Why do cats think their food tastes better on the floor, than inside the bowl?

Question

Many times I have seen my kitties dump their food onto the floor, and eat it there with great gusto.

I will come home from work and find more food on the floor than in the cat food bowls:)

Why is this :)

Answer 1

My cat, Splash, who just passed away, would get in the litter box, but poop on the outside. It would hang off the side of the box and onto the floor. Maybe they see those types of things as 'control' and just do it to show us that they really run the show...

Answer 2

They don't prefer their food from the floor. The reason a cat will do that is because there is something that makes it unpleasant or difficult for them to eat out of the bowl you have provided for their food.

Always use a stainless steel bowl. Cats develop allergies to plastic resulting in contact dermatitis, pimples, on their chins. If the bowl is too high the cat has to place it's mouth and throat in an uncomfortable position to eat. (Think how it would be if you had to eat with your plate under your chin using only your mouth?)

Cats also do not like their whiskers touching the sides of their eating bowl. See if you can find a bowl shallow enough that their whiskers don't hit the sides (usually a cat feeding bowl is correct), or a container to feed them in that's longer than it is wide to accommodate their whiskers.

Finally, please clean their bowl every day if you are feeding them wet food. There is no need to use soap - just make sure it is clean. If you do use soap, and I don't recommend it because cat's have extremely sensitive noses, then rinse it very, very well. When you think it's rinsed, rinse it again.

Answer 3

To show us they do things THEIR WAY :)
Before eating, my cat would often play with the food - get it out of the bowl, eat it all around the kitchen floor and sometimes go as far as the carpet in the living-room! Sometimes she hides some of her cookies under the carpet and when I have guests or a private student, she would come, take the thing out and start eating it as noisily as possible so as to attract attention.
:)

Answer 4

They like to play with their food! One of my cats will daintily pull out one piece of dry food at a time and eat it. This can go on for a while! She also seems to like dropping some of her smaller cat toys in the water bowl and likes drinking out of the faucet. I think it's her way of making life more fun and interesting!

Answer 5

well, not all cats do so, but... that's instinctive. Nobody makes them eat mice off bowls - they catch their pray, if necessary drag it to the secure place, and devour it off the ground. Millenia of this are not so easily erased off cats' generic memory.

(My cat doesn't do that, by he shakes his head while eating, as though getting meat to separate from the prey - the walls around his feeding bowl are none the better...)

Answer 6

I really do not know, but mine do it, too! :-))

Mine like to scoop bits out, then chase them around the floor before eating them. The other cats eat the bits off the floor, too...

The one likes to drop bits of catfood into the water bowl, then try to fish them out.

Maybe we forgot to tell them not to play with their food.

Maybe they find that their whiskers stay cleaner that way?

Try putting an ice cube or two in their water bowl, and see what they make of that! :-))

Answer 7

Because that is what cats and dogs do. Actually, my dog is sorting out the little cheese things in his food that he loves.

Answer 8

maybe their bowl is too small some cats if their whiskers touch the side of the bowl they don't like it.

Answer 9

Is it possible your floor tastes like chicken, duck, lamb or possibly tuna?

Answer 10

maybe she doesn't want to stick her nose in that bowl. try feeding from a saucer or salad plate and see how that goes.