Mindful Bites // Master Thesis by Alev Sonmez

MINDFUL BITES Design for Conscious Cat Feeding Experience to Prevent Cat Obesity

Master Thesis by

Plamena Karova (Alev Sรถnmez) October, 2017

MSc Design for Interaction Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering Delft University of Technology

CHAIR

Prof. Dr. Ir. Pieter Desmet Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering Delft University of Technology

MENTOR

Dr. Ir. Natalia Romero Herrera Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering Delft University of Technology

Misha

Acknowledgements The process of this project was full of fascination, curiosity and excitement, but it was also challenging and intense. I would like to thank the wonderful people supported me in this process. First and foremost my supervisors, Pieter Desmet and Natalia Herrera. I am very grateful to have the opportunity to work with you. You were always there to support me whenever I need guidance. Your optimistic, enthusiastic and open minded attitude was a great motivation. Thank you for sharing your expertise and precious opinions with me. Your encouragement meant a lot to me in this process. Mum and Dad. Not only during this project but at all steps in my life, you have offered your endless support and unconditional love. Thanks to you, I was able to discover the things I am passionate about, the things which make me happy in my life. Special thanks to my mum and Misha for inspiring this project. I started the project with your saying ‘I cannot reject him because then I feel too guilty’. Now I know what you mean. My dear friends. Special thanks to my everyday companions Heidi and Yankı. You are the ones who witnessed my anxiety as well as my euphoria the most. You were always there to listen, to give advice, to help out, to comfort, to cheer up and to celebrate. My dearest friend Ahsen, although we were physically apart, I always felt your compassion and support beside me. My other bellowed friends in Turkey, UK, Italy and Taiwan. Thanks for your positive energy. Our meaningful memories keep me feel attached to my ‘self’, while I am growing and developing further. Special thanks to Yankı and Dany for being so kind to proofread my work. I appreciate your time and patience. Hope you enjoyed it. The fellow students of Design for Animals Lab. It was a pleasure to work with you. Thank you for your helpful attitude and fruitful feedback at all the stages of my project. Special thanks to Lei Zhang for being my research partner in Study 1. Sharing our opinions was a great help. Without your research skills the analysis session would be a burden. The veterinary experts that I consulted during the project; Petra Honajzerová, Renate Massar, Ülkü Kartaltepe, Wouter Molenbroek. Thank you for being so kind to share your knowledge and feedback with me. Last but not least I would like to thank all the participants involved in my user studies. The lovely cats -Snor, Shiaolyu, Shinji, Highfive, Mia, Leyla, Samad, Whity, Misha, Fishead, Wasabi, Chiusheng, Annabel, Morphy, Milo, Chef, Tip, Majesteit, Bontekoe, Joep, Franky, Dean- and their kind caretakers. Thank you for being so open and enthusiastic to share your experiences with me. Without you, this project would not be possible.

Preface Food has a unique value in human society. As humans, we do not only fulfill our nutritional needs by food, but we also use it as a medium to reinforce our relationships. Food is a cozy ingredient of our celebrations, consolations and apologies. Thus providing food symbolizes caring loved ones, making them happy and fulfilled. When it comes to animal companionship, we as humans tend to reflect our existing caring practices to our relationships with animals. We love our companion animals. They play such a significant role in our lives. They offer us their unconditional love. So why not to make them happy with a couple of extra bites of food? In this project we aimed to tackle one of the biggest health problems in cat companions, obesity. Unfortunately, cat obesity is primarily caused by their beloved human companionsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; inconsiderate feeding habits. Caregivers harm their animals with good intentions, by overfeeding. Why do people overfeed their animals? To answer this question, we explored feeding experience from multiple perspectives i.e. behavior, practice, and interaction. Then we utilized our findings to design for a positive change in caregivers feeding behaviors. Our final design concept, Mindful Bites, aims to create a conscious feeding experience to prevent obesity in cat companions.

Table of Contents P11

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER 1

CHAPTER 2

P15 LITERATURE RESEARCH

P31 THEORETICAL MODELS

P16 Human Cat Companionship

P32 Social Practice Theory

Historical perspective Benefits Scale Unique characteristics of Cats Relationship Factors Summary P21 Weight Management Significance of obesity Obesity Factors Existing Implementations Summary P28 Discussion Human -Cat Interaction Feeding as an Interaction Feeding as a Behaviour Feeding as an Experience

Practice Oriented Approach Elements of Practice Agency Consciousness Why P33 Design For Emotion Emotions Concerns Dilemmas Why P34 Transtheoretical Model Stages of Change Why P35 Parental Feeding Parental Feeding Styles Why

P109

CONCLUSIONS

P114

REFERENCES

P117

APPENDIX

CHAPTER 3 P37 CONTEXTUAL

RESEARCH P38 Study 1 Purpose Overview Findings Conclusions Discussion P39 Study 2 Purpose Overview Findings Conclusions

CHAPTER 4

CHAPTER 5

CHAPTER 6

P61 VISION

P73 CONCEPTUALISATION

P91 EVALUATION

P62 Approach

P75 Directions

P92 The User Test

Empowering vs Dictating Emotional Triggers Prevention P64 Target Group First-time Caregivers Indulgent Feeding Style Feeding Experience Journey

P70 Design Goal Preliminary Design Goal Interaction Qualities

Defining the Directions Exploring the Directions P77 Concepts Defining the Concepts Final Design Goal The Concepts Concept Selection P84 The Final Concept Mindful Bites Mindful Treats Mindful Meals Mindful Strokes Tone of Design

Purpose Overview P95 Concept Review Mindful Treats Mindful Meals P104 Conclusions &

Recommendations Mindful Meals Mindful Treats Mindful Strokes Channels

Introduction P12 P13 P13

The Project Terms The Report

THE PROJECT Problem Definition This project addresses one of the most serious rising health condition in cat population; obesity. In western society, obesity is reported to occur in one of four cats (Feuer, 2006), which leads to serious health problems, leading to a shorter life span (APOP, 2017). Overfeeding is the most important factor leading to overweight in cat companions. Due to the nature of the relationship, the human is accountable for the caloric intake of a cat. People love their animals, they want them to be healthy and live happily. However they are locked in certain feeding habits, which is why so many cats suffer from excess weight. Why people overfeed their beloved companions? This was the question that initiated this project.

Approach The design field has so far mostly focused on tackling problems in human society, with a human centric approach. By doing so, designers often overlook the problems in other living creaturesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; lives that are caused by human action. On the other hand, animal sciences approach the problems of animal companions from an animal-centric perspective. That is why overfeeding has not yet been formulated as a behavioural problem that needs to be changed. Besides feeding, the intersection of weight management and the cat-human relationship has not yet been discussed from a holistic point of view. Therefore in this project we explored feeding from multiple perspectives i.e. behaviour, practice, interaction and centralized it as an everyday experience, shaped by both humans and animals.

Project Phases The project is divided into five main stages, in which design and research activities took part informed each other (Figure 1). Literature research and contextual research provided us with an holistic understanding of feeding experience. The insights gathered from them motivated our design vision and set the ground for conceptualisation phase. Finally, evaluation phase took part to assess our design intervention based on the goals we have defined.

Figure 1. The phases of the project

Design for Animals Lab This graduation project is a self-initiated research and design project within the scope of Design for Interaction Master’s Program at the Technical University of Delft. It has been conducted within a recently initiated lab in the Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering. The community of the lab consist of students, researchers, and professors who aim to explore new opportunities to contribute to human animal relationships in meaningful ways by including animals as equally important stakeholders.

THE REPORT Structure Introduction CHAPTER 1: Literature Research This chapter provides a brief understanding of the literature surrounding the topic of the project.

CHAPTER 2: Theoretical Models

TERMS Companion versus Pet There are various terms that are used to indicate domesticated animals living in our homes. The term ‘pet’ has long been used for those animals, followed by the term ‘pet owner’ referring to the humans and ‘pet keeping’ referring to the practice of living with them. However, the term ‘pet’ is not recognized as politically correct anymore because it alludes animals as possessions to be owned, bought, sold and captured (Belk, 1996) and glorifies the hierarchical roles of the relationship. The professionals of veterinary medicine, animal welfare and animal human interaction prefer to use the term ‘companion animal’ since it puts the affectionate value of the mutual relationship foremost. Likewise, they refer to people living with companion animals as ‘human companions’, ‘caretakers’, and ‘guardians’ (Walsh, 2009). In this project we consider animals as relevant stakeholders by looking after needs as well as humans’. As an interaction designer, with an open minded and responsible attitude, I want to manifest my ethical perspective by the terms I use. Therefore, throughout this report, I will generally use companion animal term accompanied with caretakers, caregivers, human companion and companionship terms. Pet, pet owner and pet keeping terms are rarely used for the sake of creating recognition - since they are mostly recognized by respondents in the research.

This chapter describes the theoretical models utilised in the project and explains why we decided to use them.

CHAPTER 3: Contextual Research This chapters consists of the details and the outcomes of the two user research studies conducted to explore the feeding experience.

CHAPTER 4: Vision This chapter discusses the main findings from interaction designer perspective. Our purpose and approach is communicated in this chapter, which lays the basis of conceptualisation activities.

CHAPTER 5: Conceptualization This chapter explains the creative process and describes the final concept

CHAPTER 6: Evaluation This chapter explains the evaluation study. The conclusions and recommendations regarding the results of the study also communicated in this chapter.

Conclusion Appendix: Further explanations and the reseach materials used in the studies are presented.

Steve McQueen with his cat ‘Kitty Cat’

CHAPTER 1

LITERATURE RESEARCH P16 P21 P26

Human Cat Companionship Weight Management Discussion

In this chapter, the knowledge gained from the literature on weight management and human animal companionship, will be presented with regards to feeding practice. Furthermore, we will discuss feeding from interaction, behaviour and experience perspectives. The discussion will reveal the gap that we want to adress by this project.

HUMAN CAT COMPANIONSHIP Historical Perspective Animal companionship predates to Ancient ages. Human-being started domesticating certain types of animals at first primarily for functional needs, such as transportation, protection and hunting. Cats, in particular, are assumed to be domesticated by Egyptians around 4000 years ago as protectors of crops - by killing rodents (Bernstein, 2007). However, as domesticated animals started closely involving human everyday life, they served an additional function of being “an important other for humans to interact with and talk to, in both home and institutional settings” (Bernstein, 2007). So, the ‘companionship’ concept was born. Today in our highly urbanized society, the affectionate bond provided by animal companions - particularly by dogs and cats outweighs their utilitarian function. In our modern society animal companionship is a part of the social fabric. Companion animals involve in our everyday routine, relationships and moods; their existence appropriates infrastructure and laws; their needs create opportunities for market; their rights underlie ethical discussions by stimulating our moral values (Figure 2).

