5 month old kittens are such picky eaters

[Erikab]

I have 2 kittens and they are both quite picky, but my girl is especially bad. When I first adopted them they were eating Merrick kitten dinner and they liked that for a while, but recently they will only eat it if I mix something like tuna on top of it, but I know that’s not good for them every single day. I’ve been trying other brands. Like purina, blue buffalo, and they won’t eat it. The only one they will eat is fancy feast pâtés. But even then, they would barely touch it this morning. I give them some dry food too because they don’t eat very much and I don’t want them to starve and they absolutely love it. But I want to be giving them mostly wet food. And a good wet food with good ingredients. Anyone else have this happen? What did you find that they liked the most?

 

[LTS3]

It's fine to give kittens both dry and canned food, more canned if possible. You can transition to a canned food only diet (or however much canned food the cats will eat daily) when the cats are closer to a year old.

You can feed any canned food that is labeled as "for all life stages", not just the kitten specific ones. Read the teeny tiny AAFCO statement on the label.

Do the kittens seem to like a particular protein or texture over others? Chicken is usually a hit with cats. So is seafood but that's not good to feed all the time.

Have you tried adding a tiny bit of crushed up freeze dried seafood treats on top of canned food to entice the kittens to eat?

 

[Erikab]

So I’ve tried putting a small amount of shredded chicken on top of the wet food and then they will eat it, but ONLY if I do that. But even then, they are not eating that anymore. i will try the freeze dried treats as I’ve seen that a lot!! And basically my one cat really does not like chicken I think. She only likes tuna. But I don’t know how to make her eat something besides that.

 

[Kat0121]

I hate to be the bearer of bad news but many cats/kittens of all ages are picky eaters. My girls are grown and they have made being picky eaters into a sport. I have to keep a very wide variety of flavors and textures around for when (not if) they decide they no longer want something. I hold it back for a while and re-introduce it. Sometimes it works, sometimes not.