Sometimes, to treat a medical condition, it’s necessary to change a cat’s diet. Diet changes can be a challenge with cats, however. They develop their food preferences very early on in life and may be reticent to adjust them. That’s why, until a kitten is about four months old, it’s a good idea to feed him a variety of foods — different flavors, shapes, and textures of both dry and wet. That way, if he develops an illness in adulthood that requires he eat food that’s different from what he’s used to, he will be less likely to resist the switch.
While feeding different foods can make it hard to control calories, young kittens can typically be fed free-choice, so it’s really the ideal time to experiment with variety before settling on the longer-term diet (which for most cats will need to be calorie-controlled to avoid obesity). Early exposure to different types, textures, and flavors of food will help imprint them on the brain during a cat’s sensitive period of learning right after birth.
