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Feeding Behavior in Cats
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We all need to eat to survive. But for humans, eating can be much more than a simple task to be undertaken on a daily basis; our mealtimes allow us to rest and relax, and perhaps catch up with friends or family as we enjoy our food. But from a cat’s point of view, eating is not quite the same, as Jon Bowen explains.
Jon Bowen
BVetMed, MRCVS, Dipl. AS (CABC)
Dr. Bowen graduated from the Royal Veterinary College in 1992 and spent several yearsin first opinion small animal practice. He then pursued an interest in animal behaviorafter completing a postgraduate diploma in behavior at Southampton University, and currently runs the behavioral medicine referral service at London’s Royal Veterinary College, where he also teaches. He has authored several book chapters on behavioral topics and is a regular speaker at both national and international veterinary conferences.
Key Points
- In the wild, cats will eat – assuming free access to food – throughout a 24-hour period, with most feeding activity around dawn and dusk.
- Cats are strongly sensitive to the flavor of amino acids and nucleotides, and will show strong preferences or dislikes to certain tastes.
- Cats tend to follow fairly strict routines, and if the owner has an irregular lifestyle this can create a stressful and unpredictable routine for the cat.
- Owners tend to believe that offering food equates to caring for their cat, but they should also find other ways to show attention.
Introduction
Empathy is at the root of pet keeping; the sense of a shared emotional experience is not only the basis of the human-animal bond but also the origin of its key benefits for pet owners. A recent scientific statement from the American Heart Association noted that pet keeping was strongly associated with a range of cardiovascular health benefits, but these benefits were also linked to the quality of the bond and not merely due to the presence of a pet in the household ( 1 ).
Although research in this area is limited, evidence is accumulating that pets with behavioral problems might adversely affect their owner’s lifestyle and wellbeing. For example, a study of dog owners found that both major behavior problems (such as aggression and separation anxiety) and minor problems (such as leash pulling and restlessness) can have a significant impact on lifestyle and satisfaction with pet ownership ( 2 ). The same kinds of owner-lifestyle impacts would be expected with cats that are unsociable, destructive, or show inappropriate toileting in the home.
Pets provide both an opportunity for owners to receive emotional support from a non-judgmental individual, and to express caregiving behaviors in return. Being expressions of empathy, both giving and receiving care provides similar positive emotional benefits to people, with the offering of food being a primary means of human expression of care ( 3 ). So for some people, and especially for cat owners, offering food and seeing it eaten are important aspects of expressing care, and some individuals, who are out of the house for long periods each day – either with work or for other reasons – may regard feeding as the main point of contact with their pet ( Figure 1 ).
This interaction works perfectly well for a pet species such as the dog, for which feeding is a social activity and meal frequency is flexible. Dogs adapt easily to having one, two or three meals a day, they show appreciation when offered food, and will usually accept restrictions on when and what they can eat. However, the hunting and feeding patterns of cats make it hard for them to adapt to, or show much appreciation for, human attempts to show care through the offering of food ( Figure 2 ). In fact, as we will see, the mismatch between the feeding motivations and behaviors of cats and people can lead to behavioral problems that damage owner lifestyle and the human-animal bond. [...]
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