Whisker fatigue causes stress and overstimulates their senses. Using a flat bowl or plate will relieve this issue and allow your cat to eat all their food without stress.
You can also search for “whisker fatigue” bowls specifically made for cats.
A vet weighs in on this whole thing and goes over a study that was done on it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLrI0eprVr8
TL;DW it’s mostly marketing and fear mongering. Your cat doesn’t care and even with completely natural behaviors (like oh I don’t know, squeezing into prey burrows and clamping their muzzle around mice) they get their whiskers compressed all the time. Whiskers are touch receptors so the idea that they can’t be touched is kind of silly.
While whisker fatigue is in debate, it’s true some cats are weird about touching the bowl. I personally feed the cats on the same plates I eat from and they get water from a fountain. But I have known many cats who were fine with a bowl too. I think the main thing is the material of the receptacle. Some plastics can hold bacteria that makes their lil faces break out. :(
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So far the only actual study we have on this says it’s not a real thing. Sure, some cats have different preferences but it’s not like you are torturing your cat with normal bowls and need to run out and buy special ones.
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1098612X20930190
If you’re feeding your cat an infinite supply of dry food without a feeding schedule you have bigger things to be concerned about than whisker fatigue.
As an ad libitum cat feeder, 0 issues so far. They eat when they’re hungry
It’s well documented it veterinary literature, you can believe the studies or not 🤷♀️. It’s not like it kills your cat instantly, you just deal with diabetes kidney or urinary issues in the future. Not sure why someone would not try to prevent that.
I have a whisker friendly dish and my cat still does this. My cat just likes company when he eats and he’ll meow at you to come join him. He digs in as soon as I sit down with him at his bowl. Just a little weirdo butt.
Not really weird. It’s a survival thing. He wants you to watch over him while he’s vulnerable and eating.
I did need to know this! Maybe I’ll buy my cat a flatter bowl to eat off.