Benefits Over the past 40 years, wide range of studies from various disciplines provided evidence that interacting with animal companions contribute to both psychological and physiological well-being of humans (Walsh, 2009). Physical interaction with an animal companion significantly reduces the blood pressure and increases neurochemicals associated with relaxation (Walsh, 2009). Not only softness and affectionate strokes, but also the taken responsibility may contribute to caregivers positive mood. For example, being responsible of walking a dog may compel the human to interact with their surroundings and involve in social interaction. In fact, studies claim that animal companions have positive impact on coping with anxiety, depression and loneliness (Beck, 2005; Turner, 2000). This means animal companions contribute to people’s wellbeing by providing emotional support. They fill people’s life, provide them affectionate interactions and make their caretakers feel competent and being loved.

Figure 2. The transformation of the cats’ role in social fabric; funtional equipments (left), companions in humandesigned modern everyday (right).

Scale of Cat Companionship

Unique Characteristic of Cats

Dogs and cats appear to be the first two most popular animal companions (Figure 3). According to the report of FEDIAF published in 2016, it is estimated that 80 million households have at least one companion animal and the total cat population is 102 million in Europe. In the Netherlands 24 % of the households have at least one cat as a companion animal (FEDIAF, 2016). Demographic trends, such as individualistic culture, growing elderly population and urbanization are some of the factors leading to easyto-care-for animals such as cats, to be preferred over larger, more care-intensive animals such as dogs, for example in the United States and China (Bernstein, 2007). The growing number of animal companion population also gives rise to market opportunities, especially in western society. The amount of money spent on pets doubled in past decade (Walsh, 2009). As FEDIAF reported in 2016, in Europe, the annual value of pet related products and services is €16 billion. The pet food industry - approximately 132 companies producing food in Europe - represents an annual growth rate of 2% (FEDIAF, 2016). This holistic picture suggests that pet feeding experience is a promising area from the business point of view.

Cats and dogs are somehow regarded as contrasting characters. Not only they, but also their human companions have been polarized by the terms ‘dog person’ and ‘cat person’. It means that dogs and cats serve different kinds of companionship. Ease of care, affectionate companionship, appearance and ‘personalities’ of cats are the common reasons why people prefer cat companions (Bernstein, 2007). Compared to dogs, they are less dependent to humans for fulfilling daily needs, such as defecation or physical activity. So, they require less effort and less vigorous interaction than dogs. Since they can bare loneliness during the day, they are suitable for living with people who has to work for long hours. Besides, cats show more independent characteristics compared to dogs. Some people regard this characteristic as novel and like cats particularly for being self-ordained (Belk, 1996). On the other hand, people who expect a more hierarchical type of relationship that is revolving around the values of loyalty, leading and coordinated activities (following owner’s movements such as sat back when owner sat back) may regard cats being obdurate, ingrate, selfish and less social. No matter how these characteristics are interpreted, that is what makes cat companionship unique.

“ Cats are very impersonal and they just act like they are the greatest thing on this earth and they are just really pesky. And dogs, they are there with you all the time, they love you all the time.” (Anonymous quote as cited in Belk, 1996)

Figure 3. Top three companion animals in Europe (FEDIAF, 2016)

Relationship Factors As is suggested by Hinde - in the light of Relationship Theory- a relationship is built gradually within a social context and involves behaviour, subjective experience and interactions of parties (as cited in Mosteller, 2008). So, a specific cat human relationship is shaped by the characteristics of both a human and a cat.

(thoughts, feeling, motivations and beliefs) to nonhuman animals ” (Bernstein, 2007). People tend to use anthropomorphic mindset when they try to interpret the behaviour of the animals. This leads people to perceive their animal companions as quasi-humans sharing their emotions (Belk, 1996). Although anthropomorphic tendencies facilitate greater bonds, they may also result in misconceptions regarding caregiving e.g offering treat to apologize just as buying a gift for a friend to say sorry.

CAT-RELATED FACTORS The temperament, age and gender play major roles in cats’ behaviours (Bernstein, 2007). Certain behaviour patterns of the cats lead to ‘friendlier’ perception. For example, ‘vocal cats (used to meow frequently) perceived to be more social and responsive. Cats behaviour can be influenced by other animals sharing the household (Bernstein, 2007), as well as by hormonal changes such as neutralization. Their ‘unique personalities’ can fall into three temperament types identified by Feuer et al., i.e. active/aggressive, timid/nervous and confident easy-going (as cited in Bernstein, 2007).

HUMAN RELATED FACTORS Demographics The characteristics of human companions, which may affect the relationship, extends from personality and previous experience to living conditions, age and gender (Bernstein, 2007). However, most of the studies investigated these factors in a statistical manner by presenting data on the gender and age distribution of the caregivers, regardless of the quality of the relationship. Attachment Levels There are some quantitative tools designed to examine the levels of the bond, e.g. Pet Attachment Scale (Anderson, 2007). Although these tools are used in a remarkable number of studies, none of them is specifically designed for cat companions. Due to their quantitative nature, they are lack of presenting the interactions involve in different attachment levels. Anthropomorphism Human-related factors shaping the relationship seem to involve more complex elements of psychological and sociological concepts. Anthropomorphism is one of the most significant concepts underlying the dynamics of the companionship. It means “attribution of human mental states

Perceived Roles The studies show that the animal companions fulfills different roles in human’s life. Belk identifies four metaphoric relationships to highlight these roles. As a part of self: Belk (1996) suggests that humans incorporate self values and traits through their animal companions. Displaying pride in an animal companion due to his adorable appearance or feeling shame of his bad temperament indicates that people perceive their pets as an extension of themselves. This may explain why some caretakers become so defensive receiving any criticism about their animals. In addition, owners tend to think the pet fits to their lifestyles and shares the same attachment level with them - similar to their friends and family members. For example, many think their animals would comfort them when they get sad or sick (Sanders, 1993). As Family Members: The vast majority of caregivers regard their animal companions as family members and friends (Walsh, 2009) (Figure 4). Anthropomorphism plays an important role in this metaphor since the first thing to become a family member requires to be perceived as quasi-human. Caretakers with this type of relationship include their pets to family rituals and celebrations and even give holiday presents to them (Walsh, 2009). Sharing own food a great example of this metaphor. Many caregivers indicate that by sharing their own food, they want to prevent the pet from ‘feeling left out’ (Belk, 2009). Similar to other family members a cat and human have shared rituals of interaction and and agreed upon rules (Bernstein, 2007). Studies show that pets are most commonly perceived as child surrogates, as a family member (Belk, 1996).The animal companions’ baby- like features, i.e. infantile body ratio, clumsiness, playfulness and innocent appearance, make people easily associate them children. Dependency is another factor contributing to ‘child metaphor’. Similar to a child, a companion animal is dependent to

his caregiver in his needs. The nurturing requirements of the relationship, therefore, activate the caregiving mechanisms of the human (Taggart, 2011). Taking care of a defenceless creature, which never outgrows from dependencies, appeals to the parental instincts of a human-being.

that represent the ‘pet as a toy’ metaphor. All these practices are proclaimed to be done with love and play, mostly with good intentions, but it may also cause abusive treatment (e.g. pet hoarding). Culture We did not find any culture-specific studies on cat human companionship,however we think certain codes and infrastructures of a culture may affect how the cat-human interaction is performed. To illustrate, in Turkey streets are full of stray cats, which provides an opportunity for a flexible and casual type of relationship: a person who feeds a specific cat on the street in daily basis does not need to be fully responsible for other care-taking duties. On the other hand, from the interspecific point of view , culture seems to have an insignificant effect on the core values of the relationship. At some point we are all humans; we all appreciate love and affection that we receive from another living creature.

Figure 4. A cat is presented as a family member in a TV commercial As pleasure & problems: Animal companions proclaimed to make life interesting (Belk, 1996) by offering new things to discover and play. People being overwhelmed by the mundane everyday find the animals’ ‘nonsense’ behaviours as a source of entertainment and distraction. They remind us our primal instincts as animals, such as enjoying sole physical contact (Belk, 1996). In this sense they link us with our nature-selves. This may underlie the core value of companionship, which is ‘unconditional love’. Since animals talk to humans’ basic-selves, without the complex elements of human-human interaction, their companionship is regarded to be being genuine. However, the pleasure offered by an animal companion does not mean that there will not be any problems. Their messiness, disobedience, lack of understanding may create conflicts during the companionship. Besides, in multiple households, each people may have different expectations from the animal companion, which leads to unmatched expectations and inconsistent treatments. As Toys: Belk (1996) suggests that animal companions offer a feeling of control, power and mastery over nature. Dressing pets with clothes, grooming them in ‘fun’ styles, training them to obey rules, giving pets as gifts are some examples

Summary Animal companions are significant parts of the social fabric as well as people’s individual lives. The cat-human relationship is shaped by the characteristics of both the caregiver and a cat, thus, every companionship has its unique dynamics. Caretakers attribute significant roles to their animal companions, which is highly influenced by the anthropomorphic tendencies. The animal companions are mostly perceived as family members, especially as child surrogates. The infantile and dependent characteristics of animal companions triggers the basic nurturing mechanisms of the caregivers, thus, make them feel competent. Taking good care means paying back to the ‘unconditional love’ they receive from their animal companions as well as celebrating their caretaking roles. Additionally to child surrogates, animal companions are also perceived as an extension of self. This results in humans being proud of their animals’ positive behaviours, but also becoming defensive towards criticism of their lesser qualities. Designing for cat feeding experience seems to be a promising area from both research and a business perspective. Firstly, although cats are one of the most common animal companions, there is limited research focused primarily on cat human companionship. Secondly, the pet food industry is on the rise, which means feeding-related interventions may become potential market opportunities.

WEIGHT MANAGEMENT The significance of cat obesity DEFINITION Being overweight has been defined as having a body composition that contains levels of body fat that exceeds the optimal for having a good health (Sandøe et al., 2014). Obesity, on the other hand, stands for a more serious overweight condition. In obesity, the accumulation of fat tissue reaches a level such that it causes direct pathological changes to the body (Rowe, 2016) (Figure 5).

were overweight or obese in 2010 (Courcier et al.,2010) and in 2015, 58.9% of cats in the US were estimated to be overweight or obese, which increased by 0.7% in one year (APOP, 2016) (Figure 6). Despite the nuances in numbers in various studies (Cao, 2014), we believe that the above-mentioned numbers are outrageous enough to present the increasing severity of the problem in the cat companion population.

