Why is my cat such a picky eater?

As pet parents, navigating feeding guidance and health advice can often feel overwhelming. At Mars, a leading pet care company serving almost half a billion pets each year, through our iconic brands and services, we want to replace that anxiety with confidence(Opens a new window).

Through a 3-part series, “The Confident Pet Parent”, we will explore some of the most frequently asked questions by pet parents, debunk some of the myths and mysteries surrounding how best to care for your pet, and provide you with some interesting science-backed trivia that you can share with others.  

In our third installment, we are turning our attention to our feline companions and exploring the science behind their famously selective eating habits. Guided by the specialized work of Dr. Tammie King, a leading cat behaviorist at our Waltham Petcare Science Institute, the scientific heart of brands like Pedigree®(Opens a new window), Sheba and WHISKAS®(Opens a new window), we are decoding the unique sensory biology of cats to help you understand how they taste, how they smell, and how to feed them in a way that respects their natural instincts and distinct personalities.

While humans possess around 9,000 taste buds, cats have only about 470, meaning their sense of taste is quite limited.¹ Instead, cats rely almost entirely on their extraordinary sense of smell (powered by more than 200 million olfactory receptors) to "taste" their food before it ever touches their tongue.²  

• The Personality Match: The Inquisitive Cat. These highly curious felines explore the world primarily through their senses and are deeply sensitive to aroma.
• The Nutritional Match: These cats may find sensory appeal in fragrant recipes, such as the WHISKAS® Aromatic Selection™ range, designed specifically to engage their powerful sense of smell.  
   

Unlike dogs and humans, cats are obligate (strict) carnivores. Because their evolutionary survival depended entirely on hunting meat rather than foraging plants or fruits, cats have completely lost the functional taste receptor genes required to detect sweet flavors.³ They are physically blind to sweetness. Instead, their tongue receptors are highly specialized to detect amino acids (the building blocks of proteins) and fats.

• The Personality Match: The Active Cat. Energetic, quick, and driven by a strong predatory instinct, these cats enjoy hunting and chasing play.
• The Nutritional Match: Active cats may enjoy balanced, nutrient-dense poultry and meat recipes from the WHISKAS® Favourites range, designed to satisfy their evolutionary craving for protein.  
   

In the wild, cats absorb the vast majority of their daily water intake directly from the moisture of their prey, which is why they have a naturally low thirst drive. This desert-ancestral biology explains why many cats are highly sensitive to the texture of their food and gravitate strongly toward wet options with rich, flowing sauces that contribute to their daily water intake.⁴

• The Personality Match: The Independent Cat. Quiet and selective, these cats prefer their own company and like to enjoy their meals in peace and quiet.
• The Nutritional Match: Independent felines are highly satisfied by rich, high-moisture wet meals, such as WHISKAS® Gravy pouches, which can contribute to their daily water intake at their own pace in a quiet environment.  
   

While wet food satisfies a cat's need for hydration, the physical "crunch" of dry kibble provides a completely different sensory and behavioral outlet. For many cats, the auditory and tactile feedback of cracking kibble mimics the physical satisfaction of catching prey, engaging their playful, high-energy instincts during mealtime.

• The Personality Match: The Playful Cat. These high-energy cats love playing with laundry, toys, and chasing moving objects around the house.
• The Nutritional Match: Playful cats may enjoy when dry kibble is integrated into their routine, enjoying dual-textured dry pockets from the WHISKAS® dry range that turn chewing into an active, stimulating game.  
   

Cats are incredibly sensitive to bitter tastes and food temperature. This is an evolutionary defense mechanism designed to prevent them from eating spoiled meat or toxic plants. In a home environment, a pampered cat may refuse food simply because it is cold from the refrigerator (as they instinctively prefer meals at prey-body temperature, around 38°C) or because they detect a subtle, bitter note on their feeding dish.⁵

• The Personality Match: The Pampered Cat. These cats thrive on human interaction, comforting routines, and being thoroughly spoiled.
• The Nutritional Match: The pampered cat enjoys a high level of culinary comfort and may appreciate carefully prepared WHISKAS® served at room temperature to ensure ultimate satisfaction.

In a world full of advice, understanding the facts is the best way forward. We encourage all pet owners to consult their veterinarians to find the best diet for their pet.

Read Part 1: Your top treating questions, answered by science

Read Part 2: 5 expert tips for caring for your dog's teeth
 

References:

1.  Kadohisa, M. (2013). "Effects of Odor on Taste and Olfactory Receptors in Felines." Frontiers in Systems Neuroscience, 7, 30.
2. Pihlkilde, L., et al. (2021). "The Scent of Food: Characterizing the Cat's Olfactory Sensitivity to Dietary Volatiles." Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery, 23(4), 312-320.
3. Li, X., et al. (2005). "Pseudogenization of a Sweet-Receptor Gene (Tas1r2) in Felines." PLoS Genetics, 1(1), e3.
4. Waltham Petcare Science Institute. (2018). "Hydration and Urinary Tract Health in Cats: The Role of Dietary Moisture." Waltham Science Series.
5. Sandri, M., et al. (2017). "Taste Receptor Genes and Bitter Taste Avoidance in Domestic Cats (Felis catus)." BMC Genomics, 18(1), 624.