Cats prefer to get free meals rather than work for them
Study finds `contrafreeloading' rare in domestic cats

Date:
August 13, 2021
Source:
University of California - Davis
Summary:
When given the choice between a free meal and performing a task for
a meal, cats would prefer the meal that doesn't require much effort.



FULL STORY ==========================================================================
When given the choice between a free meal and performing a task for a
meal, cats would prefer the meal that doesn't require much effort. While
that might not come as a surprise to some cat lovers, it does to cat behaviorists. Most animals prefer to work for their food -- a behavior
called contrafreeloading.


==========================================================================
A new study from researchers at the University of California, Davis,
School of Veterinary Medicine showed most domestic cats choose not to contrafreeload. The study found that cats would rather eat from a tray
of easily available food rather than work out a simple puzzle to get
their food.

"There is an entire body of research that shows that most species
including birds, rodents, wolves, primates -- even giraffes -- prefer to
work for their food," said lead author Mikel Delgado, a cat behaviorist
and research affiliate at UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine. "What's surprising is out of all these species cats seem to be the only ones
that showed no strong tendency to contrafreeload." In the study,
Delgado, along with co-authors Melissa Bain and Brandon Han of the UC
Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, provided 17 cats a food puzzle and
a tray of food. The puzzle allowed the cats to easily see the food but
required some manipulation to extract it. Some of the cats even had food
puzzle experience.

"It wasn't that cats never used the food puzzle, but cats ate more food
from the tray, spent more time at the tray and made more first choices
to approach and eat from the tray rather than the puzzle," said Delgado.

Cats aren't just lazy Cats that were part of the study wore activity
monitors. The study found that even cats that were more active still
chose the freely available food. Delgado said the study should not be
taken as a dismissal of food puzzles. She said just because they don't
prefer it, doesn't mean they don't like it. Delgado's previous research
shows puzzles can be an important enrichment activity for cats.

Why cats prefer to freeload is also unclear. Delgado said the food puzzles
used in the study may not have stimulated their natural hunting behavior,
which usually involves ambushing their prey.

The research was supported by Maddie's Fund and the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences.

========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by
University_of_California_-_Davis. Original written by Amy Quinton. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Mikel M. Delgado, Brandon Sang Gyuc Han, Melissa J. Bain. Domestic
cats
(Felis catus) prefer freely available food over food that requires
effort. Animal Cognition, 2021; DOI: 10.1007/s10071-021-01530-3 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/08/210813100338.htm

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