Figure 6. Percentage of overweight and obese cats in USA (APOP, 2016)

CONSEQUENCES Weight is directly related with companion animals’ life qual-

Obesity is one of the biggest health issues that human society is facing in the 21th century. Since companion animals are becoming more and more involved in our modern lives, they also started suffering from this human epidemic. Obesity is considered to be one of the most prevalent nutritional problems that is seen to be increasing among companion

ity, longevity and disease prevention (APOP, 2017). Excess weight has a direct negative effect on companion animals’ physical health and mental wellbeing. Even a kilogram of excess weight is enough to predispose a cat to the risk of a whole range of serious diseases such as osteoarthritis, high blood pressure and heart and respiratory diseases (Ward, 2007). For example, compared to optimal weight cats, overweight cats are 3.9 times more susceptible to diabetes (Rowe, 2016). Besides physical health, obesity also harms mental wellbeing of companion animals. A study by German et al. (2012) suggests that overweight dogs show higher emotional disturbance. They tend to be less active due to the constraints of extra weight they carry. Therefore

animals, especially in cats and dogs (Lee et al., 2010). In western society, obesity is reported to occur in one of four cats (Feuer, 2006). In the UK approximately 40% of all cats

they may be less likely to interact with their surroundings, which results in less mental stimulation, thus boredom and depression.

Figure 5. A morbidly obese cat

PREVALENCE

Risk factors of obesity Obesity is basically caused by energy consumption exceeding energy expenditure over time. The imbalance of energy intake and consumption of a cat is associated with various factors extending from physical factors of cats to caregivers overfeeding behaviours.

PHYSICAL RISK FACTORS (CAT) Age & Gender & Breed Obesity is most prevalent in middle aged (3 to 13 years), male and cross-breeds cats (Russels et al, 2000; Lund et al., 2006). However, a study by Serisier et al.(2013) revealed that excessive weight gain until 12 months is a significant risk factor of obesity in adulthood. Thus, weight control starting from the early ages of a cat is necessary to prevent future obesity problem. Environment Indoor cats are more prone to developing overweight and obesity (Scarlett et al., 1994), due to lower activity levels. Besides, they are exposed to lower level of mental stimulation, resulting in stress induced eating habits to cope with anxiety, boredom and depression (Ellis, 2016). In multiple-cat households the competitiveness and stealing other’s food may lead one cat to be overweight. Neutering Neutering (sterilization or spaying) is claimed to be the strongest factor contributing to weight gain of cats (Russell et al., 2000). This is due to the decrease in metabolic rate (Root et al, 1996) and increase in food intake (Rowe, 2016). Thus, switching to a low caloric diet and more frequent weight checks after sterilization is highly recommended. However, caregivers are likely to underestimate the need of change right after the operation.

DIETARY FACTORS As is claimed by Kane et al, cats are traditionally regarded to be able to adapt their food intake in order to maintain their energy balance (as cited in Russels et al, 2000). However, the modern environments we provide to companion cats deprive them of working for food. They no longer expend significant amount of energy by hunting. Thus, feeding cats in a weight-conscious diet is crucial.

Feeding Regimen and Food Format There are two main types of feeding regimen of cats’ i.e. free-choice and meal-set. In free choice feeding, food is provided all day long and the cat chooses when and how much to eat. On the other hand, in meal-set feeding, a cat is provided via portion of meals in a day. There are two types of food format i.e. dry food (kibbles) and wet food. Dry food is dense in nutrition and calories, while wet food contains higher moist. For the same weight, dry food contains approximately four times the number of calories as wet food (Rowe, 2016). Mixing wet food with dry food per meals is also common. There are contradicting results of studies regarding the effect of food formats and feeding regimen in the risk of obesity (Russell et al., 2000, Scarlett 1994). However, it is possible that owners tend to overfeed dry food more, because the portion size may look very small (Rowe, 2016). Besides, meal-set feeding regimen is suggested to be the optimal to prevent obesity (Russell et al., 2000). Free-choice feeding does not involve control over the daily amount, thus making the cat more susceptive to an excessive caloric intake. Type of food Cats are usually fed on commercial cat food. In fact, cats are finicky eaters and their nutritional requirements are quite complex to fulfil by home cooking. Besides meals, cats are often provided with treats (small amounts of food given to cats additional to the meals). They are usually high in palatability, thus, are used to provide pleasure. Treats need to be given consciously since overconsumption may lead to weight gain. A cat receiving treats two or three times per week is more likely to be overweight (Russell et al., 2000). Treat packages and vets warn caregivers to account for the calories of treats in daily caloric intake suggesting that treats should not exceed 10% of daily caloric intake of a cat. However, most caregivers underestimate the calories gained from treats. Providing human food is usually not recommended since certain types of human food is harmful for cats. Besides, the calories are received by human food is hard to estimate. Many caregivers are not aware of the translated calories of ‘extra small bites’, which may lead to overfeeding (Figure 7).

Figure 8. Overweight cat characters Relationship Relationship has found to be a significant factor (A study by Kienzle et al. (2006), suggests that caregivers of overweight

Figure 7. Caloric cat reat translator by a food brand

BEHAVIORAL FACTORS (CAREGIVER) Due to the nature of the companionship, caregivers are the gatekeepers for the food intake of a cat. They determine the frequency, portion size, feeding regimen and type of food. Therefore, their perceptions, knowledge, and attitude towards weight management has a significant effect on their cat’s’ body condition. Overfeeding, providing more calories than a cat is required to take, is one of the most significant causes of overweight (Woods & German, 2016). Hereby, we will explain the most important caregiver-related factors which create challenges in weight management of a cat. Misperception , Attitudes and Beliefs Caregivers may unintentionally overfeed their cats for various reasons. One reason is misinterpreting the portion size. Comparing to human food, caregivers may perceive the portion size of cat food as smaller. This may result in giving more food than needed, even if they read feeding instructions on the package. In terms of daily meals- especially dry food- many cat owners lack accurate measurement of portion size. Variability in portion sizes each day can lead to overfeeding by up to 80% (German et al., 2011). Especially sharing human food may be risky, because it is hard to translate the caloric value for the cat’s body. Besides, many caregivers fail to assess the cat’s body condition correctly (Colliard et al.,2009) . Most of them rely on visual check- up and comparison. However, they are surrounded by poor examples of ideal sized cats (Woods & German, 2016) which lead to underestimating the cat’s body condition. In fact, overweight cats have been mostly presented as cute and hilarious rather than unhealthy figures in media (Figure 8). This may cause a misperceived ideal body size to be deeply seated in public opinion.

cats tended to over-humanise their cats more than the ones of ideal size cats. These owners may get defensive against comments on their cats’ excess weight, because they basically see their cats as extension of themselves. Sharing own food or finding it hard to reject a cat’s demand for food can also be associated with certain dynamics of the relationship. Besides, emotional feeding is also promoted by high attachment levels. As mentioned before, caregivers tend to feed their cats not only to provide nutrition but also for more complex emotional reasons such as showing love and alleviating guilt (Ellis, 2016). Giving treats with emotional stimuli may end up being routinized over time. If a cat learns that a certain behaviour is ‘rewarded’ by food, he may become conditioned and perform those behaviours to obtain food anytime. (Ellis, 2016) Caregiver’s lifestyle A study by Kienzle et al. (1998) suggests that obese caregivers are more likely to have obese dogs. However, there is no study showing a correlation between caregivers own eating habits and feeding styles of their cats. We do believe, however, that a caregiver’s routine may affect the feeding routine - frequency of feeding, food format etc. Frequency of Vet visits A serious weight assessment is usually conducted by veterinary professionals. However, compared to dogs, cats are less likely to be taken to the vet (AVMA, 2002). Cats are taken to a vet usually in the case of a health issue where professional help is a must e.g. sterilization. Regular checks are normally done once a year, during which a cat may gain a significant amount of weight. Lack of Awareness Although obesity is well recognized as a serious health issue in human society, its presence in animal companion population is not well known. A study of Laflamme et al. shows that only a small number of caregivers with an overweight cat are

An infographic summarizing the factors of obesity

aware of the risk factors associated with obesity (as cited in Rowe, 2016). In fact, there are numerous sources of information accessible online regarding weight management of cats, e.g. online articles, caloric intake calculator, weight translator, guided steps of body assessment, and feeding guidelines on websites of food brands. However, these resources only appeal to veterinary professionals and the caregivers who are already concerned with weight management. That is, only if a caregiver is already looking for information on weight management would encounter these sources. Therefore these sources are limited to create awareness on caregivers who are lack of weight related concerns. Then again, being aware of the risk factor is not enough. Overweight develops slowly (Woods & German, 2016), thus It may be hard for everyday caregivers to realize the ‘small’ changes in the cats body size.

Existing Implementations RAISING AWARENESS APOP (Association for Pet Obesity Prevention) appears to be the most active organization which purely focuses on creating awareness on pet obesity in society. The organization announces the Pet Obesity Awareness Day (second Wednesday of October) and each year conducts a survey to gather data on the prevalence of obesity (Figure 9). With bold statements on the risk of obesity, its website provides useful information to address the problem. However, similar to other online resources, APOP is also limited to reach people with no concerns on weight management.

Figure 9. Obesity Prevention Day announced by APOP Veterinary clinics are more tangible channels to be aware of the issue. In fact, in some clinics there are brochures to explain the issue. However, we do not know how many caregivers actually read and mind the information in their daily life. Besides, veterinarians rarely discuss weight issue with

caregivers (Rolph et al., 2014). This may be due to the fact that they do not want to offend caregivers. Obviously, if excess weight is an issue veterinarian will inform the caregiver and offer a treatment. Yet, taking action still depends on caretakers initiative.

WEIGHT LOSS PROGRAMS It is possible to bring an overweight cat to his ideal body condition with a professional weight loss program. However, following a weight loss program requires a great effort, commitment, time and money. For example, it takes around one year to make a cat lose 2 kg weight with a strict weight loss program (Ackerman, 2016). Differently to dogs; exercise is not a big help in obesity treatment of cats due to their nature (Ward, 2007). So, food restriction is the main factor when it comes to making a cat lose weight. However, caregivers with overweight animals find it hard to restrict the food, as they are afraid that their pets might get upset or suffer (Bland et al., 2010). This means emotional boundaries of caregivers create a challenge. Further, the obesity can never be cured, only controlled. Cats which accomplish weight loss are more likely to regain weight because their maintenance energy requirements decrease due to diet (German et al., 2011). Therefore, obesity prevention must be taken seriously in early ages of a cat. Thus, caregivers need to be conscious about weight management.

BODY CONDITION ASSESSMENT TOOLS Regular body condition check-ups play a significant role in prevention. There are various tools and methods used to assess a cat’s body condition. Weighing is the one which comes to mind first, but only looking into weight can be misleading. There is not such a number indicating an ideal weight for any cat. It varies depending on breed, age and frame - being medium sized or muscular (Sashin, 2017). Therefore, the ideal weight of a specific cat should be determined by a professional. Likewise, only visual inspection can be misleading as well. Although it is easy to recognize an obese cat only by a quick look, a slight excess weight may be overlooked. Thus, the Body Condition Score (BCS) is considered to be the most practical and widely accepted method (German, 2006). It involves a physical examination process, in which certain areas of a cat - ribs, tummy, waist -are checked both by visual inspection and touching (Figure 11), and then the result is given a score from the chart (Figure 10). This method is widely used by veterinarians, but not many caregivers know or apply this method themselves. In fact, when people realize that their cat is overweight, it is often too late (Lock, 2017). Regular physical examinations may help caregivers to detect weight change and rearrange the diet before it gets serious.

