Cat Pickiness

The Goodbye Bird

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My last rescue was a rare "eaty" kitty that demanded any and all of my food (no she wasn't overweight) but I've had cats all my life and I have found only one like this. Some will drink milk or cream, some will eat cheese or yogurt, but that's pretty much it. Other than that, it's pretty much sniff, lick slightly, refuse.

I know what cats can't have, so sharing my food with them isn't a problem and I like doing it. There's even some evidence that a wide variety of foods can actually increase a cat's lifespan. When a cat demands food from my plate, I generally pick out a piece of lean protein.

I was wondering if anyone knows if eatingness is genetic or learned. It seems to be common knowledge that cats are neophobic and prefer to eat only what they know, so I was thinking that perhaps exposing a young kitten to more types of food would be the secret.

I used to have a friend who had a couple of big cats and we would joke that one generation out of the wild and cats figure out that we just have to feed them whatever they will eat. "Nobody tell the dogs," we would say. Or we would tell them, "You would not survive in the wild."

There seems to be some evidence that cats, especially big cats, are prone to gingivitis, and that this can have a negative effect on eatingness, but my opinion is that it's at least partly behavioural.
 

susanm9006

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In general I don’t think pickiness or lack of it is based on ancestry or breed. There are some food behaviors that are learned but the rest is just individual tastes and preferences. My cat for example will pass up beef or chicken but gobble down a donut or Twinkie.

I do think that former ferals or strays may have learned to eat whatever or as much as available, but home raised cats, no. Pickiness may just be a particular cat or it may be behavior learned when one food is replaced by something they perceive to be better.
 
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