Whisker stress and feeding / water bowls

[lisamarie12]

Greetings kind folks -- I stumbled upon this article and thought I would pass it along; it's about "whisker stress" in cats. In summary, cats' whiskers are very sensitive, especially the tips of the whiskers.  If the feeding or water bowls are not wide enough, this could cause discomfort to the cat:

Because a cat’s whiskers are so exquisitely sensitive, it can be terribly irritating to a cat if their food or water bowls are narrow enough to cause the whiskers to touch the sides of the bowl.  You may just assume she is just being picky about their food, but she could actually be uncomfortable with the feeding dish – not the food itself. In short, making sure that your cat has an adequately sized food bowl could make a tremendous difference in how comfortable she is when she’s eating her food.

http://consciouscompanion2012.com/2013/01/10/whisker-stress/

I have been using a combo of stainless steel bowls and saucers. I always noticed that my cats seem to leave a bit of food behind on the stainless steel bowls vs the saucers. Last night I did an experiment and watched the cats eat from the stainless steel bowls and then the saucers, first one than the other. I had both down simultaneously, the cats went for the [same] food in the saucer. Even though the stainless steel bowls were wide, they were beveled and I could see their longer whiskers bent at the edge of the bowl.

For those of you with fussy eaters, maybe in some cases it is the bowl and not the food!

Have a great day everyone.

 

[bonepicker]

Greetings kind folks -- I stumbled upon this article and thought I would pass it along; it's about "whisker stress" in cats. In summary, cats' whiskers are very sensitive, especially the tips of the whiskers.  If the feeding or water bowls are not wide enough, this could cause discomfort to the cat:

Because a cat’s whiskers are so exquisitely sensitive, it can be terribly irritating to a cat if their food or water bowls are narrow enough to cause the whiskers to touch the sides of the bowl.  You may just assume she is just being picky about their food, but she could actually be uncomfortable with the feeding dish – not the food itself. In short, making sure that your cat has an adequately sized food bowl could make a tremendous difference in how comfortable she is when she’s eating her food.

http://consciouscompanion2012.com/2013/01/10/whisker-stress/

I have been using a combo of stainless steel bowls and saucers. I always noticed that my cats seem to leave a bit of food behind on the stainless steel bowls vs the saucers. Last night I did an experiment and watched the cats eat from the stainless steel bowls and then the saucers, first one than the other. I had both down simultaneously, the cats went for the [same] food in the saucer. Even though the stainless steel bowls were wide, they were beveled and I could see their longer whiskers bent at the edge of the bowl.

For those of you with fussy eaters, maybe in some cases it is the bowl and not the food!

Have a great day everyone.

. I find paper plates the best, and no washing

 

[jcat]

That's a very useful article. I've been using flat glass salad/compote dishes for years for that very reason.

 

[tabbysia]

Bonepicker, paper plates sound convenient, but I have a little weirdo that likes to eat paper! All paper products must be safely tucked away.

I didn't know about the whisker thing. I have noticed that when I feed canned on a plate, it gets licked clean. When I feed them from a bowl, there is always some food that gets pushed against the sides of the bowl and not eaten. I just figured they couldn't get to it.

 

[lisahe]

Bonepicker, paper plates sound convenient, but I have a little weirdo that likes to eat paper! All paper products must be safely tucked away.

Ha ha, we have a paper shredder! I can only imagine what a mess she'd make of paper plates with food on them!

Because a cat’s whiskers are so exquisitely sensitive, it can be terribly irritating to a cat if their food or water bowls are narrow enough to cause the whiskers to touch the sides of the bowl.  You may just assume she is just being picky about their food, but she could actually be uncomfortable with the feeding dish – not the food itself. In short, making sure that your cat has an adequately sized food bowl could make a tremendous difference in how comfortable she is when she’s eating her food.

We had a vet tell us about this a long time ago but I didn't know this was called "whisker stress"! We use a couple kinds of Petco bowls/dishes, with sides, that work well for our messy eaters: these dishes are pretty flat and these dishes are deep and wide, probably everybody's favorite around here.

Despite having been told about whisker stress years ago, I'd kind of forgotten about it, so thank you for mentioning it, @LisaMarie12... I bet this explains why Ireland likes her Primal food, which is served (served!) in a different kind of dish, heaped in the middle! Plating foods properly can be a challenge here at Cat Catering!

 

[wolflover326]

I haven't ever noticed my cats having any difficulty eating from the stainless steel bowls I use. I would be impossible for me to use anything remotely resembling flat because I add water to their canned food, and dry food just gets shoved off to the point I may as well feel them on the floor 

 

[PushPurrCatPaws]

Greetings kind folks -- I stumbled upon this article and thought I would pass it along; it's about "whisker stress" in cats. In summary, cats' whiskers are very sensitive, especially the tips of the whiskers.  If the feeding or water bowls are not wide enough, this could cause discomfort to the cat:

Because a cat’s whiskers are so exquisitely sensitive, it can be terribly irritating to a cat if their food or water bowls are narrow enough to cause the whiskers to touch the sides of the bowl.  You may just assume she is just being picky about their food, but she could actually be uncomfortable with the feeding dish – not the food itself. In short, making sure that your cat has an adequately sized food bowl could make a tremendous difference in how comfortable she is when she’s eating her food.

http://consciouscompanion2012.com/2013/01/10/whisker-stress/

I have been using a combo of stainless steel bowls and saucers. I always noticed that my cats seem to leave a bit of food behind on the stainless steel bowls vs the saucers. Last night I did an experiment and watched the cats eat from the stainless steel bowls and then the saucers, first one than the other. I had both down simultaneously, the cats went for the [same] food in the saucer. Even though the stainless steel bowls were wide, they were beveled and I could see their longer whiskers bent at the edge of the bowl.

For those of you with fussy eaters, maybe in some cases it is the bowl and not the food!

Have a great day everyone.

I've heard about cat's whiskers being sensitive, too. Thanks for that link, L lisamarie12 .

The bowl I've always used for Milly is one of those smaller ceramic Fiestaware dishes, it works great. (I think it was meant for human hors d'oeuvres or something.) Think of it as a long saucer with a curved edge, and it has a very shallow depth of about 1/2". It's about 9" long, 3.5" wide. It leaves plenty of room for her whiskers side-to-side as she eats.

Millys-Dish.jpg

• PushPurrCatPaws
• Sep 20, 2015

 

[ragsmom]

".....dry food just gets shoved off to the point I may as well feel them on the floor."

Sami thinks dry kibble is "prey"! She rakes a couple of pieces out with her paw, chases them around the house, finally eats them and then comes back to do the same thing all over again. I find pieces of kibble everywhere...who knows how much is under the stove and fridge!

 

[LotsOfFur]

L lisamarie12 Wow! Thanks for that info
I had never heard of it before but knowing the sensitivity of the whiskers it makes perfect sense.

I use this type for my cats. They are "boats" from my husbands restaurant [emoji]128514[/emoji]

image.jpeg

• LotsOfFur
• Sep 26, 2015

 

[lisamarie12]

Isn't that interesting info? Their whiskers are like little radars ... those bowls look great! Much better than the flat espresso plates I'm using as food tends to end up on the table (yeah, the cats eat on the kitchen table). Your bowls are wide but beveled to prevent food spillage, it seems!

 

[lisamarie12]

Wow, nice - another really wonderful kitty food "bowl", excellent!

 

[katwrangler]

Same here.  I get 100 for $1, so it's economical and clean.

The cats love them.