Bonding Tip of The Week: Storing Food Better

Hey everybody! Molly with Cat Behavior Solutions, here with your Bonding Tip of the Week. This week’s bonding tip has to do with how you store the leftovers of your cat’s canned food.

Now, what does storing food have to do with bonding, you might ask? Well, it has a lot to do with bonding. What bonding really is, is anything you do to make your cat’s life more comfortable. I define a “comfortable” life by how able a cat is to express its natural behaviors within your home. The more you make your home a natural environment for your cat, the better it’s going to feel.

A lot of a cat’s natural environment has to do with—you guessed it!—food. When you open a can of cat food, don’t leave the leftovers in the can after you’ve served the first portion. Don’t simply put a lid or piece of aluminum foil on the top. Instead, put those leftovers in a Tupperware, a plastic container with a lid, or a glass jar. Sometimes I’ll even use glass mason jars. Then, stick it in the refrigerator to keep it fresh.

Why do we do this? When air touches the open can and you leave it sitting in there, it tends to emit a bitter flavor that cats don’t like. A lot of times, if you find that your cat is eating the first portion out of a can but won’t eat the leftovers, the taste of the open can is usually the issue.

So, store your leftovers in something other than the can, and trust me, that’ll make the cat feel better. Anytime a cat feels better, it appreciates you more, naturally leading to more bonding. Have a great bonding week, and until next time, keep calm and purr on.

For more cat behavior tips, visit: CatBehaviorSolutions.org