Summary Obesity is a severe problem in cat companion population, which causes serious health problems and a shorter life span. The most significant cause of overweight is a caregiverâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s overfeeding behaviour. Caretakers are the gatekeepers for the food intake of a cat. They are the ones making decisions of the feeding routine i.e. frequency, amount and food type. Thus their inconsiderate feeding habits may result in unhealthy body condition.

Figure 10. A body condition score chart by a food brand

Figure 11. Physical body condition examination steps explained in a video by a food brand (https://www.youtube. com/watch?v=LvzkruJg0NY)

Misperceptions of ideal size of a cat, poor body assessment, underestimating the calories and inaccurate measurements are some of the behaviour related factors. Most importantly, many caregivers underestimate the risk of excessive weight and refuse or postpone to take action. Overfeeding is also closely related with relationship regarding the emotional aspects. Anthropomorphic tendencies lead to humans using food as a tool to celebrate the affectionate value of the relationship. Besides, emotional barriers lead to defensive attitudes as well as low commitment levels in weight loss diets. Cats gain weight slowly and if not detected a couple of grams will lead to serious health risk in future. Although Physical Body Examination is an easy and effective method for regular assessment, most of the caregivers do not practice it. The vet is the main accountable to monitor BC. However, vet visits happen seldom. Weight loss is a challenging process which requires effort, commitment, money and time. Furthermore, relapse is highly probable. Thus prevention is a better way to address the growing overweight problem. There is a vast number of sources on weight management online; however they only appear to medical professionals and caregivers who are already concerned with weight management. This means new approaches need to be taken to engage caregivers with weight management from the early stages of the relationship.

DISCUSSION Human-Cat Interaction

Feeding as a Behaviour

There is a large amount of research on human animal companionship. However, the interaction aspect of the relationship has been overlooked. Only a few studies particularly examined the interaction between cats and their human companions (Bernstein, 2007). In the design field, Animal Computer Interaction (ACI) is an emerging field which aims

Caregivers are the most accountable for the eating habits of their cats. Thus overfeeding is the main driver of overweight issue. However, so far weight management has mainly been covered by discipline of medical sciences, from an animal centric point of view. There are plentiful scientifically proven implications and rich sources of information regarding

to understand the interaction between animals and computing technology (Mancini, 2011). ACI is a pioneer of the animals centric design approach because it refers animals as ‘users’ and includes their needs and preferences in the design process. However, it primarily focuses on technological interactions, rather than everyday interactions with humans. In this project we want to consider cats and humans as interactive parties, whose needs and actions influence each other. We wonder how they interact in everyday practices. How are the qualities of the relationship reflected on the daily interactions?

weight management. However, it is only assumed that caregivers inherently engage to a responsible feeding behaviour. Formulating the obesity problem as a medical condition to be cured misses the main point. We believe that formulating obesity as a result of the caregiver’s behaviour problem may give rise to new perspectives and pave the way for more effective interventions. We wonder what drives overfeeding behaviour?

Feeding as an Interaction Feeding is one of the most common, frequent and essential activities in animal companionship. Although it is a repetitive and practical duty, its meaning extends further than merely providing nutrition. Especially In cat companionship, feeding almost seems to be the only activity that demonstrates the cat’s dependency on the caregiver. Thus, it is a unique interaction space where shared roles and bond are reinforced. It is used “as a handy and agreeable way of communication and interaction” (Kienzle et al., 1998). Interestingly, little research has been done to examine the interactions involved in feeding practice. Agreeing on Walsh (2009), we believe that it is necessary to adopt an interactional view to better understand the underlying dynamics of cat feeding practice. We wonder what the interactions are involved in moment of feeding. What shapes them? How do they affect the caregiver’s feeding experience and actions?

Feeding as an Experience In literature, feeding is mentioned as an ingredient of both relationship and weight management, yet in different ways. The relationship domain refers to the emotional and normative meanings of feeding activity - showing love, nurturing and reassuring the bond. On the other hand, weight management refers to practical meanings of feeding - providing nutrition and calculating calories. Although aspects of relationship mentioned to be relevant to the practice of weight management, there is no particular research to understand how it relates to caregivers overfeeding behaviour. In everyday life caregivers experience the feeding activity as a whole; with emotional, practical and normative concerns entangled. We believe that focusing feeding as an everyday experience can shed light on the dynamics of these meanings, thus helping us understand overfeeding from the caregiver’s point of view. This way we can find tangible starting points for designing interventions in sync with everyday life. We wonder how caregivers experience the feeding moment. Which emotions are involved in the activity? What kinds of concerns are prominent in the moment of feeding?

Zarathustra the Cat in ‘Kiss’ One of the ‘The fat cat art’ works of Svetlana Petrova Retreved from http://.fatcatart.com

Tattooed Cat by Horitomo

CHAPTER 2

THEORETICAL MODELS P32 P33 P35 P35

Social Practice Theory Design and Emotion Transtheoretical Model Parental Feeding

In this chapter, we will introduce some theoretical models that we utilized in this project. These models helped us to operate our multidimensional perspective on feeding in a more systematic way. We will first present the basic concepts of each model, then we will discuss their potential contribution to this project.

Social Practice Theory PRACTICE ORIENTED APPROACH Social Practice Theory originates in the discipline of sociology. In simplified terms, it suggests that practices are substantial units of everyday life which reflect the values, knowledge, experiences of individuals living in a social context. Social Practice Theory has recently inspired a new perspective design field. A practice-oriented approach has been proposed to redirect the aim of design from creating products to supporting practices (Shove, 2006). The approach has been discussed to provide a better understanding of the dynamics of behaviours. It aims to focus on practices not only as a unit of analysis but also as a unit of design to create a positive behaviour change (Kuijer, 2014). So far, the implications has been mostly experimented in sustainable behaviour change.

ELEMENTS OF PRACTICE A practice is defined as; ‘a routinized type of behaviour which consists of several elements, interconnected to one other: forms of bodily activities, forms of mental activities, ‘things’ and their use, a background knowledge in the form of understanding, knowhow, states of emotion and motivational knowledge.’ (Reckwitz, 2002)

Every practice consists of interconnected elements -skills, images, and stuff- that hold a practice together (Shove et al., 2007) (Figure 12). Not only the elements, but also the dynamic links between them are considered to form a certain practice. So, it is possible to innovate new practices by reconfiguring the contents of the elements or the links between them. Image “Images are socially shared ideas or concepts associated with the practice that give meaning to it” (Kuijer, 2014). These can be norms, values, emotions and symbols. Skill It refers to learned bodily and mental routines: know-how, competences, way of doing and feeling, procedures and techniques(Kuijer, 2014). Stuff It corresponds to tangible, material aspects of practices: objects, infrastructures, tools, hardware and the body itself (Shove et al., 2012)

AGENCY In simplified terms ‘agency’ is defined as the capacity of individuals to make their own choices (Archer, 2003); to act upon, influence and change the activity. In anthropocentric perspectives, humans, with conscious and rational forms of agency, are regarded as the main actors of practices. On the other hand, the concept of distributed agency, defined by Bennett, extends the definition of ‘agent’ from humans to non-human stakeholders of practices (as cited in Strengers et. al., 2016).

CONSCIOUSNESS Two types of consciousness are defined to take part in practices. Practical Consciousness is usually apparent in routine and familiar practices. The performance is “often neither fully conscious nor reflective”(Warde,2005). This means it is performed in an habitual manner with no critical thinking involved. Discursive consciousness refers to a reflective way of thinking of one’s own behaviour. A person who is in this state of mind examines, evaluates and restructures his/her behavior. It is generally more prevalent in hindsight than in the moment of doing, because of the power of habitual Figure 12. Elements of Pracitce Model (Shove & Pantzar, 2005)

acts overcomes the reflective mindset during routine performances (Jackson, 2004).

WHY? Feeding is a typical everyday practice in cat companionship. It exists in a routine within a specific context, with specific agents - human caregiver responsible of feeding and a specific cat - within certain norms and meanings. We believe approaching it from the practice point of view may provide us with a broader understanding of the factors shaping the overfeeding behaviour. We can design for a desired feeding practice motivating weight conscious feeding behaviour.

Design and Emotion EMOTIONS In daily life, we use the term emotion to express our ‘irrational’ feelings that are evoked in extreme situations. We become ‘happy’ when we receive a gift or we get angry to a driver who splashed water on us in a rainy day. Yet, we may think it is absurd to experience an emotion because a coffee machine did its job smoothly.

Design for Emotion approach suggests that emotions are the prime source of knowledge and understandings of one’s values, thus, valuable entrance points to the concerns (Desmet & Roeser, 2015). Emotions are regarded to be automatic responses of a situation which touches upon our personal concerns. Although most of the time we do not consciously reflect and identify them during an activity, emotions are tacit ingredients of our experiences. They affect how we perceive the products (Desmet & Hekkert, 2007), situations and maybe even our relationships. Thus, they may play a significant role on how we behave in a certain way. Since emotions are effective in the moment of action, triggering certain emotions may facilitate people to take certain action in the moment of experience. With this regard, designing for emotion can be a medium towards a positive behaviour change.

CONCERNS Based on the Emotion Elicitation model of Desmet (2002) emotions are results of appraisals, which is “ an automatic assessment of the effect of a product on one’s well being” (Demir, Desmet, & Hekkert, 2009, p. 1). As is shown in Figure 13, appraisals are triggered when interacting with a product touches upon one’s concerns. Therefore, emotions are the gateways to one’s personal concerns in a specific activity. In design and emotion, the term concerns refers to people’s goals, values, aspirations, standards and dispositions (Desmet, 2002). Concerns do not necessarily raised by material qualities of a product but also by the activity or self identity enabled by it (Desmet 2008). This means certain interactions with an individual within an activity may raise concerns, thus emotions.

DILEMMAS

Figure 13. Basic model of product emotions (Desmet & Hekkert, 2007)

In certain situations, people’s concerns may conflict simultaneously, which creates a dilemma. Dilemma occurs when a person realizes that pursuing one goal (e.g.,waking up early to prepare for a work meeting) interferes with the fulfillment of another goal (e.g., getting enough sleep) (Ozkaramanli et al., 2006). In design for emotion, dilemmas are considered to be rich opportunities to address complex societal issues such as healthy eating habits, safe sex and sustainable behaviours. Ozkaramanli et al.(2006) proposes three directions to design for dilemmas:

Resolving dilemmas

STAGES OF CHANGE

The design aims to fulfill the conflicting concerns simultaneously, so that the person does not need to choose between any of two alternatives anymore.

