Why do domestic animals get excited to eat the same food over and over again?
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How often do we eat pizza, or cheeseburgers, or chocolate cake? I know people who would probably be happy with one of those every day.
Simply put, it’s because they aren’t as intelligent as us, so their sense of pleasure isn’t as sophisticated. Art, cuisine, discovery, if you think about it all of those things really only exist because humans are smart enough to question their environments and the world around them.
Most animals don’t have that luxury. They don’t care about variety because they literally don’t know what it is, they’re just happy to have a meal. That’s the same reason why cats can spend hours doing seemingly nothing and still be happy (they don’t have concepts of boredom like we do).
Not all of them are. I’ve had, and have now, finicky cats who need some brand & flavor variety to keep up a healthy appetite.
Also, pets’ excitement at mealtime has as lot to do with the ritual. Cats love rituals of all kinds, not just food-related. Fascination for daily activity patterns is built into their brains; it’s essential for hunting.
I don’t have as much experience with dogs, but I imagine the social dynamics of mealtime are important to them. As for us too!
Humans not getting excited to eat the same thing over and over again is very much a first world phenomenon. When food is so absurdly abundant we developed this trait.
Wild animals, domestic animals, even humans in 3rd world countries all get excited *not for the same food* but just for food itself.
If you leave food out for your dog all day long, and he is allowed to eat as much as he wants all day and you will always fill the bowl, he never gets excited for the food, and he’ll probably get fat.
Many dog owners restrict the amount of food their dogs get so they don’t get fat. This might entail a feeding twice a day as an example. The dog is excited, because he’s hungry!
Animals are enthusiastic about being nourished by their food, and not about being entertained by it, like most humans.
4walled prison breaks animal, as it would humans.
See White Christmas – Black mirror episode
Dogs actually get more enjoyment from the anticipation of food rather than the food itself.
It quite often goes down with them barely tasting anything at all.
Pretty much the reason why I switch my dogs food every so often. I buy the big bag of dry food. I’ll keep the same brand but pick a different flavor. Same thing with their wet food & veggies I add to it. I would assume they like a bit of variety too.
Humans only eat 3 things, protein, carbs and fat. You can dress it up in a variety of ways, but thats just window dressing to our digestive system.
My cat loves meat paté, and just imagine being a wild animal and having wildly differing quality of food during scavenging and hunting attempts. Great, you caught a bony, parched rat smelling of car fumes. Or you found some discarded fish guts on the beach. Free calories, down it goes.
Suddenly you get [savoury cake](https://images.zoo.se/87e589c6-aa67-46d6-b9f2-f099b3effe47?auto=format&q=80&f=webp&w=430) from a walking forest god in pants, and life has never been better. It’s warm inside the house, too.
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