{"id":4075,"date":"2021-12-21T06:56:09","date_gmt":"2021-12-21T12:56:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/petpundit.com\/?p=4075"},"modified":"2021-12-21T06:56:09","modified_gmt":"2021-12-21T12:56:09","slug":"does-my-cat-really-want-us-to-watch-him-eat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cathyrosenthal.com\/blog\/2021\/12\/21\/does-my-cat-really-want-us-to-watch-him-eat\/","title":{"rendered":"Does my cat really want us to watch him eat?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dear Cathy,<\/span><\/p>\n

Oliver is our three year old cat. He was rescued at about eight weeks old. He has grown to become a happy, healthy and very playful adult cat. However, he has one odd behavior that we don\u2019t understand. Before he approaches his food bowls, he will meow at whatever family member is nearby to come and stand next to him while he eats. Sometimes while he is eating, he\u2019ll look up to make sure the person is still there and can be reassured with a little pet. If the person is otherwise preoccupied, he\u2019ll just sit there and meow until they come. This behavior isn\u2019t really an inconvenience, rather, we find it kind of amusing. We are just curious why he behaves this way. My daughter\u2019s theory is that he wants someone to \u201cwatch his back\u201d while he\u2019s eating. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u2013 Sandy, Seaford, New York<\/span><\/p>\n

Dear Sandy,<\/span><\/p>\n

Your daughter\u2019s theory is likely correct. Cats are always on the lookout for danger, falling asleep throughout the day, but always ready to pounce at a moment\u2019s notice. When they are eating, they are vulnerable, so Oliver is simply asking your family to \u201cwatch his back,\u201d as you say.<\/span><\/p>\n

Most cats, however, don\u2019t refuse to eat unless a family member is around. But when a cat can communicate his wishes and get his family to comply, I consider the cat highly-intelligent and the family highly-intuitive. I love that your family responds to him and stands with him while he eats. Oliver\u2019s very lucky to have such a loving and perceptive family.<\/span><\/p>\n

Cathy M. Rosenthal is a longtime animal advocate, children’s author, syndicated pet columnist, and pet expert with more than 30 years in the animal welfare field. Send your pet questions, stories and tips to\u00a0cathy@petpundit.com<\/a>. Please include your name, city, and state. You can follow her @cathymrosenthal<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dear Cathy, Oliver is our three year old cat. He was rescued at about eight weeks old. He has grown […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cathyrosenthal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4075"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cathyrosenthal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cathyrosenthal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cathyrosenthal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cathyrosenthal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4075"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cathyrosenthal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4075\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cathyrosenthal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4075"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cathyrosenthal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4075"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cathyrosenthal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4075"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}