Picky Eaters: Is It The Bowl?

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dsmithkma

Member Since 2013
Hi-

I recently transitioned our 5 kitties from dry to all wet. Previously, we had a ceramic feeding "trough" that they all grazed out of.

When my 15 y.o. tabby was diagnosed diabetic, and after much reading on this site, we pitched the dry junk grazing and went to 2x daily feedings of only wet food.

My wife bought 5 stainless steel bowls to feed each cat with. That evening 3 out of the 5 ate pretty well out of these SS bowls but they never really licked them clean.
I assumed it was simply them missing their dry food.

However, one evening, I was washing their bowls and after rinsing them noticed they smelled "metallic".

So I wondered: since cats have a much more sensative nose then we humans do, could they be put off by the "metallic" smell and possible taste of the bowls.

As an experiment, at the next feeding, I fed them out of some ceramic cereal bowls. WHAT A DIFFERENCE! Not only did the 3 non-fussy eaters clean their bowls, the 2 picky eaters nearly did the same. We fed them the same Fancy Feast chicken as before.

The only change was the type of material the bowl was made of.
 
My wife thinks I'm strange for smelling their bowls, but hey.... :lol:

EDIT: Kitten's BG this AM before feeding was 76.
 
Mine will only DRINK from those stainless bowls...I have to use either glass/ceramic or the OLD hard Melmac ones for food. The newer plastics seem to also have a smell. I also discovered that some of mine eat better off a high sided dessert plate rather than a bowl.

Oh what we do for them....)))

HUGS!
 
Kitten is still OTJ for now. How many days does that make it?

Funny about the switch in feeding dishes and what a difference in having the cats eat sparingly or gobble down their food.

I have a combination of ceramic and stainless steel bowls. Never noticed a difference in appetite with any of my cats.
 
Yes, I've noticed this as well. I bought a couple of sets of ceramic bowls when I first got Michelangelo last year. Then I broke one. I spent almost four months trying to find a replacement that would fit their food stand. It seems the only US company that makes ceramic bowls went out of business from what they told me at two different pet stores. Now, it's either Stainless Steel or Made in China Ceramic (run the risk of lead and other contaminants). My cats refused to eat from the stainless steel, but luckily I found a couple of the old USA bowls at another pet shop (they didn't know the treasure they had!) before I broke another one of the ceramics. :lol:

As for plastic bowls, that's what lined their timed feeder. I removed those dishes (can cause kitty acne) and replaced them with glass custard cups instead.
 
I use some Correlle serving dishes, since I'm feeding 14 cats!

I find that smaller cereal bowls aren't cleared as easily, possibly because their whiskers touch the sides.
 
All of my cats source water from their food instead of from a water bowl. Because of that, I use salad plates because the water tends to move toward the edges of the food and the kitties eat from the outside in. I am sure Target is wondering who keeps buying up all their salad plates :smile: Since I switched to the plates, my kitties won't eat out of any bowl - metal or ceramic. Dr. Pierson talks about feeding on plates instead of bowls on her website catinfo.org
 
Oh, how interesting!

I bought stainless steel bowls for my cats too and they absolutely will not eat out of them. I wasn't sure if it was the smell of them or maybe the reflective quality of the metal that they didn't like. I now use shallow ceramic cereal bowls and that suits them just fine. :smile:
 
Depending on the quality of the metal and any acidity of the food (and water may act as a mild acid under certain circumstances!), metal ions may be released, affecting the flavor.
 
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