senses
Carrying Food Away from the Bowl to Eat
Instinct, whisker comfort or bowl dislike
The quirk of some cats picking pieces of food out of the bowl and dropping them on the floor nearby to eat them.
It can be baffling to watch a cat fish a piece of kibble out of a perfectly good bowl, carry it a short distance and eat it off the floor, sometimes repeating the trip again and again. Several explanations, alone or combined, usually lie behind this habit.
Instinct is one. In the wild, a cat that has made a kill will often drag it away from the site to eat somewhere safer and more private, away from competitors and from the smell that might attract larger predators. Moving food from a communal bowl to a chosen spot echoes that ancient behaviour of relocating prey to a secure place.
The bowl itself is another common culprit. Many cats dislike a deep or narrow dish that presses on their sensitive whiskers as they reach in — so-called whisker fatigue — and pulling food out avoids the discomfort. A bowl placed in a busy or exposed spot, or too close to a wall, can prompt the same response. Offering a wide, shallow dish in a calm, open location often reduces the behaviour, though for many cats it is simply a harmless personal preference.
🐾 Most common in
Seen in a fair number of cats, and especially those fed from deep or narrow bowls or in busy household spots.