Precontemplation (Not Ready) In this stage, people do not intend to take an action to change their behaviour in near future (6 months). They are unaware that their behaviour is problematic.

Moderating dilemmas It aims to help users manage their dilemmas by explicitly prioritizing one concern over the other. This way the person easily choose one of the alternatives without being challenged by mixed emotions.

Contemplation (Getting Ready)

Triggering dilemmas

Preparation (Ready)

The aim is to to create awareness on the dilemma itself, without necessarily fulfilling any one of the concerns involved. This way person may start contemplating and hesitate to choose the alternative that is harmful. The reflective intention of this direction is actually in line with the goals of critical design: “to challenge the way people perceive and reflect upon their world” (Ozkaramanli et al., 2006). On the other hand, not all the interventions in this direction can be classified as critical design.

People intend to take an action in immediate future (within 6 months). They start taking small steps that they believe can help them adopt positive behaviour into their lives.

WHY? Literature shorty mentions that caregivers may experience emotional barriers during feeding activity. For example, they might feel afraid that their cat would suffer during a diet. Yet, we still do not know what specific emotions are evoked in which situations. How do these emotions may affect caregiver’s feeding experience and actions? We believe this exploration can help us understand caregivers’ concerns underlying the overfeeding behaviour. So, we can

People start recognizing their behaviour as being problematic and they intend to take and action in near future (6 months)

Action People have taken an action to change their behaviour recently and work hard to move ahead. They start modifying the problematic behaviour or trying to adopt a new positive behaviour. Maintenance People have been able to sustain their action for a significant amount of time (6 months). They try to resist to situations that tempt them to readopt their problematic behaviour. When people are not successful to maintain, they recycle to their problematic behaviour, which is called relapse. Especially people who are changing highly addictive behaviors e.g. drug or tobacco consumption- are in high risk of relapse.

design to transform their concerns in order to give raise to responsible feeding behaviour.

Transtheoretical Model Behaviour change does not happen in an instant, but within a process of time. The Transtheoretical Model (DiClemente & Prochaska, 1983 ; Prochaska et al., 1992) describes certain stages of behaviour change with regards to people’s intentions and progress through adopting a healthier behaviour. (Figure 14). So far, numerous applications of the model have addressed various behaviour-related issues such as weight management, smoking cessation and stress management. The model describes five main stages of behaviour change.

Figure 14. Stages of behaviour change (Prochaska et al., 1992)

WHY?

Indulgent Style

Overfeeding is a behaviour problem of caregivers that cause health risks for their cats. Obviously none of the caretakers intend to harm their companions, yet why are there so many overweight cats? In the light of the literature, we infer that there are different reasons why a caregiver may be locked in overfeeding behaviour. For example, some do not realize their cats being overweight - precontemplation stage; whereas some know the problem, but do not take an action for some reason - contemplation stage. We wonder if it is

Parents do not enforce demands on the child’s eating. Child determines when and what to eat to a high extend. Parents are respectful for child’s own decision in eating. The studies suggest that compared to authoritative style, indulgent feeding style may lead to higher risk of children becoming overweight (Vollmer & Mobley, 2013).

possible to draw certain stages of overfeeding behaviour? If so, what are the mindsets of people in those stages? We think analyzing the overfeeding behaviour by using the model may provide us with a clear understanding of the specific barriers that caregivers face within different stages. So that we can ideate on effective interventions tailored to their needs, to support them in the process of positive change.

aware of his/her needs or opinions regarding eating.

Uninvolved Style Parents neither control the child’s food intake, nor are they

The parental feeding styles have been constituted by applying general parenting styles to the food domain, thus consist of same typologies (Pai & Contento,2014). This means that general attitudes in parenting are also reflected in feeding practice. WHY?

Parental Feeding Parents are the gatekeepers of their child’s food intake especially at the early ages of a child. Similar to cat caregivers, parents have full control over what and when the child will eat. Their concerns, attitudes and behaviours directly affect their child’s eating behaviours, thus play a critical role on their weight status.

PARENTAL FEEDING STYLES

As discussed in literature, animal companions are strongly associated with child surrogates. Their dependent and infantile characteristics may trigger caregivers parental nurturing instincts. Thus, we wonder if parental feeding styles are also relevant in cat feeding practice. If so, how are they demonstrated? Is it possible to link certain types of relationship with certain feeding styles? Being able to adapt these styles to cat feeding domain can help us better identify the overfeeding behaviour.

Literature suggests four distinct type of parental feeding styles, which are defined based on variations in two main dimensions i.e. control and warmth (Pai & Contento,2014) (Figure 15). Control means to what extent parents apply control over child’s food intake, whereas warmth means how much the parent responds to the child’s own demands in food intake. Authoritarian Style Parents place strict control over the child’s food intake without being sensitive to his/her demands. They expect the child to rigidly adhere to rules. Authoritative Style Parents use a structure and pose reasonable expectations in the child’s food intake. They are sensitive to child’s demand, but respond them in a controlled manner.

Figure 15. The parental feeding styles

Chef , while examining our research tool

CHAPTER 3

CONTEXTUAL RESEARCH P38 P52

Study 1 Study 2

We conducted two user studies -each with a unique purpose- to explore the context of feeding experience. In total, sixteen caregivers participated to the research and they shared stories involving twenty cats. In this chapter, the details of the studies and our findings will be presented. Besides the user study, we also talked to two veterinarians in this phase. Some of the information we gained from them will also be communicated in the findings. We will refer them as â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;the expertsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; throughout this chapter.

STUDY 1 Based on the literature research we gained a broad understanding of the concepts related to the feeding practice of cats regarding weight management, which extends from human animal relationship to weight management. Although these topics seem to be centralized in their unique knowledge spaces with particular disciplinal viewpoints, we realized that certain aspects intersect. For example, one of the driving factors of obesity is the caregivers’ misperceptions of the body condition, which is discussed in weight management. However, misperceptions are shaped by anthropomorphic tendencies, which has been covered mostly in cat human relationship. Obviously, these concepts are conceptually linked to each other, but we are missing the explicit connection points surrounding feeding practice as a centralized theme. We believe that understanding these potential connections within the feeding experience may provide a solid basis for developing meaningful implementations in the design phase.

Purpose Study 1 was conducted with the purpose of linking the knowledge from the literature research to the real life experiences of caregivers. By doing so, we aimed to get an understanding of the elements affecting the feeding routine, thus, feeding experience. The scope of the study was defined broader than the feeding practice itself by including the aspects of relationship, communication and knowledge (Figure 16). These aspects were identified based on a workshop done by the researchers*, where the existing knowledge was mapped, missing knowledge was revealed and assumptions were discussed. The agenda of exploring these fields was to investigate deeper layers of the feeding practice. The following research questions were formulated: RQ 1: What are the main concepts affecting the feeding routine with regards to weight management? How do they inform each other? • How are the perceived roles of the relationship reflected in the feeding routine? • How do cats and caregivers communicate in the feeding routine?

Figure 16. The scope of the study

• What are the main sources of knowledge that caregivers refer to (in feeding and weight management)? RQ 2: What are the images, skills and stuff shaping feeding practice? • What does feeding mean to caregivers? • What products are used in feeding? • How is the agency distributed in feeding activity? RQ 3: How is the feeding routine shaped during the relationship?

Overview PARTICIPANTS The study was conducted with 10 cat owners in total, including the stories of 12 cats. All the participants were involved in feeding activity (shared duty, full responsibility or occasional feeding). The characteristics of the participants are illustrated in Appendix A.

METHOD Contextmapping method inspired the way Study 1 was conducted. The method helps designers to understand experiences of the users by looking into their everyday practices (Sanders & Stappers, 2012). This way it does not only elicit

* The study was conducted in collaboration with Lei Zhang, a colleague of mine who was also conducting his graduation project on the topic of cat feeding experience, but with a primary focus on food and playful feeding experience.

the tacit needs of the users, but also reveals the links of the related elements in a specific context. The laddering type interview questions, synthesizing exercises and the statement cards in analysis phase reflected the basic principles of the method.

INTERVIEWS Semi structured interviews were conducted via video conferencing and home visits. Before the interview, participants were asked to fill in three synthesizing exercises focusing on the daily activities with their cat and feeding in general (Appendix A).

FINDINGS* Feeding as a Practice We analysed the feeding activity in the means of three interconnected elements steering practices: image, skill and stuff . Figure 17 shows the three elements of feeding practice and the co-existing practices around it, such as cooking, buying food etc. Co-existing practices are tied to each other in different ways (Kuijer, 2014). For example dining and feeding tied by shared location/ time, while vet visit and feeding co-exist by shared the goal of keeping the cat healthy.

Figure 17. The images, skills and stuff of the feeding practice, and the co-existing practices. * The findings are to be communicated via several inforgraphics. Please follow the numbers on the infographics for corresponding explanations. Only the key findings will be explained in this report. See Appendix A for the extra findings.

1. IMAGES: MEANING OF FEEDING Feeding represents various meanings in three levels: practical, emotional and normative. The meanings assigned in practical level - duty, responsibility, routine- stem from the routinized nature of the feeding practice. The meanings in the emotional level extend to the values of the relationship. The caregivers expressed that feeding means fulfilling a need and satisfying a beloved one. Therefore, it makes them feel happy and satisfied. The feeding activity reinforces the feeling of being needed. Feeding was also referred as a way of showing care and affection as well as rewarding or apologizing to the cat. It enables an intimate moment of contact. Food being received and consumed by the cat creates the feeling of acceptance and accomplishment. The normative-level meanings addresses the hierarchical roles in the relationship. Due to dependency of the cat, feeding assures a lifelong bond. It also reflects the quality of caregiving. This serves as a feedback as well as a proof of being a ‘good’ caregiver. We believe the emotional-level meanings are the most significant triggers of overfeeding behaviour.

2. SKILLS: DISTRIBUTED AGENCIES Feeding practice involves distributed agencies of the caregiver and the cat. Although the caregiver is the main decision maker, the cat is also able to shape the feeding routine. They manipulate their caregivers decision making mechanism by showing affection, rejection or resistance e.g. nagging for food, attitudinizing. Thus the routine is adapted by balancing the caregiver’s affordances and the cat’s preferences.

Seeing her being happy makes me feel satisfied. The feeling that we are able to communicate in that moment.“(F)

“I give extra food because I want him to be closer to me.” (M’ s partner)

“While I was taking her out I didn’t want her to feel sad. Therefore, I wanted to compensate the situation, her feeling sad, by putting some milk outside the door.” (E)

“He cannot wait for me to wake up; he wakes me up . He ‘had to’ eat breakfast when he himself wakes up.” (M)

“I ‘had’ to arrange my lifestyle. I put the food to the fridge while setting the table. Because our cat is actually very gourmand and curious.” (M)

I don’t actually like that he compels me, pushes me. I mean it is not when I want to feed but it is about when he wants to be fed.”(M)

The feeding activity can be triggered both by the cat and the caregiver (Figure 18). Time, smell, sound and the caregiver’s certain actions, e.g. opening the fridge, can remind cats of feeding activity. Caregivers may also initiate the feeding activity spontaneously by the treats. Cats can also initiate the feeding activity by showing their agencies e.g. begging for food, stealing. The agency is easier to notice in gourmand cats. The cat’s agency affects the caregiver’s feeding experience -particularly feelings. For example, being compelled or rejected make caregivers feel in lack of control. Some choose to give in to the cat’s demand, whereas some to reject it. We do not know to what extend their emotional appraisals affect their response to cat’s demand.

