Why do they shake their heads side-to-side when they eat?
Minx doesn’t do that. She’s a little lady when she eats. Takes a piece of kibble, sits up, chews & swallows, meows at me, then starts the process over again.
Maybe they’re pretending they’re lions and shredding that dreadful kibble into bits!
Have you tried it? It’s fun.
I eat some candy that way. But only alone, or when I know someone will appreciate the humor in it.
Gabigail (Gabby) doesn’t do that either.
We feed her Tender Vitals, we have seen her reach into her bowl with claws extended and pick up one piece of food and eat it.
Ayesha
I don’t think I’ve seen my kitties do that, either. Maybe your kitty has a sore tooth, Dougie. I’m sure Michelle will have some advice
“I hope life isn’t a big joke, because I don’t get it,” Jack Handy
Ayesha please tell me this
is a typo and not a real cat food. I’m trying to imagine the list of ingredients and it’s creepin’ me out.
“Many count their chickens before they are hatched; and where they expect bacon, meet with broken bones.”
–Miguel de Cervantes–
I think it is part of the “killer cat” thing: “I am a fierce kitty, I must kill my prey!” Not all cats do it, as has been pointed out. Enid doesn’t do the prey-shaking thing (though she’s a really messy eater) but I’ve had other cats that did it.
Catrandom
check for mouth sores.
No,no, not yours, the cats’!
VB
Tempus is fugiting all over the place! Carpe that diem!
UncleBeer, it’s actually “Tender Vittles.” Although if cats picked out their own food at the supermarket, the other name would probably be more popular.
Live a Lush Life
Da Chef
Actually, have you ever read cat food lables? I’m sure “Tender Vitals” is completely accurate
“I hope life isn’t a big joke, because I don’t get it,” Jack Handy
Actually, we had a big cat named Archie who did this, in the 60s. He was a big fluffy cat, colored like Socks. He always did this when he ate; he did a lot of stuff we never understood.
I am watching my cats eat right now, and none of them are displaying described behavior. At least not a side to side motions. All I have to say is, have you ever tried to eat with no hands, and youe head pointing downwards? Perhaps a little head movement keeps the food in the mouth, instead of letting the food fall back into the plate every time the mouth is opened to chew.
Whoa, you were alive back then? I thought the 60s only existed on TV… like Gotham city and stuff.
Konrad, Konrad…where shall I begin?
I remember:
“Ike” from the 1956 Presidential convention
The great Malibu fire of 1956
Sputnik
The integration crisis in Little Rock, Arkansas
Khrushchev’s visit to the U.S. in 1959
The Dodgers moving from Brooklyn to Los Angeles and winning the World Series in 1959
ad infinitum.
FYI, I was born June 10, 1949. Any questions?
Dougie-- down boy, down. Hair trigger.
I’d say perhaps the cat is keeping the food along the lines of the teeth, or from one side of the mouth to the other. Have you ever eaten something too large or something you didn’t want to push around with your tongue and had to use body english to get it somewhere that you could chew it?
Or am I insane?
Alhtough I have never seen my cats do this, I have seen my dog do that when we play with a Boda-Bone (aka a rope tied on the two ends) and occasionally other dog toys.
My assumption is, the side to side motion is much like a wild animal trying to rip muscle off bone. So, if the millions of years of this behavior in other animals is any indication, we have not bred this behavior out of domestic meat-eaters.
< grin > just my thoughts
Both of my kitties do this - always have. Both have all ofhteir teeth and are in condition at 12 and 13 years old.
The truly gross sideline to this is, one of them (the younger) has a tendency to do same thing when he sends it back up. Side to side, standing on his hind legs, making the most hideous noise I have ever heard an otherwise healthy cat make. It still gets to me - it sounds like he’s dying. The chyme gets all over the walls - yuck.
Gack!
That should say:
Both have all of their teeth, which are in good condition for cats 12 and 13 years old.