Yeah, your cat is picky, but the question is – why? And what can you do about it?
Spoiler alert – it’s their tongue!
Okay, so why are cats picky? Now, despite what you might think, it has less to do with taste and smell, than it does with their tongue and how their tongue is structured. And how sensitive to the texture of food that tongue is. So, let’s get into it!
Now, like me, you might assume cats have an incredibly evolved sense of taste… After all, their sense of smell is through the roof, right?! Incredibly well developed, far more than ours. We have 9,000 taste buds, so you figure cats probably have way more!
Well, actually they have far fewer. Actually, less than 500. Actually, a cat is nowhere near as sensitive to taste as you might think. What about the smell? Again, really really sensitive, right? Yes, but in and of itself that won’t explain away pickiness, it won’t explain away why cats prefer one piece of chicken over another piece of chicken.
So, what’s the next thing? The next thing is the tongue. Now, before we get into the structure of tongues, I want you to think back – think back to a time when you were licked by a dog and remember what that felt like. Pretty smooth, right? Slobbery, but smooth.
Now, I want you to think about when you were licked by a cat. Very, very, very different experience. Very, very rough. Here’s why – here’s a picture of a dog’s tongue (see below). Nothing exciting happening there really. Very smooth. But, here’s a picture of a cat’s tongue (see below). Obviously those two tongues are very different.
Dog Tongue
Cat Tongue
Let’s spend a little bit of time talking about the specifics of that cat’s tongue. The rear-facing hairs are spines. Those things are really going to be great for grooming and certainly they will help that cat get the last little bit of meat off the bone when it’s feeding. But, let’s also think in terms of what the experience is going to be for that cat versus the dog.
Let’s just imagine, which one of these two tongues do you think is going to be happy about a texture that it enjoys? Probably the cat’s tongue. More importantly, which one of these tongues is going to be annoyed by a texture that it doesn’t like? Yes, the cat’s tongue, so you can see right away that texture is so, so, so important.
Alright, if we know texture matters, now what are we going to do about it? Well, this is where Weruva comes in. We understand that of course smell and taste matter, but texture is really where it’s at. So, we try to offer a variety of textures and flavors. Now, one of the most popular textures that we have is our shredded texture. Now, first you might say, “Well, why would a cat prefer a shredded texture?”
Let’s take a second to talk about what’s happening with that cat’s tongue while it’s hunting in the wild. Cat’s are of course very cuddly, but they’re also real deal predators. Eyes are right above the teeth and that jaw slams shut and rips back so, what’s the sensation on the tongue? Well, it’s shredded meat. Why? Because that cat is actually actively shredding meat. That’s how it’s eating.
We understand that the taste and the smell matter, but we also understand from the example that the texture really, really matters too. What are we going to do? We’re going to offer them a texture of shredded meat and Boom! That ‘pig in this problem’ goes away.
You might say, “Well, hold on! My cat prefers pate!” All the better, that just goes to further prove the point that they are very specific about the texture that they want to experience. No matter what the flavor or texture that your cat is into, we at Weruva can help them out!
In the very beginning, I said we’re going to talk about why cats are picky, but I also said I was going to help you out by telling you what you can do about it. What you can do about it is come on over to Weruva. Because, no matter what your cat is into, either flavor or texture-wise we’re going to have something that I’m sure they’re going to love and in fact, come and check out weruva.com for the full listing of everything that we do both flavor and texture-wise. As well as, all the different places you can find to buy them!