However, some kitties take this to the extreme and will only eat if they are alone and the environment is free of distractions. It keeps them active and prevents them from getting fat and lazy.”Īs Gorman says, cats often prefer to eat alone. “So, seeing cats play with their food is actually a good thing. “In the wild, a lot of a cat’s life-up to 12 hours a day-is spent hunting, so playing with their food is a way of being engaged in their environment,” Englar says. If your cat knocks their kibble out of the bowl and across the room before eating, Fluffy is likely engaging his or her predatory instincts. Activity bowls that encourage foraging behavior can slow down how quickly your cat consumes the meal. If your cat is a gorger, Gorman recommends investing in either an automatic feeder that dispenses just a little bit of food a few times a day, or toys that allow cats to mimic hunting behavior they would display in the wild. “Other pets in the area can create a competitive stress, so a cat may want to hurry up and eat all the food before the other pets have a chance to steal it.” She also adds that the presence of other pets may encourage a cat to eat as much as he can as quickly as possible.
Firstly, how are owners feeding their pets? “Are you only feeding one or two big meals a day? Are you feeding the cat warm canned food so they want to finish it all when the temperature is preferable,” Gorman asks.
Some behaviors, like gorging on meals, could have several contributing factors. Some cats scarf down their food, some play with their cat food before eating it, and other cats may prefer to nosh when they are completely alone. This is cardboard.’” Common Cat Food Quirksĭespite the pull of natural food behaviors, there are a plethora of food quirks that may affect your feline friends’ eating habits. She’ll be like, ‘I don't know what this is. “So if a cat has only had canned food as a baby, then you switch her to dry food as an adult, there's a good chance that cat is just going to stare at it. There’s a big push in veterinary medicine to expose kittens to all different types of foods, textures, canned, wet, dry, semi-moist, so that they know when they’re young that food can take many forms,” she says. “Experts say that a lot of what determines a cat’s eating habits involves what they saw their moms do and what they ate as a baby. They prefer it to be body temperature.”Īdditionally, because cats’ eating habits are the result of a combination of natural and learned behaviors, Englar explains that exposure plays a large part in what cats will and will not eat as adults. Gorman also notes that cats in the wild eat food right after they catch it, so food temperature is a critical factor when cats are deciding what to eat. Cats are also obligate carnivores, meaning they must eat meat to live.” “While they will share their food, and commonly do with offspring or other cats, they would prefer to eat alone. “If we look at wild populations of cats, we know they are solo hunters and, by design, solo eaters,” she explains. So what constitutes an unusual eating habit in cats? First, Gorman says that pet owners must understand what “normal” eating behavior entails. “Perhaps they only eat chicken, or only eat shrimp, or only eat mackerel.” What Are 'Normal' Cat Eating Habits? “There are certainly cats that are very preferential in their flavor choices,” she says. Ryane E. Englar, assistant professor and clinical education coordinator at Kansas State University in Manhattan, Kansas, concurs, adding that these habits could also encompass personal taste, which, like in people, differs from cat to cat.
“It’s not just about what is natural for the cat to do with food, but also how that cat has been nurtured to react to feeding time,” she explains.ĭr. Sarah Gorman, associate veterinarian at Boston Animal Hospital, eating behavior in cats is the combination of inherited and learned components. But what is the impetus behind these unusual eating habits? According to Dr. However, our dining quirks and preferences are nothing compared to those of cats.Īnyone who has ever cohabitated with a kitty knows that cats are very particular about what they eat, when they eat it, and how they eat it. Whether you’re fueling up with eggs over easy and a steaming cup of coffee as the sun rises or lingering over a romantic, candle-lit steak dinner, humans have turned dining atmospheres into an art. There is nothing like a good meal enjoyed in the right atmosphere.
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