I'm curious about my cat. I am the one who usually feed my cat, and my sister is the one who feed him treats. I do this routinely, and she do this intermittently. Well... he choose my sister (in that he likes to play with my sister, ask my sister for food, which in turn order me to feed him) more than me. I know it's silly to be jealous of cat's affection. So, my question is this. Suppose that you are being taken care by two people. One of them gives you tasty food, often but irregularly. One of them gives you food that satisfy your hunger, even if it is rather bland, regularly. do you love the first person more or second person more? Why?
The tasty food is more memorable, so a person may choose to remember the first person a lot more. Humans and other animals alike tend to take things for granted. And it is only after losing something they took for granted do they learn to see its value. I still would not suggest starving your cat, however. Because that would fall under animal neglect/abuse.
As long as I take the regular food for granted, the occasional treats will be more attractive to me. Sorry about your cat's affections. Consider getting a new more loyal one. /jk
The tasty food comes first if both of you have the same amount of interaction with the cat. But if the said cat grew up with you always closer to it, like petting it regularly, it would like you more.
It's not likely that the cat has the knowledge and reasoning to recognise, "this is a person who is consistently taking care of my needs". The cat probably just sees, "provider of tasty things!" vs "provider of meh things", so of course the first is likely to be preferred, if it's based on the food factor alone. TBH as a super-picky eater I might even feel the same way as the cat, even if the logical part of my brain tells me that it's ridiculous...
From my experience, our cat used to play with us (me and sister) a lot more than our mom. But whenever she felt hungry, she'd follow mom all around the house meowing meekly. While we were blatantly ignored. Food came first for her. Cats are generally free and selfish anyway. Why don't you try giving him treats too and play more with him. Though probably nothing will change. Don't feel down because of that. Everyone has their favourite person. Just because kids prefer staying with their mom doesn't mean they don't love their dad. When your sister's out and your cat's hungry, he'll be like only you matter to him. Be happy with that. lol
How are you positive that the only difference between you and your sister is the food vs treats? It's worthwhile looking into other techniques that would make your cat feel more comfortable with you. Or take a day observing the interactions between your sister and the cat, see if you can identify anything that's different from how you treat it.
Well... not really. My sister is the one who played with the cat more often, as I said? I'm often ignored when I call his name, while my sister get recognized when she does.
The first person...... Cuz if the second person do that stuff daily it'd feel normal after a while.... But if person give me good food irregularly that'd feel special...
Well, what I'm trying to refer to is the more subtle things... like how does your sister approach the cat, how does she handle the cat, where does she touch, etc. I'm more inclined to believe there is something else that she's doing or at least once did and had continued to do to build a better relationship compared to you and the cat. Feeding (treats or daily otherwise)... I think can only get you so far without something else to support it. Cats generally don't recognize food as much as dogs.
Cats usually have a certain person they're closer with and they're usually someone who has a nearer wavelength with them so maybe yes get another cat that likes you more and has a close wavelength with u lmao.