My kitten gets bored with food easily. How to manage a picky eater?

It's possible they could be picky eaters, however a complete checkup with your vet is a good first step to make sure there aren't issues such as GI upset, allergies, parasites, illness, etc that could be causing them to not eat as much. If they check out healthy, removing all extra snacks and treats between meals and only offering their food may encourage them to eat. You can moisten the food or add in a little bland boiled chicken to make it more enticing as needed. Cats also tend to be drawn to things that are smelly, so warming up the food to make it smellier may encourage them to check it out as well.

Choose one brand of food, or a couple flavors of the same brand, and feed that exclusively. Pick a food that has a named protein source of animal origin. Avoid by products or meat meals. Stay away from store or discount brands as these typically contain low quality ingredients and more fillers. Feed on a consistent schedule as opposed to free feeding or allowing grazing throughout the day. Do not constantly change diets if/when your cat does not eat. This can create a finicky eater and may lead to gastrointestinal upset.

I would recommend choosing a brand of food and sticking with it. Changing food frequently can lead to digestive upset and a picky eater. Royal Canin is a great brand and I would stick with that if possible. Feeding her canned and dry food is ok too. I hope this helps. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. Best of luck.

The exact amount of calories that a cat needs certainly depends on their weight and activity level, but will tend to decrease slightly when a cat reaches an adult age. So, that might be why Baluu is eating less canned food than he used to. If he did not used to eat the dry food along with the canned food, then that would also account for why he is eating less canned food. In general, we usually recommend about 5 ounces of canned food for each 10 pounds of body weight if they are not eating any dry food. Based on that, it sounds like Baluu is eating a sufficient amount since he is also eating some dry food. If it seems like Baluu is losing weight, then I would recommend having your veterinarian examine him to make sure there isn't something going on internally. Otherwise, I would suspect that his metabolism is just slowing down a little and he doesn't need as much food as he did when he was younger. Some cats really desire some variety in their food, and it sounds like Baluu is one of those cats. Good luck! I hope that answered your questions. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

Hi there and thanks for posting on Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! If Wilkie is not wanting to eat, there could be medical reasons behind this behavior such as dental disease or a tooth or oral infection. Other possibilities may include something infectious, organ dysfunction, an endocrine disorder, or other causes. If all medical conditions have been entirely ruled out by a veterinarian, then my best advice is to just stick with one brand of food and try not to change the food or add other food items to it to entice him to eat as this will allow him to become a very picky eater. Try giving him only one type of food-if he is healthy and well, he will not starve himself! He will eventually learn to eat what is given to him. I hope this helps and thank you for posting!

Often providing a wide variety of foods and flavors actually promotes picky eating. If they are otherwise well I recommend you pick a one flavor formulation of high quality brand sch as hills science plan or royal canin and put down one sachet at a time, adding more if this is eaten. Cats are grazing feeders and are likely to prefer little and often, as long a s a complete balanced dry food and fresh water is available at all times they should self regulate their own food intake. Be sure to have more feed and particularly water stations than you have cats to ensure there is no territorial bullying preventing any of them from eating when they would like to

If there are only two available foods for kittens in your geographic region I would feed the one that your cat is most likely to consume without problems. If for some reason your cat begins to have issues with that type of food I would feed the other one but consider adding something like chicken broth or tuna juice to it. Hope this helps!