question: Why do many felines refuse to eat when the bottom of their food bowl is visible?
comment: It's actually not about the bottom of their foodbowls being visible. The reason they eat only from the center is because of something known as whisker fatigue. The whiskers are thick hairs that each have an incredibly sensitive organ at the end called a proprioceptor. When the proprioceptors touch an object, vibrations travel down the whiskers to follicles that are rooted in nerve-rich areas of your cat’s body. This can translate into sensory overload when his whiskers touch too many things in the course of his day, especially unavoidable things like the sides of his food and water bowls. As hungry as the cat is, the sensation of constantly bumping all 24 (give or take) of the sensitive whiskers in his muzzle against the sides of your too-deep/not wide-enough cat food bowls causes him pain and stress every time he opens his mouth to eat. *edit* thank you all for the votes and the gilding.
passages: Section::::Visual dominance in animals.
   Up to five million pet dogs in the UK, approximately 50% of the population, may perform undesirable separation-related behaviour when left home alone. Dogs were trained to move from a start position to a food bowl. When the bowl was on one side of the room ('positive' location, P) it contained a small quantity of food, and when on the opposite side ('negative' location, N) it was empty. In test trials, the bowl (empty) was placed at one of three ambiguous locations between P and N (near-positive (NP), middle (M), or near-negative (NN). Three test trials were presented at each location. The researchers measured how quickly the dogs moved to the ambiguous locations, fast indicating anticipation of food (an 'optimistic' judgement) or more slowly (a 'pessimistic' judgement). These cognitive bias tests show that dogs which exhibit high levels of separation-related behaviour in a separation test also have a more negative underlying mood.
   In 2009, an experiment was conducted where cats could pull on a string to retrieve a treat under a plastic screen. When presented with one string, cats had no trouble getting the treats, but when presented with multiple strings, some of which were not connected to treats, the cats were unable to consistently choose the correct strings, leading to the conclusion that cats do not understand cause and effect in the same way that humans do.
   Cats, like rats, are nocturnal animals, sensitive to tactual cues from their vibrissae. But the cat, as a predator, must rely more on its sight. Kittens were observed to have excellent depth-discrimination. At four weeks, the earliest age that a kitten can skillfully move about, they preferred the shallow side of the cliff. When placed on the glass over the deep side, they either freeze or circle backward until they reach the shallow side of the cliff.
  
  Section::::The study in different species.:Turtles.
   This response is characterized by the animal curling back its top lip exposing the front teeth and gums, then inhaling and holding the posture for several seconds. The behavior may be performed over particular locations, in which case the animal may also lick the site of interest, or may perform the flehmen with the neck stretched and head held high in the air for a more general gustatory or taste-related investigation. The flehmen response often gives the "appearance" that the animal is looking spiteful, grimacing, smirking or laughing.
  
  Section::::Mechanism.
   A direct stare by a cat usually communicates a challenge or threat and is more likely to be seen in high-ranking cats; lower-ranking cats usually withdraw in response. The direct stare is often used during predation or for territorial reasons.
   Dominance can be seen among cats in multi-cat households. It can be seen when other cats submit to the "dominant" cat. Dominance includes such behaviours as walking around the dominant cat, waiting for the dominant cat to walk past, avoiding eye contact, crouching, laying on their side (defensive posture), and retreating when the dominant cat approaches. Dominant cats present a specific body posture as well. The cat displays ears straight up, the base of its tail will be arched, and it looks directly at subordinate cats. These dominant cats are usually not aggressive, but if a subordinate cat blocks food they may become aggressive. When this aggressive behaviour occurs it could also lead to the dominant cat preventing subordinate cats from eating and using the litter box. This can cause the subordinate cat to defecate somewhere else and create problems with human interaction.
   Dogs which have been forbidden to take food are more likely to steal the food if a human observer has their back turned or eyes closed than when the human is looking at them. Dogs are also more likely to beg for food from an observer whose eyes are visible compared to an observer whose eyes are covered by a blindfold.
   In early episodes, the Cat exhibits typical feline behaviours such as licking anyone who gives him food, playing with "shiny things" and marking his territory, for which purpose he carries a small spray-can in his pocket. While scent-marking, he repeats, "This is mine, this is mine, and all of this is mine." He bats his food around when it is served on the table, explaining to his startled shipmates, "that is what cats do with [live] food!"
   Rats do not depend upon visual cues like some of the other species tested. Their nocturnal habits lead them to seek food largely by smell. When moving about in the dark, they respond to tactual cues from their stiff whiskers (vibrissae) located on the snout. Hooded rats tested on the visual cliff show little preference for either side of the visual cliff apparatus as long as they could feel the glass with their vibrissae. When placed upon the glass over the deep side, they move about as if there was no cliff.
  
  Section::::The study in different species.:Cats.
   Suddenly, Foghorn is attacked by a ravenously hungry weasel who gnaws Foghorn's leg. Foghorn grabs the weasel and asks him if he wouldn't prefer some venison. Foghorn slips antlers onto Dawg's head and directs the weasel to him. The weasel attacks Dawg's leg. Dawg notices the antlers and removes them, and asks the weasel how he'd like some frozen chicken.
   BULLET::::3. Mixed aphagia: When presented with food, the animal initially does not react positively or negatively. However, when food is placed in the mouth, the animal demonstrates active aphagia, spitting out the food and refusing to eat thereafter.
   Section::::Socialization.:Dominance.
   African wild dogs ("Lycaon pictus") show a ritualised form of begging behaviour which apparently functions as communication of social stability rather than soliciting food. Pack members use body language to show submission to a dominant dog and avoid conflict. They roll over on their bellies or wag their tails. Other signs of submission or appeasement include exposing the throat and food-begging, or licking the corners of the dominant dog's mouth. Pack members show submission towards the alpha female by lying down to “nurse” from her. When two wild dogs meet, they display such submission to one another, muzzle licking, whining, and even regurgitating food to the other. African wild dogs rarely fight over food. If two wild dogs have a piece of food that they both want, rather than inflict injuries upon the other, they will practise "aggressive begging", where they will flatten their ears, curl their lips, lower their front-quarters, curl their tail over their back, and try to crawl under the other wild dog.
   Additionally, it has been shown that some predators are “smart,” or have learned to recognize that distraction displays indicate a nearby nest. One study recorded a red fox that increased its searching behavior in response to the distraction display of a grouse and eventually found and killed the grouse nestlings.
  
