In-Home Taste Panel: How We Learn What Cats Really Enjoy

Cats can be wonderfully picky, and their preferences can change from day to day. That’s why we work with cat parents, the people who know their cats best, to help taste test our recipes with real cats in real homes.

KatKin’s In-Home Taste Panels are how we understand what cats genuinely enjoy in the real world, at breakfast, dinner and all the moments in between. We focus on real-life feeding, because that’s where preferences matter most. 

Our In-Home Taste Panels are a structured way for cat parents to help us test new recipes and improvements. We look at few main things:

• How they interact with and approach the meal 

• How they behave before, during and after eating

• How much they choose to eat  

This gives us a fuller picture than “did they finish the bowl?” — because cats often tell us how they feel long before they walk away. 

So far, over 2,300 cats and their humans have taken part, giving us thousands of real meal experiences to learn from.

From analysing more than 4,000 feeding sessions, we’ve found clear patterns in how cats behave when they’re enjoying a meal, including some subtle behaviours cat parents often miss.

In 2024, we updated our approach after reviewing published research on how cats show food enjoyment.

We now track behaviours across three moments:

1. Before the meal (anticipation and approach)

2. During the meal (how they eat)

3. After the meal (how they settle afterwards)

By matching these signs with how much cats eat and how enthusiastically they begin, we get a clearer picture of what “enjoyment” looks like for cats eating fresh food.

Put simply: cats can’t tell us they love dinner… but their body language can.

Most feeding behaviour studies have focused on dry food and include only a small number of cats. Our dataset is much larger and looks specifically at fresh food, which may explain why some signs of enjoyment look different compared to earlier findings. Additionally, this data comes directly from cat parents like you, a real-world approach that reflects how cats actually eat at home, and helps make these insights useful for cat parents beyond KatKin.

Fresh food, like KatKin, starts with high-quality meat, fish and organ cuts that are gently cooked below 100°C. This helps preserve the natural texture, aroma and nutrients.

Because most conventional dry and wet diets go through much more intensive processing, their smell and texture are very different from fresh food, so it’s no surprise that cats behave differently across different diet types. What’s especially interesting is that signs that can signal hesitation in dry and wet foods, like licking or dropping the food, were actually linked to greater enjoyment in our fresh-food research. 

‼️ In other words, fresh food can get a little messy, and that's a good sign ‼️

Your cat’s feeding behaviour is one of the quickest everyday clues to how they’re feeling, but it’s easy to misread. You may never learn to “speak cat”, but you can learn to read their body language and cues.

When it comes to feeding behaviour, understanding what your cat is telling you can help prevent premature switching, unnecessary worry, and incorrect assumptions.

Sometimes, a cat who doesn’t finish a bowl in one go isn’t being “fussy” or “rejecting” the food — they may simply be full, distracted, or prefer eating in smaller bursts. Cats are natural grazers that hunt and eat multiple times a day. Eating smaller meals mimics this pattern, in other words it's not them being picky, they’re just following their instinct.

By understanding the most common signs of enjoyment, you can feel more confident about what you’re seeing, and make small adjustments if your cat needs encouragement.

Even with familiar food cats may eat less for totally normal reasons, like:

• Changes in the weather – they tend to eat less in warmer weather

• They were less active that day

• They’ve had more treats (or food elsewhere without your knowledge!)

• They’re feeling stressed or adapting to a change in their environment

• They’re taking medications or supplements that may change their appetite

Some days are just “off days”, and it’s best not to overreact. Cats can pick up on our energy, so if you’re hovering to see if they’ll eat, they may be less likely to relax into their meal.

That said, if a cat suddenly refuses food entirely or seems unwell, it’s always best to check in with your vet, especially if it lasts more than 24 hours.

If you’d like extra help, our Cat Expert Team is available seven days a week with tips to keep cats happily eating KatKin. You can call 020 4538 4144 or email meow@katkin.com.

We’re preparing these findings for peer-review publication as part of our ongoing work in feline nutrition and behaviour.