Your Cat’s Eating Habits Explained

You hear numerous cat lovers talk about their cat’s fussy feeding habits. Their cat is somewhat going off their favorite foods within the blink of an eye, and as a cat owner, it is behavior you might have experienced as well. In fact, however, describing a cat as a ‘fussy eater’ is anthropomorphizing projecting human qualities onto an animal that just does not have those qualities. The actual reason your cat appears fussy with food is more than likely going to be one of the following.

Lack of Variety

Do you want to eat the same for each single meal, day after day? Even when it is your favorite food, you would naturally get fed up at some point, yet many of us feed our cats the same variety and same flavor of meals at every mealtime. In the wild, cats would eat a variety of different things, based on what prey they caught, so changing up flavors and types of food works for domestic cats too.

How you present the meals

The perfect food temperature for cats is prey body temperature, as they would catch and destroy their victim and eat it straight away, so no keeping your cat’s food in the fridge!
Not just warm food is the closest to what they would eat if they would caught it themselves, it also enhances the smell. While that is not only great for your nostrils in the event that you are not a fan of seafood, it is more inviting for your cat as their preferences are linked to their sense of smell. If the cat is turning its nose up at wet food, try heating it for a few moments in a microwave (checking for hot spots before serving it to your cat), or by adding warm water to your food itself or gently heating the pouch in a pan of hot water.
Speaking of their feeling of smell, how very long do you leave the meals out? Wet food goes bad quickly (especially in hot weather), and while we might not be able to tell through the smell, our cats can.

Location

Kitties feel comfortable eating in a private space where they will not be disturbed, away from the hustle and bustle of family life and never too near to windows or doors. If their food bowl is situated in a busy place in the house, they will probably feel stressed about eating there just in case ‘predators’ get them while they are distracted. It goes without saying that their food bowls should not be next to litter boxes!

Part size

If cats were determined by catching their particular food, they will be eating up to 20 smaller meals per day, catching a rodent here and a bird there. Compared to that way of eating, us feeding them two or three huge meals per day might be too much for them. If your pet seems to eat a little at mealtimes and wander off, try switching to little and often to see if that improves its appetite. If you are out all day, you can look into using an automated feeder.

Your cat’s age

Is the food bowl in an appropriate position for your cat? do not forget that cats age in many of the exact same ways that we do, with creaky bones and stiff joints, so as your cat ages, it might begin to find crouching down to feed uncomfortable. Try raising up food bowls for older cats, either by purchasing a specific raised bowl or placing the existing bowl on something to boost it up. Again, like us, kitties’ appetites decrease with age, so what appears to be a sudden onset of fussiness could just be the natural slowing down.

Health issues

A number of real issues could cause a cat to get off its meals, such as dental pain making it uncomfortable to chew, or an upper breathing infection messing with its sense of odor and putting it off eating. If you think you have ruled out the other typical reasons, or your cat is showing other symptoms or unusual habits, a visit to your veterinarian is always wise.
As you can plainly see, there is usually a logical reason for a pet’s “fussy” eating habits, and through a process of trial and error, you can usually get to the bottom of it.