Identifying a picky eater

There are multiple factors that can cause a cat to be a picky eater, from individual factors, to learned behaviours, to health issues, to problems in their relationship with food.

There is an assumption that cats are "special" eaters, and that it is necessary to feed them a variety of tastes and textures. Although it is important to get them used to eating different flavours and textures, there is no problem in their day-to-day life to give them the same food as long as it is nutritionally adequate and offered in the right quantities.

Most frequent problems we can have behind a picky eater cat.

Abrupt changes in their diet. If we make a change in their diet and they are not used to eating other things, they may resist and have a lack of appetite or anorexia, so it is very important in cats to make the transition from one food to another progressively, generally over 5 weeks, gradually mixing their previous diet with the new one to adapt their palate and digestive system so that they do not have any problems of any kind.

Personal tastes. Some cats may have an aversion to certain flavours or textures, just as we humans do. Sometimes, with gradual transitions between different foods, we get them used to them and they get used to them. It is common for cats fed low-quality feed that contains a lot of flavourings to be more reluctant to change to healthier diets, but with a suitable transition and patience we can achieve this.

Pain. In kittens that present pain in the mouth due to problems in the teeth, gums, tongue or oral mucosa, we can see that they are "afraid" to eat, even in mucosal problems such as ulcers or inflammation of the gums we will see that some salty or tasty foods cause them pain and are rejected although these foods in healthy cats may be more palatable foods, if it is a dental problem and it hurts when chewing they will be more reluctant to eat foods that they have to chew. If you suspect that they have discomfort when eating or you see excessive salivation, it is urgent to see a vet for appropriate treatment.

Chronic or acute stress. Cats are very sensitive to certain situations or changes, but it is still difficult for us to identify the symptoms related to this stress. One of the symptoms is that they become picky eaters, have a loss of appetite or develop food-related behaviours such as begging at all hours, asking for treats, or not eating the right amount. It is very important in cats that we control their environment, that we provide them with environmental enrichment and that in unavoidable stressful circumstances (moving house, arrival of new family members, etc.) we help them to cope with them, ideally you should ask your vet or an ethologist for advice to avoid problems. Whenever there are changes at home, we must pay special attention to their appetite.

Diseases. If a cat stops eating or there is an abrupt change in its eating habits, it is an emergency. Sometimes this change or sudden loss of appetite may be a symptom of another disease (digestive problems, kidney failure, liver problems, pancreatitis, among others, or may be associated with pain). It is also important to know that a cat cannot stop eating for prolonged periods of time as their liver may suffer and the dreaded hepatic lipidosis may appear, so you should go immediately to the vet to find out the cause and treat them as soon as possible.

Consequences of poor nutrition in cats.

Poor nutrition can have short and long term consequences for a cat's health. Earlier we discussed the risk of hepatic lipidosis in the case of prolonged fasting, but underfeeding or inadequate and incomplete food can have other consequences, ranging from simple weight loss to severe nutritional deficits or organ failure.

The slightest consequence would be weight loss, but prolonged poor nutrition can lead to diseases related to deficiencies in essential nutrients, or organ failure with irreversible consequences.

When we suspect that a cat is having an inadequate diet, it is essential to carry out a check-up, make sure that there are no deficiencies and try to correct its diet with a complete and healthy diet, and above all, make sure that it is eating the right amounts.

The best foods for fussy cats.

Before choosing a food for a "fussy" cat, we must find out why the kitten has these preferences. If it is a symptom of an illness, we should go to the vet and treat the health problem. But if it is due to a learned behaviour, we should ideally work to get him to accept the best food for his health.

Tips to make your cat eat better.

Some tricks to help our companions to eat a healthy food is firstly to make a proper transition with their usual food, if they still don't get used to it we can "dress it up" so that the food is more appealing to them.

How to change your cat's diet effectively.

At VeggieAnimals, as it is a healthy food, we are sometimes faced with kittens who are more reluctant to change, but we can quickly convince them if we add a teaspoon of nutritional yeast, flaked or hydrated seaweed, or raw oil (half a teaspoon for every 5 kilos of weight), the oils we recommend you try are coconut, linseed, sunflower or olive oil.

What to do if your cat refuses its food.

When a cat refuses to eat a food, the ideal thing to do is to try different brands, textures and flavours, and gradually introduce our target food, the one we have chosen as the ideal food.

We must be constant and insist that they consume the food we have chosen, it is important to be patient and ensure that they eat adequate amounts of food, but without giving in to their demands. 

Ideally, we should establish doses of food to be eaten and timetables, so that we can control that they eat the right food and in the right quantities, so that if there are problems one day we can detect them because they do not come to eat at the right time or because the amount of food they have eaten is not the usual amount.

Feline nutrition: keys to a balanced diet.

To feed our feline companions properly, the ideal is to choose a high-end food, which takes care to provide all the necessary nutrients and is palatable. At VeggieAnimals we make sure that the food is complete and delicious for our companions, so that they are happy while we can rest assured that they are not lacking in nutrients.

Tips to stimulate your cat's appetite.

To encourage our companions to eat their food if they find it difficult or to add something different to their daily routine, in addition to the "seasonings" mentioned above (yeast, algae or oils) we can add wet food, currently you can find Maxi sausage and "red" sausage to enrich their food on the VeggieAnimals website.

There are cats that prefer to eat small amounts several times a day, for them the seasoning in their food should be as little wet as possible, or if we add wet food we should make sure that it is not more than 2 hours in summer or 4 hours in winter in their food bowl, as outside the fridge this food can spoil or spoil the food.

And don't forget that many kittens like to eat in the company of their human, so if your companion belongs to this group, set aside several times a day to accompany them.