In talking about cat food with cat owners like I do most
days, the most common point I hear is that “my cat is so finicky.” And, cat parents, you say it as if your cat
is the only one that’s finicky. Most
every cat is finicky. They must think
they have a license to be.
I read an interesting white paper by Dr. Nancy Rawson, a
Ph.D. scientist with AFB International
(http://afbinternational.com/pdf/Finicky_Cats.pdf). The company produces palatants for the pet
food industry.
The purpose of a palatant is to optimize the animal’s
response to the food. Make it pass the
sniff test. Palatants can be wet or dry,
applied topically or baked in, and used alone or in concert with fats. However they’re used, they’re largely
responsible for the pet’s acceptance of the food. You usually see the palatant
listed as “natural flavors” or “animal digest” in the ingredient panel.
As is the case with many aspects of animal husbandry, know
one knows for sure why cats are so finicky, but Dr. Rawson made a number of
interesting points…mitigating factors, if you will…to suggest that cats aren’t
finicky just to be difficult, which is what most of us lay people think.
Cats are obligate carnivores, meaning they must get their
nutrients from animal flesh, while dogs are carnivores with diets that resemble
that of omnivores. Cats have fewer
options. Rawson also points out
anatomical and physiological difference in cats that factor into food
acceptability.
She says that the cat’s unique genetic makeup drives
distinctive anatomical adaptations, nutritional needs, metabolism and sensory
biology. For instance, they lack a
“sweet gene” a protein in their taste receptors that, if they had it, would
enable the cat to perceive sweetness.
They also lack the ability to digest lactose and other
dietary sugars, and they have no lactase, an enzyme that breaks down starch, in
their saliva. This distinction alone,
suggests Rawson, could result in the perception of ‘finickiness’ when compared
to our human experience of food.
She also puts forth the possibility that cats aren’t finicky
at all, but that we perceive them to be because their food behaviors don’t fit
our expectations. She speculatively
points the guilty finger at cat owners who can display a certain “hypocrisy”
when it comes to their cats behaviors.
“‘Cat people’ often report appreciation for cats’
independence, including their ability to fend for themselves during owner
absence. Yet when this same independence and lack of owner-directed behavior
occurs at feeding time, we call it ‘finicky’! Do cat owners secretly wish…their
cats acted more like dogs?” Ouch…them’s
fightin’ words in some circles, ain’t they?
Dr. Rawson points out another thing that I often think about
and talk to cat owners about; free-feeding.
My first objection to free-feeding is that it can contribute to obesity,
although a relative had a free-fed cat that was lean and mean right up to the
end, at 19 years. An exception to the
rule, perhaps.
Free-feeding may allow the cat to notice subtle differences
it might not note when food availability is limited, like it is in the wild.
When food is less available, the cat may be less selective. They take what they can get.
Thus, attempting to please our cats with varied and
plentiful food options, we may actually be setting them up to be finicky.
Bob Bamberg has been in the pet supply industry for more
than a quarter century, including owning his own feed and grain store in
Southeastern Massachusetts, USA. He writes a weekly newspaper column on pet
health, nutrition and behaviour and his articles appear at http://hubpages.com/@bobbamberg
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