I looked around for an answer to this but couldn't find one - is it possible for a monster to like or dislike multiple foods? I have a kato that dislikes meat, but when I feed him tablets he makes the spitting animation that katos make when they don't like something. Does this mean that he doesn't get the "neutral" benefits from tablets, but instead the "disliked" benefits?

Dark Phoenix covered this a bit in this thread:

Monster Rancher Metropolis: Monster Rancher 2 Archive (PSOne): Miscellaneous Q&A (Post New Questions Here): Breed Specific Likes/Dislikes?

It's a complex question. The visible Like in the info screen takes precedence, breed specific food preferences come second. You might want to assume that your monster is a tab-hater just for the math.

I got to a point where I'd spend days and days shrining just to get a tab lover to make later raising easier. I spent over 26 hours shrining just to get an Undine tab lover once.

Ok, cool, that makes sense. I'm gonna feed him tabs anyway because even if a monster dislikes them, they're still the best food hands down. He just may not live as long as if he were a more cooperative monster, but oh well. He's mainly being raised as combining fodder anyway.

I can't imagine spending that much time shrining, that would get really boring! It does make it much easier when your monster likes tablets though. If you're going for a maxed monster, every little bit helps I suppose.

Yeah, when we had tournaments every little advantage really helped, the competition here was very, very fierce. When it's just to play for yourself, it's not that big of a deal unless you're trying to maxx out a monster with a short lifespan.

Well, so far it doesn't seem to have had a very noticeable impact on his lifespan.

I used this raising method for his entire life:
HD NO
LD ML
HD NO
LD ML
Tablet
HD NO
LD ML
LD NO
LD ML
Tablet

Repeat from beginning.

Fed him both peaches, gold about a year into prime, silver about one year after that. He's 7 yrs 6 mos old now, still in the tail end of his prime. Beat Legends cup, has every INT technique available (SO mad that oil fire and oil flame are unattainable), and has a composite stat score of 4400 (could get quite a bit higher, but I think I'm done "training" him). Disliking tablets didn't seem to have that negative of an effect on him.

You should look into DP's research on Great combinations and maybe try to line up your stats to get a better baby when you combine it.