Whisker fatigue causes stress and overstimulates their senses. Using a flat bowl or plate will relieve this issue and allow your cat to eat all their food without stress.

You can also search for “whisker fatigue” bowls specifically made for cats.

More info

  • HiddenLayer5@lemmy.ml
    3·
    2 years ago

    A vet weighs in on this whole thing and goes over a study that was done on it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLrI0eprVr8

    TL;DW it’s mostly marketing and fear mongering. Your cat doesn’t care and even with completely natural behaviors (like oh I don’t know, squeezing into prey burrows and clamping their muzzle around mice) they get their whiskers compressed all the time. Whiskers are touch receptors so the idea that they can’t be touched is kind of silly.

    • UhBell@lemmy.worldOP
      0·
      2 years ago

      Not every cat responds the same, or at all, to stress on their whiskers. Just like people, cats have varrying tolerances to stimulus.

      Anecdotally, my cats would not finish their food in narrow bowls but do now that they eat from flat bowls.

      • TheActualDevil@sffa.community
        0·
        2 years ago

        I can add my own anecdote to this one. One of my cat’s is fine with any bowl because he’s just very food motivated and will do anything to get to his food at feeding time. The other one, when using a more narrow bowl, would often stop eating normally and scoop out the food with a paw. Once I switched to wide flatter bowls, she scarfs it down without pause. It was clearly bothering her.

        While cats vary in their preferences and tolerances, it bothers me that so many people just scoff at this idea. We’re caretakers for cats and should do our best to make their lives as reasonably comfortable and enriching as possible. And just because a cat is fine with touching things with their whiskers in some situations doesn’t mean they’re cool with it in others. Cats are often happy to have you scratch behind their ears, but only when it’s invited.

        And come on, bowls are cheap. It’s not that big of an inconvenience to get them a bowl that could be more comfortable, even if they’re tolerating it now.

    • pizza_rolls@kbin.social
      0·
      2 years ago

      So far the only actual study we have on this says it’s not a real thing. Sure, some cats have different preferences but it’s not like you are torturing your cat with normal bowls and need to run out and buy special ones.

      https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1098612X20930190

      If you’re feeding your cat an infinite supply of dry food without a feeding schedule you have bigger things to be concerned about than whisker fatigue.

        • pizza_rolls@kbin.social
          0·
          2 years ago

          It’s well documented it veterinary literature, you can believe the studies or not 🤷‍♀️. It’s not like it kills your cat instantly, you just deal with diabetes kidney or urinary issues in the future. Not sure why someone would not try to prevent that.

    • FiveMacs@lemmy.ca
      0·
      2 years ago

      This applies to pretty much every article about animals…it’s just humans putting human stuff on animals for the sake of humans. :/

      • IDatedSuccubi@lemmy.world
        0·
        2 years ago

        It happens often in media, but real scientists don’t rely on what they think animals think, instead using objective data like brain activity scans, heartbeat rates etc, often presenting pure data without a conclusion on what they think the animal feels. Those studies will then come to media, where the interviewed scientists will give their thoughts on how they interpret the results, even if it’s obvious that the animal likes/dislikes something. These also exist in media.

        Edit: I also want to add that many things are straight up visibly harming the animal and you don’t even need any conclusions. For example if you house a hole-dwelling spider without enough substrate to dig, it will stop eating. This has been confirmed many times, by many owners. It doesn’t matter if it makes them uncomfortable or they feel pain from it, or they are cold, etc, because we know that they stop eating, and that’s a good enough signal that something’s bad.

  • Asafum@lemmy.world
    0·
    2 years ago

    While true, my theory is that they might also want something else. I use a plate and sometimes she’ll just beg for more anyway even if half of what I gave her is still in the bowl, I’ll give her a tiny bit of something else and she’ll go eat that instead lol

    • TitanLaGrange@lemmy.world
      0·
      2 years ago

      my theory is that they might also want something else.

      I keep about 4 different kinds of food around for our cats. I have three auto-feeders in different parts of the house each with a different foot and dispense schedule. That way the cat has some choice about what they are eating, and there’s a bit of environmental enrichment where they can eat in different places.

      I also hide little piles of cat treats in various locations around the house. Keeps the cats curious and exploring to see if they can find something good to munch.

    • UhBell@lemmy.worldOP
      0·
      2 years ago

      There are multiple reasons a cat could be begging for food while some is left, whisker fatigue is just the most common and misunderstood.

  • son_named_bort@lemmy.world
    0·
    2 years ago

    We use small plates for our cats. It doesn’t stop them from begging for more food even though they still have food.

    • LemmyLefty@lemmy.world
      0·
      2 years ago

      I put it in a very shallow dish and then put that dish inside a shallow (and heavy) old baking tray.

      The lip of the tray catches the kibble from falling outside of it and the heaviness makes it hard for her to move it.

      And now I don’t feel bad about getting new, lighter pans because the old one is still getting used.

