by Barbara George
Tellington Ttouch Behaviourist
Is your cat very fussy about what he eats in his bowl but quite happy to try whatever you are eating? Does your cat demand food as if his bowl is empty when there is still food in it? While many cats will eat every last crumb in their bowls some will leave food then ask for more.
There may be a number of reasons for this, including attention-seeking behaviour. For this article I will ignore this particular behaviour and concentrate more on issues around eating. Possible reasons for Empty Bowl Syndrome may be the inability to see, smell or access the food remaining in the bowl.
Looking at the bowl first; is it suitable for your cat to easily eat from? Size, shape, height of rim, angle of rim to base, position, and colour are factors to consider. Does he eat differently out of different bowls? Which are better-suited to his needs? Is it always clean? Do other cats eat from this bowl?
Continuing with the bowl, look at the pattern of eating. Many of the photos on the Internet of cats complaining about empty bowls have eaten the food in the centre but not around the edges. Some cats may eat the food on one side of the bowl only – can they reach the other side comfortably and safely? If he has a tag on his collar check how far he can reach across a bowl without the tag catching on the rim of the bowl?
Look at the food in the bowl too. How does it contrast with the bowl, especially around the edges? How much light is there in the area of the food bowl – can he see the food? Is the food left in the bowl easy to pick up in his mouth – small pellets of food in the corners may not be accessible. Does the food have a smell that is easily detected amongst all the other smells in the area. Does he recognise that there is food left in the bowl?
Cats that catch their own prey do not cut it into small pieces and place it in a bowl before eating – they eat right there on the ground and spread out the food. Every part of the meal is accessible as they have the freedom to move around or move the prey.
I have been observing one of my cats who tends to be both fussy and hungry. She is a large cat with a large face so has a few large bowls with low rims (Beco bowls) and some china saucers of varying colours. She will eat most but usually not all of her soft food from the bowls and varying amounts of either soft or dry food from the saucers, seemingly depending on their colour. One saucer is white with a dark pattern around the edge; she will only eat food that is in the centre of this saucer. She rarely eats from the highly-patterned saucers.
The easiest way to give her food so that she eats as much as needs is on a flat surface; in this case laminated A3 card in a pastel colour so that it contrasts with the food. When she eats off this flat surface she eats more and has reduced both her fussiness and constant demand for food.
How does this removal of boundaries for food impact on puzzle feeders where food is ‘hidden’ for cats to find within a boundary? It is actually the same because the cat will remove food from the puzzle feeder and eat it in the open.
I have a large neutered mail cat. He is part Siamese with blue eyes, basic Siamese colours and some tabby markings and has a healthy weight. He has a peculiarity I have not seen in any cat before. When he eats his kibble he uses his lower jaw like a shovel and consequently, scoops a lot of food onto the floor. This does not happen with wet food. The standard type plastic bowls are various colours and neither he or the little tabby female emty their bowls, regardless of the colours, except when they get an occassional treat of tinned tuna.
Any comment on shovel jaw?
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As a behaviourist I can give some ideas, this is something to discuss with your vet as there may be some issues with his mouth, teeth or gums, especially if this a a new or different behaviour. Dry food is much harder in texture that wet food; it is possible that biting the hard food is difficult or painful.
Siamese have long noses so it could be the easiest way for him to pick up food.
As he is a large cat it could be a habit from originally having a bowl that was too small for him to open his mouth and keep his whiskers free, so he devised this as a way to pick up the food.
If you find this a problem then I suggest a large flat dish with low sides, at least twice the surface area of his current bowl, to give him space to move while keeping the food in place.
Otherwise put a plastic sheet (laminated A3 paper works well) under the food bowl to make it easier to scoop up and put back in his bowl.
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The idea behind a larger bowl is to make it less easy to shovel, so he should change his way of eating.
Another possibility is stiffness in the neck which does not allow free movement of the head and jaw. Try raising the food bowl u to a level around the height of his legs by placing it on top of a solid surface (so he can’t push the bowl over).
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Hi Barbara I have a neutered male medium hair grey, 1 year old, he used to eat any food given to him when young and lately the past two months he has become extremely fussy, I throw away a lot of high end cat food daily and I was wondering how can I get him to eat what he’s given. Sometimes he just licks the sauce and leaves the rest, other times he eats half or just leaves it completely. He eats out of regular metal feeding bowls. He gets a varied diet of fish and meats. Fed morning and in the evenings with access to pellets through out the day.
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Hi Gavin
My first reaction is a sore mouth, so a visit to the vet is recommended. Please also have his nose, sinuses and digestive system checked, since all of these impact on the ability to eat.
Have a look at a later article entitled ‘Is your Cat a Fussy Eater’, https://gosouth.co.za/cat-fussy-eater/, it has more information on this subject.
If that doesn’t answer help you, please contact me again.
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