Do cats care how big a piece of treat is?

1624 Views 8 Replies 6 Participants Last post by cinderflower, May 25, 2012

hal1

Discussion Starter · May 24, 2012

This is kind of a random, stupid thought. do you think your cat knows if youy give him a big piece or little piece?

My cat's crack is the freeze dried chicken, and I wish I knew if he could tell the difference between a big piece or a small piece

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cinderflower

· #2 · May 25, 2012

can you tell the difference between a stingy little piece of cake or the whole thing?

but seriously, i think that while cats probably aren't capable of spatial reasoning, they have awesome memories (well mine do anyway) and they recognize things by sight.

a friend was over and she got a spoon to stir her coffee, but was waving it around while she talked. baci started going nuts and hopping around (happy) and she was like, "does your cat drink coffee?"

i keep spoons that fell into the garbage disposal in a big cup under the sink. when someone gets a spoon out, it generally either means cat food or a treat.

of course they recognize the difference. but i do think when it comes to meals, you can get by with less food more times a day, and they think they're getting more. i don't think they can think abstractly, so they can't really compare the size of an earlier meal to the one in front of them. i think they remember the number of times they're fed, but not necessarily how much food there was.

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hal1

Discussion Starter · #3 · May 25, 2012

I kind of meant are they just as happy with a smaller piece of treat as with a bigger piece.

Like I said, kind of a random silly thought.

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GhostTown

· #4 · May 25, 2012

I understood what you meant. hehe....

My guess? No, they want more.

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BotanyBlack

· #5 · May 25, 2012

in my experience. If I give a cat a big piece, they tend to hover about looking for more. If I take the same size piece and cut it up and feed it one after another, they walk away thinking they got the Holy Grail.

so In my opinion, for cats size doesn't matter but perceived quantity does.

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BotanyBlack

· #6 · May 25, 2012

plus my cats rarely chew thier treat, so I doubt they actually notice much.

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Jacq

· #7 · May 25, 2012

It's funny, because that kind of reasoning doesn't develop in kids until quite late either.

(skip to 1:38 for the best/meanest part)

So... yeah, I don't think cats really 'get it'

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LaurulFeatherCat

· #8 · May 25, 2012

I like to give out treats to the cats while they are in a group. Each cat is not interested in what they get, only that they DO get a treat. If you give a cat a large treat them cannot swallow whole, they will chew it and make sure they swallow all of the treat, even if it means they lose their turn when it comes to getting another treat. Cats are more here and now animals; interested in what they have now and not necessarily thinking about what they can get in the future. Note the cat in the previous story was only triggered into physical action when he recognized the spoon, not before.

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cinderflower

· #9 · May 25, 2012

i was just kidding hal. but in case you have bad portion recognition, here, i baked you a cheesecake. lol

oh baci is just food crazy. he definitely recognizes the spoon, cans, cartons of coffee creamer. he has tried to drink soy milk and rice milk before, but he doesn't love it. i think he just doesn't know the difference between the boxes.

well, my cats honestly do know the difference in portion size. at least two of them do, because they'll look at what the other ones are getting to see how much and if it's a potential cache if they can raid it by gobbling their food down first. the old female isn't that way, but she's very polite. if one of the other cats tries to take her food, she gives it up automatically, so i stay by her always because she needs hers.

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