    • dismalnow@kbin.social
      0·
      2 years ago

      A small mat under their food and water (kept separate due to other instinct cats have) is an easy way to keep things cleaner.

      • axtualdave@lemmy.world
        0·
        2 years ago

        We tried separating the food and water.

        The cat just went to where the water was and howled. We’d show her the new spot, shed drink, and do the same thing in 20 minutes.

        Just moved it back, less howling and she still drinks.

  • dismalnow@kbin.social
    0·
    2 years ago

    For dry food, if you put it in small (4-5cm dia.) cups they WILL reach in to grab the kibble and will eat one at a time.

    This is a great way to de-chonk.

    • QHC@lemmy.world
      0·
      2 years ago

      I have a cheap ‘food maze’ that is essentially this but also with some covers that slide or hinge. I started just putting food so it’s visible but after a few tries my cat figured out there are hidden treats, too. Cats are curious, so they enjoy the hunt, too!

    • sarsaparilyptus@lemmy.fmhy.ml
      0·
      2 years ago

      Or, if your cat is a fat, clever little shit, she will jam her paw in deep and then yank all the kibble out so she can binge on it and then barf on the carpet.

    • netvor@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      2 years ago

      [OT] I just googled “de-chonk” and now I with that someone named their gym “Human Dechonking Centre”.

    • xodiak@lemmy.world
      1·
      2 years ago

      I also have a ‘flat’ bowl. My cat isn’t happy with her food until I put some of her food on the floor and watch her eat for a couple of minutes. She is the boss… apparently.

      • TitanLaGrange@lemmy.world
        0·
        2 years ago

        they have a hard time seeing water

        When my cat was a tiny kitten learning to drink from a bowl he would always dip his face in too far and get a nose full of water, causing him to sneeze. He learned to always dip his paw in the water first to see where the surface is before putting his face in. He still does it every single time. It’s pretty cute.

      • trouser_mouse@lemmy.world
        0·
        2 years ago

        Sometimes moving water, too - and some are funny about material I think!

        My current cat won’t drink from metal bowls, and loves a water fountain most.

      • MostlyBirds@lemmy.world
        0·
        2 years ago

        Tell that to my cat who does anything and everything in her power to drink out of mugs and half full glasses when she has a nice wide fountain full of fresh, clean, filtered water 5 feet away.

  • ranoss@lemmy.world
    0·
    2 years ago

    I started feeding my cat out of a pie dish because I was worried about this and I think it prevents it.

    And it had the added benefit of making it look like my cat just polished off an entire pie all by himself when he’s done eating.

    • Brad Ganley@toad.work
      0·
      2 years ago

      And it had the added benefit of making it look like my cat just polished off an entire pie all by himself when he’s done eating.

      This is the real life pro tip

  • ModuRaziel@lemmy.world
    0·
    2 years ago

    Sorry, but this is pseudo-science bullcrap akin to healing crystals. Whisker fatigue is just some BS a mom group on Facebook came up with to sell products. It has zero scientific backing and frankly I would appreciate not spreading false information like this here. Leave that garbage on reddit

  • fairyjars@ttrpg.network
    0·
    2 years ago

    This is called whisker fatigue. Try to pick food bowls designed to alleviate this. You’ll want a design that’s wide and shallow. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08L97TF8S/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00 I ordered these last year and my baby boy will happily finish his food to the very bottom of the bowl. If your cat’s eating from their usual bowl just fine, then you don’t need to go out of your way to get them special bowls or anything. Every kitty is different and has different needs!

  • ramplay@lemmy.ca
    0·
    2 years ago

    Threads like this are great!

    Not for infromative purposes, but as a reminder how whipped and nonsensical cat owners can be.

    I never noticed until I got my own cats though. Used to be a dog person, through and through. Still am, but now I also love my cats.

    Now like dogs, they are individuals so there are adjustments needed but let me just list all that I do with my cats that works amazing for them…

    • ad libitum food, 2 cats, 4 bowls. 2 always full with dry food, 2 always full with water. (Now there’s actually also two massive dog water bowls they have additional access to)
    • Night time crates; when we go to bed, they go to bed. No fuss, they are crate trained just like our 3 dogs.
    • Never outside without a harness/leash. These are pets, and unlike dogs which are easily contained with chains or fences cats are not. Its unethical and plain wrong to let your cat out to kill birds and encroach on others property. Barn cats are another tough topic, I won’t touch on cause that’s a situation. But irrelevant anyways since these are house cats.

    These 2 cats are healthy af, not overweight and well they eat and drink well.

    I’ll add, I grew up with ad libitum dog feeding too. That said my 3 dogs currently are on a 2 meals a day regiment. This is purely due to the fact we have some overly food motivated breeds who will fight and we need to have them seperate when food is involved in any capacity (their food and food in general)

    This rant just to say, cat owners very often come off as the type that try to sell chunks of gypsum and amethyst to heal your woes.