Cats Eat by Scent: How Smell Drives Their Half-Finished Meals
New research in Physiology & Behavior shows cats don’t finish meals because they get desensitized to familiar smells; olfactory habituation reduces interest in the same food over time, while a new scent or food re-engages them, explaining why Oliver starts and stops eating and why cats pace their meals (unlike dogs) as part of an evolved, scent-driven behavior.