Figure 18. The cat is asking food (left), the owner is giving a spontaneous treat; salami (right)

* Caregiving attitudes: How the owner perceives the role of the cat - corresponding to their own role - has an impact on the caregiving attitudes. We also assume that caregiver’s own lifestyle has an affect on the attitudes. For example caregivers who have a structured routine themselves tend to apply a structured feeding routine of their cats. We believe general caregiving attitudes may also be reflected in certain feeding styles.

Figure 19. Cat feeding styles regarding weight management

Factors affecting the feeding routine Figure 20, in the next two pages, describes the interplay of particular elements of feeding routine in relation to weight management. These elements were derived from certain aspects of the relationship, communication and knowledge. Each of these elements affect the feeding routine in different ways. In this section we will elaborate on the four main factors directly affecting the feeding routine i.e. feeding styles, catâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s behaviour, food (frequency, portion, type), and dietary requirements.

1. FEEDING STYLES The caregiving attitudes* as well as the awareness levels in weight management give rise to certain feeding styles. We realized that caregivers show different levels of control in their catsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; food intake, similar to parental feeding. Therefore we adapted parental feeding styles in the domain of cat feeding practice. We redefined the terms with a particular focus on weight management of cats (Figure 19).

Authoritative and indulgent feeding styles are the most common ones, involving an affectionate bond. Awareness on the risk factors of overweight seems to bring about more control in food intake, whereas high emotional attachment may lead caregivers to be more responsive to the catâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s demand. In that sense, a caregiver with high awareness on weight management but also has a highly affectionate relationship with the cat may face certain dilemmas while feeding. We expect the caregivers who have less affectionate relationship with the cat, such as temporary caregivers - people temporarily looking after the cat - or secondary caregivers -, households sharing practical duties without affectionate relationship may be more authoritarian. Uninvolved style is not relevant to the cat companionship, since the cats are fully dependent on their caregivers for their food intake. In multiple households different feeding styles of the caregivers may create instability in feeding. The current literature on parental feeding styles suggests that compared to authoritative style, indulgent feeding style may lead to higher risk of children becoming overweight (Vollmer & Mobley, 2013). Therefore, we regard authoritative feeding style as a positive feeding behaviour in cat feeding practice, whereas indulgent one is considered to be a risk factor

Figure 20. The relationship of the elements of feeding activity with regards to weight management. These elements are derived from the extensive concepts of relationship, knowledge, communication.

“So the food is always available there for her, so that she doesn’t feel dependent on me, she doesn’t need to ask me for food.” (F)

We all know that she loves cheese and sometimes people (housemates) get tiny bit of cheese and give her. But, they know that I don’t think it’s a good idea, but sometimes I also do it so.” (A)

“Fishhead would kick her bowl to the middle of the room if she was hungry, and then she came to me, and keep meowing” (V)

“She doesn’t want to play or food. So what do you want? It made me feel a bit frustrated due to not being able to understand.” (E)

If she decided she would eat everything in everywhere. And now I decide that “Now it it’s Ok”, because she cannot decide.” (A)

“When my husband at home I keep track of him as well in order to prevent him giving Misha extra food. “ (Participant M)

Figure 21. The feeding area; a meal food plate, a treat food plate and a water plate

2. CAT’S BEHAVIOR : AGENCY

3. FOOD: FREQUENCY, TYPE, PORTION

Cats demonstrate certain behavior patterns in feeding activity. One of the most common one is the ‘ask and lead’ pattern i.e. asking food by attracting attention and leading the caregiver to the feeding area (Figure 21). They show their demand by vocalisation or aggressive actions, e.g. biting or scratching legs, especially when their demand is rejected.

We realized that every feeding routine is unique regarding feeding frequency, type of food and portion size. Decisions on certain routine reflects various concerns and believes of the caregiver. For example, the caregivers applying freechoice highly trust in the cat’s self regulation of food intake. Certain routines also reflect and appropriate the cats behaviours. It seems that the cats fed free-choice show less demanding behaviours since food is often available.

Caregivers first observe, and then attribute meanings to the cats’ behaviors by referring to: their common knowledge on cat behaviour, their own experiences with the specific cat and the context of the situation. Hereby trial and error method comes in. Feeding is one of the most common activityies that comes to mind in this discovery process. Therefore, a lack of understanding the real need or feeling doubt about cat’s satiation state may lead to overfeeding, which may condition the cat to certain behaviours to obtain food over time.

The food varies in terms of brand, nutritious value and type. In this project, our focus is particularly on the feeding experience rather than nutritious aspects or brand. We grouped the food in two types based on their function i.e. main food and other types of food. Main food refers to the food considered to be given as a part of daily meal: kibbles, wet food, supplement etc. Other types of food considered to be given additionally to the main food, supplements, treats or bites of

human food. We suspect the meanings attributed to feeding may differ in these two types of food giving. Regarding portion size, caregiverS tend to rely on a rule of thumb. The food plate is mostly used to size the portions. When it comes to sharing their own food, caregivers use subjective terms to describe the amount eg. a small piece, a bit of.

“Actually I don’t really pay much attention to portion control, because even if you add a lot, she won’t eat them all.” (C)

She can’t feel satiating with a slice of salami. We give it because she likes the taste of it.” (F)

We have a measuring cup but we use her plate to understand. Her plate shoudl be filled, she has a small plate” (F)

4. DIETARY REQUIREMENTS : ON DIET OR NOT We realized that certain dietary requirements regarding health condition - such as disease or allergies - as well as weight reduction program leads caregivers to apply more control over food intake. Among all the participants only one caregiver with a cat on a strict weight reduction diet voiced weight related concerns as an important part of the feeding routine. We wonder how weight related concerns are situated in other type of caregiving conditions.

*“I feel anxious thinking that I might make him overweight and therefore negatively affect his health. But at the same time I think that if he doesn’t feel hungry, he wouldn’t ask for it. On one hand I think rationally, on the other hand I think emotionally. Then I find a compromise; I only give him a few pieces of his dry food.” (M)

Feeding routine in progress Figure 22 (in the next page) illustrates how a feeding routine is established and changed across the relationship. The meanings prevalent in each stage are also listed.

1.SETTING THE FEEDING ROUTINE In this phase, the caregiver and the cat start living together and the feeding routine is being set. The acquisition type -planned or rescue- and caregivers experience affects the process. Experienced caregivers usually start applying the feeding routine the way they are accustomed to. They trust in their knowledge and usually do not look for new information, but instead observe the cat and confidently adjust the routine. For first time cat owners, planned or unplanned acquisition matters. Since they do not have any personal experience in cat keeping, these caregivers seek for information in this phase. Books, the internet, and other cat owners are the main sources of knowledge. In the planned relationships, these caregivers usually start gaining knowledge before the acquisition and start the relationship with a certain feeding routine in mind. After getting familiar with their cat, they adjust the feeding routine. Trial and error is a matter of setting the routine which requires time and effort. On the other hand, an unplanned acquisition comes with overwhelming amount of information at once. First time caregiver feel less confident while establishing the routine, compared to experienced ones. During the establishment phase feeding is an important medium to build contact and interaction with the cat, thus gaining acceptance and trust. The caregivers tend to explore different types of food to find out the cat’s preferences. First time owners may over-feed the cat in order not to risk the required nutrition intake. Especially kittens may intentionally be fed excessively, because seeing them grow means successful caregiving. Therefore, indulgent feeding tendencies developed in this phase may result in cats getting used to excessive amounts of treats and big portion sizes.

2. KEEPING THE FEEDING ROUTINE Once the caregivers find the suitable routine, they keep on with it. Since the cats are routinized animals they stick to the habits they adopted in the establishment phase. Wrong feeding behaviours adopted in the beginning may cause the cats to start putting on weight in this phase. The meanings attributed to feeding in this phase are about preserving the established bond.

3. ADJUSTING THE FEEDING ROUTINE At some point in the relationship caregivers may need to readjust the feeding routine. This may be due to change of age, an occurrence of a disease (allergies, infection), sterilization or overweight situation. In this phase feeding activity gains new meanings; such as authority, willpower and responsibility. Health concerns become apparent. On the other hand, caregivers also look for reassurance of relationship and peace in feeding activity.

According to experts, sterilization is an important touch point for prevention, since cats become prone to gain weight. Many caregivers underestimate the necessity to change the diet. The diagnosis of overweight usually happens during regular check-ups. When caregivers are recommended to follow a weight loss diet, some immediately take action, some keep on underestimating the need. If the caregivers decide to change the catâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s diet, they are exposed to new information. Some cats resist to changing diet, thus caregivers may experience practical and emotional challenges.

Figure 22. Feeding routine during the certain stages of the relationship

BC Assessment Caregivers have distinct perceptions of the body condition of the cats. Many underestimate the size, as supported by the literature. Most participants were able to link body condition to a health situation; however it is not clear if this link is viable in the moment of feeding. The ways they assess the BC are:

Comparing The caregivers tend to make sense of the BC of their cat by comparing it to other cats. Considering the fact that almost half of the cats are actually overweight this may lead to underestimation.

Estimating

“I don’t really know but, how much does your cat weight for example? Do you know? …I am sure she is more than 4 kgs. In fact she also weighs heavy when I hold her. I can feel her being a bit overweight.” (E)

She is 4, instead of 3 or something like that. That’s a lot for a cat. But I’ve seen really fat cats and she is not really fat.” (A)

Feeding as a behavior

In practical level three main concepts namely heaviness, weight and appearance are referred interchangeably. They try to make sense of weight by heaviness. While doing so they do not feel confident because heaviness is a subjective value - heavy, light- whereas others is an objective value numbers. They usually refer to weight with whole numbers (precision value for humans) which is not the right precision value for a cat’s weight.

We analyzed the overfeeding behaviour by using the Transtheoretical Behavior Change Model (Prochaska & DiClemente, 1983). We adapted certain stages of the model to overfeeding behaviour (Figure 23). Each step depicts a certain case in which caregivers attitudes towards weight management and cat’s current BC play a role. We considered the caregivers belong to each case as potential target groups, who needs to be supported in different ways.

Appearance

1. POSITIVE FEEDING BEHAVIOR

Especially experienced caregivers start with statements about appearance and then they link it to heaviness to make sense of the body condition. They refer to certain body parts like the belly. Usually sagging belly is considered to be normal; which may be misleading.