  Section::::Costs and decision to display.:Factors influencing decision.
   Domestic cats select food based on its temperature, smell and texture; they dislike chilled foods and respond most strongly to moist foods rich in amino acids, which are similar to meat. Cats may reject novel flavors (a response termed neophobia) and learn quickly to avoid foods that have tasted unpleasant in the past. They may also avoid sugary foods and milk. Most adult cats are lactose intolerant; the sugars in milk are not easily digested and may cause soft stools or diarrhea. They can also develop odd eating habits. Some cats like to eat or chew on other things, most commonly wool, but also plastic, cables, paper, string, aluminum foil, or even coal. This condition, pica, can threaten their health, depending on the amount and toxicity of the items eaten. See also Animal psychopathology § Pica.
   In the backyard, Tom sits on Jerry to hide Jerry and shows Meathead the empty sardine can as he comes by. Jerry reveals himself by sticking Tom with a gardening fork and runs away; Meathead attempts to catch him, but Tom has tied Meathead's tail to the garden hose, who is then pulled back into the spigot and rained on. Tom then chases Jerry and catches him near an open window; a pie is sitting on the deck, and Tom holds it out for Meathead to promptly hit. Tom runs away with Jerry, but soon trips into a garbage can and loses Jerry to Meathead; as Tom emerges from the can, he wallops Meathead with a frying pan and flips Jerry in the pan a few times. The mouse escapes and wriggles through a hole in a fence, and when Tom peeks through, he is whacked with a length of pipe. When the cat sees his opponent arrive, he waves him ahead, and Meathead receives the same punishment.
   As a result of this, the raccoon inadvertently sets Kelly's sofa alight.
  
  Section::::Reception.
  
  Section::::Reception.:Controversies.
   Stickleback fish have been documented performing distraction displays. A nesting male three-spined stickleback, when approached by a group of conspecifics, will perform a distraction display by digging or pointing into the substrate away from the nest in order to protect his eggs from cannibalism. There have been two explanations proposed for this behavior. One hypothesis is that the display arose from a courtship behavior in which the male normally "points" an approaching female towards his nest so that she may lay her eggs within it. Therefore, pointing at the sediment away from a nest containing eggs may divert a cannibalistic female's attention through sexual cues. A second hypothesis is that the stickleback distraction display arose from displaced foraging behavior and as such represents faux-foraging. In support of this hypothesis was the finding that all-male, all-female, and mixed foraging groups responded equally to the display, which would not be expected if it were indeed mimicking a sexual display.
   Chimpanzees have passed the False Belief Test (see above) involving anticipating the gaze of humans when objects have been removed.
  
  Section::::In nonhuman primates.:Other primates.
   Trading habit
  
  Trading habit is a behaviour exhibited by rodents (and more specifically, by pack rats) in which they will drop an item that they are currently carrying in favour of another, more attractive item. It is particularly pronounced in the Bushy-tailed Woodrat, which may incorporate a wide range of natural and manufactured items in its midden.
   Oddly if perhaps not surprisingly considering how much Puggsy bullies the cowardly Fangs in his weak-willed human form, whenever Fangface sees food or hears a food word like "turkey", he tries to eat Puggsy or eats him whole, although he doesn't chew or swallow him and just contentedly leaves him trapped in his hugely bulging chipmunk-like cheeks. The only way to get Puggsy out of Fangface's jaws is for either Biff or Kim to rub Fangface's foot, thereby calming him down and releasing Puggsy.
   Studies show that scaly-breasted munias tend to adopt the scrounger tactic when food is more clumped and when the group size increases. When most foragers adopt scrounging, the time taken to discover new food patches is greater.
  
  Section::::Food and foraging.:Vigilance.
   Given these risks, an animal must decide when distraction display is an appropriate response to a predator. Researchers have found several important factors that appear to influence the decision to use a distraction display and the intensity of the display, although it is not evident that these factors are taken into consideration consciously by the displaying animal.
   Armstrong additionally noted that displaying animals were rarely captured by predators, as would be expected if the display were truly uncontrolled, and that the movements seemed to show signs of some sort of control by the animal, although likely not conscious, intelligent control. One example of apparent control is attention seemingly paid to routes used by the displaying animal when moving away from the nest. Furthermore, researchers have noted parent animals moving towards the predator during the display. While some of these cases could be attributed to mistakes made during "partial paralysis," in the case described by Wiklund and Stigh, snowy owls consistently walked or ran towards the predator while displaying, suggesting that the action was deliberate.
  
presuppositions: Cats don't like to eat from near empty bowls because they can see the bottom of the bowls. Felines won't eat when the bottom of their food bowl is visible.
corrections: Cats suffer from whisker fatigue when their whisker hits an empty bowl too much. Felines won't eat when they're whisker fatigued.
raw_presuppositions: Cats don't like to eat from near empty bowls because they can see the bottom of the bowls. Felines won't eat when the bottom of their food bowl is visible.
raw_corrections: Cats suffer from whisker fatigue when their whisker hits an empty bowl too much. Felines won't eat when they're whisker fatigued.