Hi!
We have 2 Bengal brothers, 3 months old. We feed them raw meals (minced meat, bone and organs) 3-4 times a day. We also leave out the kibble we got from the cattery (all day) because they just started eating raw 2 weeks ago and we don't want to upset their stomachs too much. (I know kibble and raw isn't good together, but we just want to give them time to adapt and we don't want them to under eat as kitten)
One of the brothers, Tonic, eats his meal completely and even licks out his plate! The problem is with the other one, Gin. He doesn't seem too interested in his food... Don't get me wrong, he loves the raw meat! It's not like he doesn't want to eat it... it's just that he prefers to play and cuddle with us while his food is ready for him to eat. We place the plates on the floor, he looks at it, his brother starts eating and then he walks over to us... I can get him to eat some of it (like 1/3 - 1/2 of his meal) when I distract him with dehydrated chicken snack. I take a snack; let him follow it and then I crumble it over his food. But after a while he gets distracted by e.g. his brother (who, of course, already finished ages ago) and wanders off again.
At first, I thought maybe he didn't like the raw meat. But I don't think that's the case. Up till now, they both ate every kind we offered them: chicken, beef, lamb, duck, pigeon. And he seems very happy when I come in with the plate, meowing and purring! And when I finally get him to eat, he does eat it. So I don't feel like this is 'picky eater' behavior...
Second thought, making sure the raw meat is always at body temperature, not cold. Seems like this doesn't really affect them though.
Then I thought, maybe we should play with them a while before their meals. We always do this now, but I think it makes Gin even more distracted...
Next possibility: the kibble. Maybe Gin eats more kibble than Tonic, right before his raw meal. I usually see him eating kibble while I'm preparing their raw dish. We slowly took the kibble away. Gin still doesn't go to his plate right away... and he still leaves quite a lot on his plate, even after bribing him with chicken snacks.
Then yesterday, I tried the last thing I could think of. I poured some hot water of the raw meat to get the smell and flavors out more. This also didn't work... But Tonic happily ate the leftovers
Can anyone help me with this? Any more ideas?