[Closed] Can animals see what they are eating.

I think cats work by smell when eating (to work out which bits to leave). They're supposed to be pretty blind close up. They detect prey relative to their mouths using their whiskers which they can shove forward when they pounce on something.

But can they actually see the food right next to their mouth to allow such precision with their snout in the way.

They don't need to. Just the same as you don't need to constantly watch your front wheel when you ride a bike.( or indeed your fork as you eat your dinner)
You've already seen the stuff that's coming and you have enough spatial awareness to track it , relative to your position that you don't need to constantly focus on it.

Cats are way, way better at this than humans. Dogs not so much.

Cats don’t eat the green wobbly bit.

That was a Terry Pratchett reference. In real life cats will often eat the green wobbly bit.

They always leave one organ (liver?) on the kitchen floor, the rest seems to get eaten...

They always leave one organ (liver?) on the kitchen floor, the rest seems to get eaten…

I always thought it was the stomach?

Brains and liver are high in nutrients and certain proteins. I'm pretty sure that the "green wobbly bit" is the digestive tract, my cat Oliver always puts this in a little pile next to the carcass.

Oliver will eat the heads of rabbits first and often leave the rest. As an aside he managed to get a weasel the other morning, didn't eat it just killed it with a throat bite.

With my two dogs, all things are eaten too fast for them to see what they eat

Cat's can't see at all well close up so lack of flat face is irrelevant.

Perchy i'd forgotten it was a terry quote.

However... all our cats have left the green wibbly bits proper semi ferral rat catchers.

Also you give me way more credit for hand eye coordination than i deserve. Coffee is a fashion statement on me.

That was a Terry Pratchett reference. In real life cats will often eat the green wobbly bit.

Beg to differ. My cats never did. Terry was a cat lover so presumably got the idea through observation.

I always thought the green wobbly bit was the stomach and full of acid.

EDIT: Thinking about this, I only know this because of the presence of random green wobbly bits on my kitchen floor. I suppose there COULD be times when they ate the green wobbly bits, leaving no evidence at all.

Our cat is pretty good at absolutely destroying a meal, but removing the parts he doesn't want with surgical precision.

There's often mice guts left in a nice pile somewhere around the garden.

predators have eyes in the front of their head so can see close in front of them. Herbivores have eyes in the sides of their head - they cannot see well whats close in front of them if at all

predators have eyes in the front of their head so can see close in front of them. Herbivores have eyes in the sides of their head – they cannot see well whats close in front of them if at all

By that rationale, omnivores should have one on the front and one on the side.

The green wobbly bit is most likely the gall bladder. As it implies, it is not nice.I have (twice) awoken to the sound of my (now departed 🙁 ) cat, chomping a pretty large rabbit on the white wool carpet under my bed. Just far enough in that it cannot be reached. Next day, moving the bed has found not so much as a red spot on the carpet to mark the demise of the rabbit, but in both cases the green gall bladder was the only sign of its' passing.

So what about flat fish then, both eyes on top, what do they eat ? Whatever it is it must fall from above 🙂

predators have eyes in the front of their head so can see close in front of them. Herbivores have eyes in the sides of their head – they cannot see well whats close in front of them if at all

Furbys are predators.

By that rationale, omnivores should have one on the front and one on the side.

You’ve been looking at too many Picasso pieces

You’ve been looking at too many Picasso pieces

Probably, but at least I now know how to spot a Vegan.

It'll give me a split second advantage before they tell me anyway.

Predators have them at the front so that they can judge distance too, not just to see what's in front. Prey have them at the side so that they can sport threats; the distances is kind of irrelevant if you can't see it.

Same thing with the different pupil shapes... Some allow sport focus (like us), some allow sharper vision over a narrow band, like a horizon on a plain.

By that rationale, omnivores should have one on the front and one on the side.

you're thinking of bike thieves