, canned food is more appealing to most cats because it has a smell and texture of real meat. Also the canned food will provide them with water which they especially need right now if they have been hiding. You can still leave out their regular food for now.

You can also buy a Feliway calming diffuser for cats at the pet store, plug it in in the room the cats are in. Feliway helps relax cats and makes them feel more at home in a new places, using pheremones.

Try to leave the cats in one room and do not let the kids in there yet, let the cats have some quiet and get used to their new home.

You might want to read over the Stanford Cat Network guide for bringing home a new cat for ideas on how to make the new cats feel more at home:

http://catnet.stanford.edu/articles/careguide.html

And finally, I do recommend that you gradually change the cats over to a better food. Canned food with no grain (as recommended above) is much better for them than dry food. Here is some more information:

http://www.felinenutrition.net

http://www.catinfo.org