Waiting to eat may ruin the cat and instead make it emotionally stressed that

Waiting without work may be risky for cats.

A new study from the University of California, Davis, shows that cats who wait for food are more likely to develop emotional stress.

The seemingly "good for cats" model of cat ownership, where owners don't make it difficult for cats to find food and cats simply wait for it every day, is being questioned by the zoological community.

Dr. Delgado of the University of California, Davis, is a scientist specializing in "cat behavior". He has been conducting scientific research on the relationship between the diet of domestic cats and their health.

Delgado's latest research shows that cats that wait to eat daily are more likely to become emotionally stressed.

"These cats, who do not have any difficulty in obtaining food, do not produce enough of the necessary hormones, which over time leads to health problems. Even this physical problem can trigger hidden emotional and psychological problems in cats." Dr. Delgado believes that the development of the cat's brain needs to be aided by the daily act of predation.

In Dr. Delgado's study. "Difficulty in accessing food" is considered a key factor in ensuring the cat's health.

The best way to raise a domestic cat is if it has the right level of "difficulty in accessing food" daily.

"It's not always about letting the cat go out and find its food, but about consciously making it more difficult for the cat to get food." Dr. Delgado believes that cat owners need to learn to "set puzzles" for their cats.

Davis invited 3,192 cat owners to participate in the survey.

Thirty percent of cat owners set up daily puzzles for their cats to find and solve before they could eat the food.

Eighteen percent of cat owners set up food puzzles for their cats, but the cats were unable to solve the problems.

52% of cat owners do not set food puzzles for their cats, and these cats are always waiting for food.

After studying 18% of the cats, scientists found that the cats could not even solve simple "food puzzles". Put the food in a box, the cat only needs to open the lid and can eat, while 18% of the cat is not open the lid.

The scientists demonstrated the method of opening the lid in front of the cats, and 60% of them were still unable to get the food.

Considering that it may be too difficult to obtain food puzzles, the scientists could only reduce the difficulty. The cat's usual cat food was placed in a horizontal dish with a very light plastic lid gently placed on top and left slits.

Cats can easily smell the smell, just need to reach out their paws, move the plastic lid, can eat food.

However, nearly half of the 18% of the cats could not complete this "challenge" and ended up not eating the food.

Dr. Delgado and the Davis researchers believe that these cats have lost their ability to hunt for food.

Domestic cats have been dependent on humans for food for so long that they are not only unable to obtain food in the wild. It has become more difficult to obtain food at home by solving "small puzzles.

"In the absence of proper access to food for a long time, the cat's brain develops slowly."

In addition to the "cats may be a bit stupid" problem. Scientists found that these cats are also not good at relieving emotional stress. By relying on their characters for food, the cats had difficulty coping with "some sudden situations".

Scientists found that some "changes in habits" in these cats are prone to hair loss, vomiting, and other stressful behaviors.

The advice from Dr. Delgado is that cat owners should make it as difficult as possible for their cats to get food.

1. Find a paper box and hide the food in the box so that the cat can learn to open the box and find the food.

2. Put the canned cat food on a shelf, the cat needs to climb up to get to it.

3. Divide the cat's day's cat food into 20 small portions and place them in 20 hidden places in the house. The cat needs to find these food locations by itself to eat the cat food.

4. Cover the cat's food bowl with a paper lid, the cat needs to move the paper lid to eat the food by itself.

5. Hide the food in a small cabinet that needs to be opened and show the cat how to open the cabinet to make it more difficult for the cat to access the food.