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Greetings kind folks -- I stumbled upon this article and thought I would pass it along; it's about "whisker stress" in cats. In summary, cats' whiskers are very sensitive, especially the tips of the whiskers. If the feeding or water bowls are not wide enough, this could cause discomfort to the cat:
Because a cat’s whiskers are so exquisitely sensitive, it can be terribly irritating to a cat if their food or water bowls are narrow enough to cause the whiskers to touch the sides of the bowl. You may just assume she is just being picky about their food, but she could actually be uncomfortable with the feeding dish – not the food itself. In short, making sure that your cat has an adequately sized food bowl could make a tremendous difference in how comfortable she is when she’s eating her food.
http://consciouscompanion2012.com/2013/01/10/whisker-stress/
I have been using a combo of stainless steel bowls and saucers. I always noticed that my cats seem to leave a bit of food behind on the stainless steel bowls vs the saucers. Last night I did an experiment and watched the cats eat from the stainless steel bowls and then the saucers, first one than the other. I had both down simultaneously, the cats went for the [same] food in the saucer. Even though the stainless steel bowls were wide, they were beveled and I could see their longer whiskers bent at the edge of the bowl.
For those of you with fussy eaters, maybe in some cases it is the bowl and not the food!
Have a great day everyone.
Because a cat’s whiskers are so exquisitely sensitive, it can be terribly irritating to a cat if their food or water bowls are narrow enough to cause the whiskers to touch the sides of the bowl. You may just assume she is just being picky about their food, but she could actually be uncomfortable with the feeding dish – not the food itself. In short, making sure that your cat has an adequately sized food bowl could make a tremendous difference in how comfortable she is when she’s eating her food.
http://consciouscompanion2012.com/2013/01/10/whisker-stress/
I have been using a combo of stainless steel bowls and saucers. I always noticed that my cats seem to leave a bit of food behind on the stainless steel bowls vs the saucers. Last night I did an experiment and watched the cats eat from the stainless steel bowls and then the saucers, first one than the other. I had both down simultaneously, the cats went for the [same] food in the saucer. Even though the stainless steel bowls were wide, they were beveled and I could see their longer whiskers bent at the edge of the bowl.
For those of you with fussy eaters, maybe in some cases it is the bowl and not the food!
Have a great day everyone.
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