How to use food to bond with your cat

Hi everybody! This is Molly, with Cat Behavior Solutions. Welcome to the Bonding Tip of the Month. As we explore the different techniques you can use to bond with your cat, this first tip is going to come into play pretty often. And that tip is: use food and treats such as Vitakraft cat treats.

Why do I suggest you use food to bond with your cat, instead of other kinds of "treats" like cuddling or affection? You’d think cats would be like dogs, where you can go lie on the couch and cuddle with them. Shouldn’t that be a bonding moment with your cat, too?

Not necessarily. Cats are different! Cats are independent, and I think deep down, they don’t really need us. After all, if these natural-born hunters found themselves outside, they could probably survive on their own. Because of this, cats only really respond to the highest-value incentive—and that incentive is food.

To understand how to bond with cats, though, we first need to understand their relationship with each other, and their relationship with us.

Different Hierarchies

One key to understanding why cats behave the way they do, and why they behave differently from dogs, is a lack of social hierarchies. Dogs will do things for pets and crave your approval, and that’s because dogs have evolved with a social hierarchy: everybody has a place in the family. A dog always wants to please its pack master, and in their eyes, that pack master is us.

Cats haven’t evolved with a social hierarchy like that at all. In the wild, they’re solitary creatures, carving out large spaces and defending those territories. Therefore, they aren’t wired to consider “status” or “placement” within a family unit. They do develop bonds between each other, and with us of course, but they certainly don’t see us as the head of the pack—or even the head of the household!

A Gap in Domestication

Fast forward to the dawn of civilization and suddenly, agriculture created an opportunity for domestication. By definition, domesticated animals are animals that work for us, and in our early relationship with dogs, they were hunters, herders, and transporters. As a result, dogs were brought into a pet environment centuries before cats, and their social hierarchies only reinforced this.

Cats, on the other hand, were domesticated much, much later in history. There's an argument for whether or not cats are even domesticated in the first place!

Unlike dogs, cats never had a job. In the age of agriculture, they stayed on the periphery of camp, where grain was stored. Grain storage attracted a lot of rodents, which in turn attracted a lot of cats. Even back then, food was the crux of our relationship with cats. And so, the thing that motivates cats the most is food. 

That’s why I’m saying: food first! Now that you understand the why, we’ll take a deeper dive into how to use food to bond with your cat in the next Bonding Tips of the Month.  Stick around!

What Cats Are Really Into Bonding Tip of the Month are created in cooperation with Molly DeVoss, cat behaviorist and Vitakraft Cat Treats.

For more information on Vitakraft Cat Treats Please visit https://www.vitakraft.us/cats/ to learn more about Vitakraft’s collection of small-batch cat treats packed with healthy and flavorful ingredients in the shapes, tastes, and textures your favorite feline will love. Plus, find the best tips for cat owners to strengthen the bond with their cats.

Want more Molly? Follow her on social meda: @MollyDeVoss