Picky Eaters and Water Snobs

Every cat owner knows the scene. You put down a freshly opened can of cat food. Your cat sniffs it, looks at you like you’ve committed a crime, and walks away.

Why?

Sometimes it’s illness. Sometimes the food is bad. But often, neither is true. The cat may refuse food that is basically the same as what it wolfed down yesterday. It may eat one meal and reject the next identical one. If the cat is healthy and the food is fine, you’re dealing with behavior.

One big reason is that cats prefer small, frequent meals. Think about their natural prey: mice and birds. A mouse is small. A full bowl of cat food is huge by comparison—often equal to about five mice. A cat may eat one “mouse worth,” walk away to digest, and come back later for another. If it cleans the bowl, it may simply not be ready for the next hunt. Cats are usually good at self-regulating. Obesity is less common in cats than in dogs or people. So if you overfeed, your cat may occasionally refuse a meal completely.

Other things can also kill a cat’s appetite. A female cat in heat may stop eating for a while. Hot or humid weather can make a cat eat less. Your cat may be getting snacks from a neighbor. It may be hunting rodents outside. It may hate where the bowl is placed. Cats don’t like eating in bright, noisy, busy areas. They prefer quiet, dim, private corners. If the location feels wrong, the cat may become unpredictable about food.

There’s also a built-in “food variety mechanism.” In the wild, this helps cats avoid depending on one single prey. In your home, it means a food that was once exciting can suddenly become boring. Cats raised on one single food for years may develop neophobia—fear of new things. They may refuse anything new. Cats raised on variety may become demanding and picky in the opposite way. Both are normal.

Water is another area where cats act like little snobs. Many cats ignore a clean bowl of tap water and go drink from a garden puddle. That disgusts us, but it makes sense to them. Tap water often contains chlorine and other chemicals. The bowl may smell like dish soap. A cat’s nose is far more sensitive than ours. Outdoor water may be full of bacteria, but to a cat it smells natural and organic. If you want your cat to drink from its bowl, rinse it very well, let tap water sit for a while so chemicals can dissipate, and keep it fresh.

One more warning: don’t give milk instead of water. Many adult cats don’t digest milk well. It can cause stomach upset and diarrhea, especially in Siamese cats. If you give milk, always give water too.