The cat is on ideal BC. The caregiver is aware of the possible risk of overfeeding and able to adjust the feeding routine in line with the changing BC. The caregiver is sensitive to weight management. She has an authoritative feeding style without indulgent tendencies that may result in overfeeding.

Weighing

2. LACK OF VISION:

Only one of the participants weight the cat regularly. Others find it hard or time consuming. Weighing is mostly done in vet visits. Many owners do not know/ remember their cat’s weight in numbers.

The cat is currently on ideal BC, but has just started gaining weight due to overfeeding. The caregiver, with indulgent feeding style, is not aware of the possible future. The feeding behavior needs to be changed to prevent forthcoming overweight problem.

3. UNLOCKED IN MISPERCEIVED BC

She is light. 2 or 3 kg? I assume she is 3.5 or 4 kilograms. (F)

The cat is overweight but the caregiver cannot recognize it due to his misconception of ideal BC. S/he does not accept the situation and acts defensively upon others’ comments on the cat’s BC. She is locked in overfeeding habits and does not considering changing it. She first needs to recognize the overweight state of the cat in order to take an action.

4. PASSIVE AWARENESS

6. MAINTAINING

The caregiver is aware of the catâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s overweight BC, but does not take action. She is not concerned on weight reduction becauses she does not see the need or is not aware of the severe health risk or does not know how to deal with it. She needs to be persuaded to take an action.

The cat completed the weight reduction program with a lot of effort. The owner is relieved with the accomplishment. It is time to maintain the positive feeding behavior. The cat is more prone to gaining weight. The indulgent tendencies may arouse again. The owner is afraid of experiencing the same process.

5. TEST OF COMMITMENT The owner used to overfeed the cat but now is aware of the risk and currently taking action. The cat is on a weight reduction program and is resisting the change of routine. The owner, with indulgent tendencies, find it hard to commit to the diet.The process is a willpower test in which dilemmas take place in feeding activity.

Figure 23. Six cases of caregiversâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; feeding behaviors with regards to weight management

CONCLUSIONS RQ 1: What are the main concepts affecting the feeding routine of the caregiver with regards to weight management? • We identified four main factors affecting the feeding routine: (1) Caregiver’s feeding style, (2) cats behaviour, (3) food (frequency, type and portion), (4) dietary requirements. These are also the possible factors affecting the experience of the caregivers. We still do not know how these factors affect the experience of the caregivers in the moment of feeding. • We defined three types of cat feeding styles: (1) authoritarian, (2) authoritative, (3) indulgent. Awareness on weight management increases the control over food intake; whereas affectionate bond causes more responsive feeding styles. It is hard to group caregivers in these styles without knowing the cat’s agency levels and caregivers subjective feeding experience. • We expect highly affectionate owners with high awareness on weight management to experience dilemmas in the feeding activity. These dilemmas may create challenge for committing to the diet. • We considered the authoritative feeding style as a positive cat feeding behaviour, whereas the indulgent style is regarded to be a risk factor for overweight.

• Emotional level meanings are a significant part of the feeding practice. Therefore, we think emotions may be important triggers of overfeeding. However, we do not know what particular emotions are evoked in certain feeding moments and to what extent they affect caregivers respond and experience. • Meal feeding and additional food feeding fulfill different functions. Therefore we assume they may create different emotional appraisal. • The cats’ agency significantly affects the feeding routine. The interaction with the cat in the moment of feeding creates emotional appraisals, thus affects the feeding experience.

RQ3: How does the feeding routine is shaped during the relationship? • The establishment phase of the routine is significant, because the habits adopted in this phase continue throughout the relationship. Wrong feeding behaviours adopted in the beginning may cause the cats to start putting on weight.

• Many caregivers do not apply any serious Body assessment method. They mostly relay on comparison, estimation and change of the appearance. Most of them do not feel confident in describing the BC.

• Caregivers may become more concerned about weight management once they decide to apply a weight reduction diet. We do not know to what extent these concerns become active in the feeding moment and how they are situated in other cases.

• Most caregivers were able to link body condition to health situation; however it is not clear if this link is viable in the moment of feeding.

• First time caregivers look for new information, whereas experienced ones tend to repeat their previous feeding habits with the new cat.

• We defined six cases depicting different steps in overfeeding behaviour change cycle that we created. These cases represent different target groups with different attitudes on weight management. We do not know how each target group experience the feeding routine, and how weight related concerns are situated in their experience.

RQ 2: What are the meanings, skills and stuff consisting the feeding activity?

DISCUSSION Study 1 provided a holistic understanding of the elements of the feeding practice i.e. food, feeding styles, meaning of feeding, interactions, feeding attitudes. By exploring the interplay between these elements within the domain of cat-human companionship, we realized that there are several prominent factors that generate diversity in feeding experience. These are:

Agency of the cat The cat’s attitude during the feeding activity has an effect on the caregiver’s feeding behaviours. This means that the agency of the cat is an inevitable factor in the equation of the feeding practice. The degree of the cat’s agency put into feeding activity depends on the cat’s characteristics and habits moulded through the relationship. The way cats manifest their agency varies e.g. vocalisation (meowing), rubbing legs, biting or attitudinize.

EXPERIENCE ? However we do not know how these factors affect the feeding experience of the caregivers. The anecdotes of the the caregivers covered the feeding mostly from the activity perspective. However, they were lacking the details of momentary interactions and emotion. Therefore, another study is needed to explore how caregivers experience the feeding routine. Which emotions are elicited in which situations? Do feeding treats and meals feel the same? How are the weight-related concerns situated in the moment of feeding? To what extend do they affect the caregiver’s response?

Caregiver’s feeding styles Based on various factors; such as the characteristics of the relationship, beliefs and awareness levels, caregivers are engaged in certain feeding styles i.e. indulgent, authoritative and authoritarian. It is easier to identify a certain attitude of the caregiver when the cat is an active agent in feeding practice e.g. meowing to demand food, refusing to eat unpleasant flavour.

Feeding Type, Frequency and portion Different feeding types; meal feeding, giving treats etc., involve different purposes for giving food. They also occur in different contexts. We believe that these differences may create variations in the caregiver’s feeding experience. Frequency and portion size reflects the concerns of the caregiver.

Dietary requirements The dietary requirements specific to the cat’s health situation, such as BC (body condition) or allergies, forms additional concerns in relation to feeding activity. We assume caregivers become more concerned about weight management when their cat is on a diet. We want to explore to what extend weight related concerned are active in the the moment of feeding experience.

STUDY 2 Purpose The main purpose of Study 2 was to explore the human companions’ experiences in everyday feeding activities. We aimed to learn how the factors that we defined in Study 1 -cat’s agency, caregiver’s attitudes, feeding type and dietary requirements- affect the feeding experience. We were especially curious to find out how weight-related concerns are situated in different feeding experiences. The research questions formulated for the study are: RQ1: How do caregivers experience the feeding activity? • What kinds of the emotions are evoked during everyday feeding activities? • How do these emotions affect the feeding experience? • Do different ways of food giving (meal, additional) cause different experience?

Overview PARTICIPANTS A questionnaire called ‘Loved filled bites’ was used to recruit participants for the study (see Appendix A). The aim of the questionnaire was to reach different groups of caregivers identified in the first study (Figure 24). Six participants were selected by experience sampling method i.e. each participant was a potential representative of one of the identified cases on the model. The participants varied in terms of age and household status i.e. living alone, with partner or children. The cats had distinct regarding their agency levels, BC scales and ages. The detailed profiles of the participants can be seen in Appendix A.

RQ2: How do weight-related concerns vary in different feeding experiences and how do they affect caregivers’ actions? • To what extend are the weight-related concerns a part of feeding activity? • In which situations do weight-related concerns become explicit? • What are the conflicting concerns related to weight management? • How do caregivers manage their conflicting concerns? RQ3: In what ways the caregivers would like to receive feedback on the cat’s BC?

Figure 24. Different groups of caregivers on the behaviour change model

METHOD The Contextmapping and Emotion Capturing methods inspired the way of conducting the study. In order to capture the concerns that are relevant to the moment of feeding, we used emotion capturing method. As we want to capture them in a period of everyday routine, it was necessary to enable participants to self report their experiences. The participants were given a synthesizing package, and asked to record their feeding activities for five days. The package consisted of three materials; i.e. a booklet, a feeding calendar and a sticker pack (Figure 26).

Figure 25. A page of the calendar with five sections

The booklet was to get a brief information about the cats and their feeding routine. The calendar was designed to capture the details of the experience in situ. The participants were asked to record the feeding activities in five sections; (1) time of feeding, (2) presence of catâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s demand, (3) type of food, (4) their response i.e. giving or not giving the food and (5) emotions evoked in the moment of feeding and the possible triggers of the emotions (Figure 25). See Appendix A for further details of the package.

INTERVIEWS Private interviews were conducted after the participants had completed the synthesizing packages. The interview consisted of three parts, in which participants answered questions related to their (1) five-day feeding activities - including actions, emotions and concerns (2) conflicting concerns in the feeding activity (3) opinions on receiving feedback on the catâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s BC. See Appendix A for further details of the content of the interview.

Figure 26. The synthesizing package; the feeding diary, the feeding calendar, the sticker pack

Findings* FEEDING TYPES Every cat and caregiver have a different feeding routine consisting of different feeding regimen, frequencies, type of food and experiences of the caregiver. In this study, we identified three types of feeding activities; • Meals: Providing a main food in the daily diet. • Routinized treats: Treats given routinely in the daily diet - similar to meals. For example, giving ½ cup of milk after each meal. • Occasional Treats: Treats given occasionally, not in a consistent frequency in the daily diet.

Routinized Feeding: Meals & Routinized Treats Meals and routinized treats are fixed in the everyday routine. In general, they are given in a structured frequency. Due to the mundane nature of these activities, most caregivers feel neutral and indifferent. The emotions such as, satisfaction, love, relief and relaxation are experienced in low density. These emotions stem from the positive feeling promoted by nurturing, showing care and accomplishing a task. The main trigger of routinized feeding is ‘time’. Cats can easily become conditioned to approximate feeding time. They show demand, when there is ‘time to eat’. When the demand is not in line with the caregiver’s availability or intentions- sleeping, watching film, waiting for the feeding time-, it creates negative emotions, such as annoyance or frustration. In general, none of the caregivers like to be compelled by the cat. Occasional treats

These different types of feeding involve different emotional appraisals (Figure 27). The emotions elicited in meal feeding and routinized feeding are quite similar. This means that they generate similar experiences, whereas occasional treat giving involves slightly different type of emotions. Figure 28 shows the different characteristics of feeding types.

