Cats and food

[mystyk_star]

I feed my cats canned cat food and they will only eat prime filets. But by the end of the night they will come up to me and meow (I feed them 3 cans a day, half a can each) but there is always a separate dish with dry food in it. Why won't they just eat that when they are hungry, instead of crying like they are starving?

[IggyB]

because they have put a lot of time and effort into training you to do their bidding - if they were to stop commanding you, even for a few days, to do what they want all their hard work would be undone and they would have to "re-break" you all over again.

[becks]

Cos they know that if they cry enough you'll cave in and give them what they really want, ie yummy canned food instead of yukky dry food. as long as you keep doing it, they'll keep asking...

[HGKinsey]

Dry food tends to go a bit soggy unless it is consumed fully in one go. It's like opening a packet of biscuits, taking a couple and NOT putting the rest away in a tin. They go soggy don't they.

[Janetex]

Yep, you're well trained. Cats will not starve themselves to death, ya knows.

[smithy]

careful to to allocate human attributes to them. Crying??

[honkytonkman]

Not sure about them not starving themselves to death... My cat once wouldn't eat for days when I got the wrong brand. It seemed she'd rather keel over than eat something inferior. And like us, cats have taste preferences, and eating biscuits that have been out for a day or so isn't one of them. Aren't cats great?!! :) Love 'em to bits!!

[saffstar]

My pair of little angels have recently decided that they only like super cheap dry stuff, which would be fine if we didn't have a cupboard full of the good stuff! Cat's willpower far surpasses our own and they're very well aware of it - you'll never win with a cat!

[SiamLover]

I'll tell you one thing. I own two Siamese cats and I believe they are some of the most picky animals of the face of the planet. But I alternated their meals for a while - canned, dry, canned, dry - When they wouldn't eat the dry I would mix a little canned in with it and eventually I decided canned is a little too expensive for me (I was laid off recently) so I just left the dry food in their dishes. Eventually they gave up and ate it. I believe just like humans, you can break the habits of your feline friends...