Whisker fatigue causes stress and overstimulates their senses. Using a flat bowl or plate will relieve this issue and allow your cat to eat all their food without stress.
You can also search for “whisker fatigue” bowls specifically made for cats.
Then there is my cat who stuffes half of his body in a 5cm diameter pudding container just so that he can reach the very last drop of it. Then wonders why he is stuck and as soon as I save him from his pudding prison he does the same again.
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So far the only actual study we have on this says it’s not a real thing. Sure, some cats have different preferences but it’s not like you are torturing your cat with normal bowls and need to run out and buy special ones.
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1098612X20930190
If you’re feeding your cat an infinite supply of dry food without a feeding schedule you have bigger things to be concerned about than whisker fatigue.
As an ad libitum cat feeder, 0 issues so far. They eat when they’re hungry
It’s well documented it veterinary literature, you can believe the studies or not 🤷♀️. It’s not like it kills your cat instantly, you just deal with diabetes kidney or urinary issues in the future. Not sure why someone would not try to prevent that.
Not every cat responds the same, or at all, to stress on their whiskers. Just like people, cats have varrying tolerances to stimulus.
Anecdotally, my cats would not finish their food in narrow bowls but do now that they eat from flat bowls.
I can add my own anecdote to this one. One of my cat’s is fine with any bowl because he’s just very food motivated and will do anything to get to his food at feeding time. The other one, when using a more narrow bowl, would often stop eating normally and scoop out the food with a paw. Once I switched to wide flatter bowls, she scarfs it down without pause. It was clearly bothering her.
While cats vary in their preferences and tolerances, it bothers me that so many people just scoff at this idea. We’re caretakers for cats and should do our best to make their lives as reasonably comfortable and enriching as possible. And just because a cat is fine with touching things with their whiskers in some situations doesn’t mean they’re cool with it in others. Cats are often happy to have you scratch behind their ears, but only when it’s invited.
And come on, bowls are cheap. It’s not that big of an inconvenience to get them a bowl that could be more comfortable, even if they’re tolerating it now.
This applies to pretty much every article about animals…it’s just humans putting human stuff on animals for the sake of humans. :/
It happens often in media, but real scientists don’t rely on what they think animals think, instead using objective data like brain activity scans, heartbeat rates etc, often presenting pure data without a conclusion on what they think the animal feels. Those studies will then come to media, where the interviewed scientists will give their thoughts on how they interpret the results, even if it’s obvious that the animal likes/dislikes something. These also exist in media.
Edit: I also want to add that many things are straight up visibly harming the animal and you don’t even need any conclusions. For example if you house a hole-dwelling spider without enough substrate to dig, it will stop eating. This has been confirmed many times, by many owners. It doesn’t matter if it makes them uncomfortable or they feel pain from it, or they are cold, etc, because we know that they stop eating, and that’s a good enough signal that something’s bad.
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Don’t forget knife, fork, and a napkin.
Red wine or white wine?
That really depends on the cat. Mine don’t care whatsoever.
True; every cat is different.
They’re all cats (I like cats).
While true, my theory is that they might also want something else. I use a plate and sometimes she’ll just beg for more anyway even if half of what I gave her is still in the bowl, I’ll give her a tiny bit of something else and she’ll go eat that instead lol
There are multiple reasons a cat could be begging for food while some is left, whisker fatigue is just the most common and misunderstood.
my theory is that they might also want something else.
I keep about 4 different kinds of food around for our cats. I have three auto-feeders in different parts of the house each with a different foot and dispense schedule. That way the cat has some choice about what they are eating, and there’s a bit of environmental enrichment where they can eat in different places.
I also hide little piles of cat treats in various locations around the house. Keeps the cats curious and exploring to see if they can find something good to munch.
If I served food on a plate, I’d be serving food on the floor.
I put it in a very shallow dish and then put that dish inside a shallow (and heavy) old baking tray.
The lip of the tray catches the kibble from falling outside of it and the heaviness makes it hard for her to move it.
And now I don’t feel bad about getting new, lighter pans because the old one is still getting used.
A small mat under their food and water (kept separate due to other instinct cats have) is an easy way to keep things cleaner.
We tried separating the food and water.
The cat just went to where the water was and howled. We’d show her the new spot, shed drink, and do the same thing in 20 minutes.
Just moved it back, less howling and she still drinks.
Sorry, but this is pseudo-science bullcrap akin to healing crystals. Whisker fatigue is just some BS a mom group on Facebook came up with to sell products. It has zero scientific backing and frankly I would appreciate not spreading false information like this here. Leave that garbage on reddit
My cat will only eat from a bowl when there is Amethyst and Rose Quartz crystals arranged to promote calmness, love, and emotional healing. It is literally science.
Looks like its real but potentially exaggerated. https://schertzanimalhospital.com/blog/whisker-fatigue-in-cats/
Ranting on a soap box without providing any evidence is very “reddit” of you.
Burden of proof is on the person making the BS claims
Yes, thank you. You claimed whisker fatigue is pseudoscience. Go!
I… actually always thought that my cat didn’t like stale food, and that the stuff on the bottom of the bowl had just been breathed on with hot, wet cat breath enough times that he thought it was disgusting.
I’m going to try a wider bowl and see how that goes.
cat didn’t like stale food
That’s a thing too. Dry food in bags has more odor than food that’s been sitting out for a while. The fats in food left out in the open air will eventually go rancid too, but that takes a long time and shouldn’t happen if you’re cleaning the bowls periodically.
😮 So THAT’S why they will beg for food even if the bowl isn’t empty!
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Meanwhile my cats will literally lick the bowl after all the food is gone
For dry food, if you put it in small (4-5cm dia.) cups they WILL reach in to grab the kibble and will eat one at a time.
This is a great way to de-chonk.
I have a cheap ‘food maze’ that is essentially this but also with some covers that slide or hinge. I started just putting food so it’s visible but after a few tries my cat figured out there are hidden treats, too. Cats are curious, so they enjoy the hunt, too!
[OT] I just googled “de-chonk” and now I with that someone named their gym “Human Dechonking Centre”.
PHYSICAL FATNESS
better to give regular feedings in measured amounts imo but that’s not possible for everyone
Or, if your cat is a fat, clever little shit, she will jam her paw in deep and then yank all the kibble out so she can binge on it and then barf on the carpet.
Huh. That explains some things. I thought my cat was just picky.
My cat still acts like her bowl is empty even though it is flat, so I’m skeptical.
I also have a ‘flat’ bowl. My cat isn’t happy with her food until I put some of her food on the floor and watch her eat for a couple of minutes. She is the boss… apparently.
Tell that to my cat who’s preferred drinking vessel is a small cup she’s gotta stick her face into
