I went to the flea market yesterday and for $5.00 I bought a Cat Encyclopedia by Desmond Morris. The book has some explanations for finicky eating habits and one of the 5 explanations listed I found quite interesting.
"Cats prefer to eat small meals on frequent occasions. Considering the size of their natural prey - mice and voles - this is not so surprising. Unfortunately for domestic cats, their human owners rarely have the time to offer them mouse-sized meals, prefering to spoon out big dishfuls of cat food at mealtimes. If the amount of meat on a mouse is compared with that placed on a cat's food dish, it is clear that the average pet cat meal is the equivalent of about 5 mice. Although this is convenient for busy human owners, it is too much for the cat to eat at once. Usually the cat eats a mouse-worth of food and then strolls off to digest it, returning later for another rodent-sized portion, and so on, until all the food is gone. If a cat refuses to touch a new dish of food, it may simply be that the animal is not, at that moment, ready for its next "kill.""
So my guess is that a mouse sized meal is the equivalent to either a heaping tablespoon of dry food or 1/8 of a cup or 2 tablespoons of canned food. If anyone here has a more accurate measurement for a mouse worth, let me know. What I want to know is how many mice would you say your cats eat per day and what kind of eating habits do your cats have? For example, my Rosie, when it comes to canned food can sometimes eat the equivalent of 2 mice in one sitting while Spotty takes a long time to eat the equivalent of one mouse, like eating the head, then coming back to eat the middle of the mouse's body and then later the bottom, the feet and later finally the tail of the mouse. I'm guessing my cats probably eat about 5 mice per day but I don't know for sure or if I'm measuring correctly.
"Cats prefer to eat small meals on frequent occasions. Considering the size of their natural prey - mice and voles - this is not so surprising. Unfortunately for domestic cats, their human owners rarely have the time to offer them mouse-sized meals, prefering to spoon out big dishfuls of cat food at mealtimes. If the amount of meat on a mouse is compared with that placed on a cat's food dish, it is clear that the average pet cat meal is the equivalent of about 5 mice. Although this is convenient for busy human owners, it is too much for the cat to eat at once. Usually the cat eats a mouse-worth of food and then strolls off to digest it, returning later for another rodent-sized portion, and so on, until all the food is gone. If a cat refuses to touch a new dish of food, it may simply be that the animal is not, at that moment, ready for its next "kill.""
So my guess is that a mouse sized meal is the equivalent to either a heaping tablespoon of dry food or 1/8 of a cup or 2 tablespoons of canned food. If anyone here has a more accurate measurement for a mouse worth, let me know. What I want to know is how many mice would you say your cats eat per day and what kind of eating habits do your cats have? For example, my Rosie, when it comes to canned food can sometimes eat the equivalent of 2 mice in one sitting while Spotty takes a long time to eat the equivalent of one mouse, like eating the head, then coming back to eat the middle of the mouse's body and then later the bottom, the feet and later finally the tail of the mouse. I'm guessing my cats probably eat about 5 mice per day but I don't know for sure or if I'm measuring correctly.
