Palatability

Palatability is how readily and willingly an animal accepts and eats a food, depending on texture, smell and composition, and it is not an indicator of nutritional quality (animal nutrition literature). This is the key caveat: a highly palatable food is not necessarily a better food, because palatability can be engineered through [coating](/glossary/coating) with fats, flavours and palatants applied after cooking, so enthusiasm at the bowl reflects how the kibble tastes more than what the base recipe contains. Dogs and cats differ in what drives palatability: cats are often more sensitive to aroma, texture and protein character, and can develop strong preferences or food fixation, for example on [tuna](/glossary/tuna), while dogs tend to be less selective. Ingredients such as [liver](/glossary/liver), [poultry fat](/glossary/poultry-fat) and [brewer's yeast](/glossary/brewers-yeast) are used precisely to boost acceptance. Palatability also has a clinical side, since a drop in interest can be an early sign of illness, linking it to [anorexia](/glossary/anorexia). The marker: palatability measures acceptance, not nutritional worth, so a food should be judged on its composition and analysis rather than on how eagerly it is eaten, a recurring caution across the [Petipedia glossary](/glossary).

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General documentary information. For an individual animal, a veterinarian's advice takes precedence over any online content.