It’s also a matter of smell: a new odor restores hunger – and the cat may come closer to the food again.
One gato starts to meow, apparently signaling that it wants to eat. The owner puts out food. The cat starts eating and, three seconds later, leaves to the room.
It’s a frequent scenario. Many people may think that the cat didn’t eat because… it doesn’t want to eat. Not hungryin the end. Like people, deep down.
But that’s not quite it. Or rather, it’s not just that.
A new one warns that, yes, cats may already be full, but their eating pattern is also conditioned by the motivation to eat from the smell
The analysis carried out by researchers from the University of Iwate (Japan), carried out controlled experiments to verify how the “habituation and dishabituation” of odors influence the appetite of cats, describes the .
In the first experiment, the cats’ interest in a diverse or little varied diet was assessed. There were six consecutive feeding cycles: the cat He ate for 10 minutes, between 10-minute intervals.
Whenever they were ahead repeated feed, the cats were going down gradually a intake throughout the cycles – but this decrease was less intense in cases with varied foods.
The experiments naturally included the presence of odors and smells.
And researchers noticed that, even when the food was the same, a new smell in the middle of feeding cycles, the cat return to the bowl more easily. Apparently, a new odor increases appetite, or the desire to eat.
The other side of this scenario: too many odors between feeding cycles causes the cat to start comer yet less in subsequent meals.
This study suggests that the cats do not stop eating “simply because they are satisfied. Instead, your motivation to feed decreases as you get used to the smell of food – and can be restored with the introduction of a new odor”, Masao Miyazaki, lead author of the study.