*“I wrote it (snack) on yellow sticker treat feeding), but Morphy (the cat) would definitely give it a red colour (meal feeding)”. (O)

Occasional treat feeding is mostly triggered by emotional appraisals evoked in certain situations. Since they are not given regularly, cats do not demand occasional treats as much as routinized ones. (The cats can be triggered by certain sound or smell that they have conditioned to). However, especially in long term relationships, occasional treats tend to become routinized over time, thus, lose their function. Compared to meals, especially the occasional treats are regarded as more interactive and emotional, due to their spontaneous nature.

Figure 27. The emotions evoked in each type of feeding activity and when refusing the cat’s demand (Grey ones are less common, happiness* is not an emotion)

* In this report, we will only mention the major findings. Appendix A includes some details of the findings.

We identified four main purposes of treat feeding, each of which is consisted of complementary emotional triggers.

"" "" ""

TO COMPENSATE

TO ATTRACT

(To apologise, to cheer up) (EMOTIONS: Love, guilty, sympathy)

(To gain attention, acceptance, affection;to bribe) (EMOTIONS: Love, hope, fascination, joy)

When caregivers are about to make something that possibly hurt or disappoint the cat, e.g. before leaving the cat alone, they tend to give treats. They may also give treats after the unwanted activity is over - e.g. after cutting the nails - to compensate the negative experience that the cat went through.

Treat giving is a way of attracting the cat’s attention. Especially in the beginning of the relationship, treats are used to initiate an interaction with the cat, which helps to gain acceptance. The caregivers may look for the affectionate behaviours shown right before the feeding activity. Besides, treats can be used for bribing, to make the cat do a desired behaviour e.g. to come inside.

Figure 28. The characteristics of feeding types

He look scared when I step on his tail, so I give some treat to say ‘I love you’.” (R)

EMOTION-BASED PURPOSES OF TREAT FEEDING

I am treating her a bit extra (treat) to make our weekend a bit nicer and more calm.” (N) Maybe I am the one asking attention with treats.” (T)

TO THANK (To reciprocate, to reward, to share) (EMOTIONS: Love, contentment, satisfaction, kindness, fascination)

TO GIVE IN

Caregivers feel happy when they are exposed to cats affectionate and friendly behaviours. Treats are used as a way of repaying the positive experience, to make the cat happy back. The hidden agenda is a kind of positive reinforcement.

This mostly happens when an occasional treats start being routinized. When the cat is insistently

(To keep the peace, to relax) (EMOTIONS: Annoyance, Relief)

asking for a treat, the caregiver may give in in order to keep the peace and to make the cat silent.

WEIGHT-RELATED CONCERNS DURING FEEDING The weight- related concerns become active in feeding, only if the cat is on a diet (Figure 30). Although all the participants regard obesity as a health problem, only the ones with a cat on diet apply weight management seriously -by measuring the portions carefully (Figure 29), restricting the treats and refusing the cat’s demand for extra food. Apparently, the others do not relate to the potential problem, thus do not take effective measures. The main reasons for lacking weight related concerns are; • Affection based concerns overweighing the weight-related concerns, especially in the beginning of the relationship. • Having no past experience with excess weight problem (experienced caregivers) • Short term pleasure from treating overweighing the long term goals of health • Hard to imagine the future overweight problem (first time caregivers) • Underestimating or not being aware of extra calories and risks of obesity • Trust in cats self weight management Only the caregivers whose cats are on diet, experience dilemmas related to weight management (Appendix A). These caregivers moderate their dilemmas by prioritizing the weight-related concerns. They remind themselves

about the long term goal of weight reduction. Refusing the cat’s demand make them feel guilty, pity and frustrated. However, they get used to it and become more determined over time. Later on, they even feel positive emotions -relief, confident and neutral- while rejecting the cat. Products designed for playful treating, such as feeding ball, alleviate the negative emotions stemming from food restriction. We assume that the caregivers who have a distant relationship with their cats may commit to the diet more easily than the ones with higher attachment levels.

Figure 29. Participant L is measuring the daily partion meticulously

Figure 30. The weight related concerns in each participant’s feeding activity. The cat’s of N,R,L are on diet.

“Optimal level of happiness is more important than optimal level of health in my opinion” (T)

“overweight would be the last thing she would be concerned about” (T)

“ I’ve started measuring the portions when I decided he needs to loose weight. Then I become strict.” (L)

RECEIVING FEEDBACK ON CAT’S BC From the cat Receiving a feedback directly from the cat is regarded as the most natural way. However only the experienced caregivers feel confident realizing the change by appearance or heaviness. They tend to trust in their intuitions. Any ways of BC assessment are consciously done, only if the cat is on a diet. Serious BC assessment is perceived as the ‘job of vet’. Caregivers mostly do not know how to apply Physical Body Assessment Method.

*“It would be nice to know whether I am doing good. Actually I am not experienced with this breed and I am not really sure about feeding requirements it in the long run. The feedback from the object would make me feel more confident.” (T)

“ Ok nice to have someone caring , but it is not their business. My cat is happy and this is my own way!” (O)

From others Receiving a feedback from other people may result in different reactions of the caregiver. Their reactions depends on their attitudes toward weight management, their personalities (emotional or rational), their knowledge levels, attitude and the role of the person who gives the feedback. Defensive reactions are common. A vet’s comments are taken more seriously. From an object Receiving a feedback from an object is regarded to be useful, but not fully trustable. In any case, caregivers would check on their intuitions or an expert opinion. The device should not be complex or agitating. Numbers do not tell too much as a feedback on BC. The activity to receive a feedback should not require extra effort from the cat or the caregiver.

Surprisingly, many participants indicated that the calendar itself created some kind of awareness in their feeding routine. It revealed certain habits hidden in their routine. It make some of them even set some rules based on the finding they got. For example Participant T realized that both she and her partner give treats to the cat right after they come back home. So they decided only the first one who arrives home to give a treat.

Conclusions RQ1: How do caregivers experience the feeding activity? • Every cat and caregiver have a different feeding routine consisting of different feeding regimen, frequencies, type of food and experiences of the caregiver. Cat’s agency is a significant factor of the experience. It doesn’t necessarily affect the response of the caregivers but their experience. • We defined two types of feeding activity: routinized feeding (meals and routinized treats) and occasional feeding. These involve different emotions and meanings, which create different experiences of the caregiver. The meal feeding is a repetitive activity which makes caregivers to feel indifferent over time. Whereas the treat feeding is more emotional and interactive, allowing caregivers to fulfil the emotional aspects of feeding practice, which disappear in the routine over time. • Occasional treats are prominent in the beginning of the relationship and they become routinized over time. They are mostly triggered by emotional appraisals. We grouped these emotions in four categories of purposes; to compensate, to thank, to attract, to give in. • Facilitating reflection on the feeding routine, e.g. our calendar, is a way to create awareness, which is the first step for behaviour change. RQ2: How do weight-related concerns vary in different feeding experiences and how do they affect caregivers’ actions? • Weight-related concerns are only active in the feeding routine, when a cat is on a strict weight reduction diet. • Caregivers find different strategies to moderate or resolve the dilemmas in the diet process. They become more determined and confident following the diet oer time.

• In the beginning of the relationship, affection-based concerns overtake the weight-related ones. In this phase, most caregivers do not take serious measures to prevent the excess weight. • Experienced owners trust on their own experience both in feeding practice and weight management. They are less open for a change in the routine. • The longer the relationship is, the harder it is to change the feeding routine. RQ3: What are caregivers opinions on BC assessment and in what ways they would like to be informed about cat’s changing BC?. • Most caregivers are not familiar with Physical Assessment Method. Eventhough they know it, they do not apply it regularly. Any ways of BC assessment (by look, by weighing) are done consciously and regulary, only if the cat is on a diet. • Less experienced owners feel less confident assessing cat’s BC themselves, therefore they are more open for being guided. • The BC assessment should be a natural activity, which requires neither a dedicated time and effort (from owner or cat) nor an expensive and sophisticated gadget. • The attitude of the feedback should be proper so that it does not cause defensive reactions or suspicions of caregivers. • Caregivers would feel most comfortable if they can find out the body condition of their cat themselves.

Annabel, the cat of Participant K

Study 2 provided us with a deeper understanding of caregiversâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; feeding experience with regards to their emotions, concerns, and actions. We understood how the factors defined in Study 1 facilitate diversity in caregivers experiences. We identified different feeding types, their meanings, different purposes of treat giving, and different levels of weight related concerns. The diversity that we discovered served us with rich ingredients for upcoming design activities. In the next chapter, we will discuss our findings overall, then we will formulate our goal and approach.

Kurt Cobain with a cat

CHAPTER 4

VISION P62 P64 P70

Approach Target Group Design Goal

This chapter is a passage from research phase to design activities. We will first discuss the key findings we gathered from research with regards to our stance as a designer. Finally, we will introduce our design goal. The decisions explained in this chapter pave the way to the conceptualisation phase.

APPROACH Empowering vs Dictating

Emotional Triggers

We have defined overfeeding as “providing more calories than required in daily feeding activity”. So as long as the given food does not exceed the required calories, we are interested neither in nutritious aspects of the food nor in the characteristic of the routine. We are interested in the meanings and interactions triggering overfeeding behaviour. With

We start the project with the question “why do people overfeed their cats?”. Then we explored different types of feeding activities and their meaning for caregivers. We have defined two feeding types, i.e. meal feeding and treat feeding. Although for the cat both the treats and the meals possibly mean ‘food’, there is a nuance in meanings from the caregiver’s perspective (Figure 31). Being a fixed part of mundane every day, meal feeding is regarded as a duty in which practical concerns are prominent. On the other hand, treats are regarded to be more interactive and emotional. Especially occasional treats are triggered by emotional appraisals, therefore fulfill emotion-based purposes (Figure 32).

this regard, we focus on intentional aspects rather than practical aspects of overfeeding i.e. measuring wrong. Firstly, our research showed that every cat- caregiver relationship has a unique characteristics and a particular feeding routine. These individual differences are due to both specific cat’s and specific caregiver’s profiles. Each cat may have different dietary requirements as well as different agency levels. Each caregiver may have different daily routine, responsibilities, experiences, attitudes, beliefs shaping the feeding habit. Therefore, each may over-feed the cat in different ways. One might give excessive amount of snacks but other may provide extra calories by couple of extra bites of kibble every day. In this sense, it is not realistic to introduce one ‘perfect’ feeding routine to prevent overfeeding. Therefore our aim is not to dictate an ‘optimal’ feeding routine or praise a certain type of food or regimen, but engage caregivers to a positive feeding behaviour regarding weight management. So that they customize their routine regarding weight management.

Compansate

Attract

Appreciate

Give In

Figure 32. Emotion based purposes

Figure 31. Nuanced meanings of treat and meal feeidng

What differentiates treats from meals in meaning level? Firstly, compared to meals, treats inherently carry the meaning of ‘extra’; an extra way of showing love and care. However, as threats become routinized, they become less exciting for the caregiver. The mundane nature takes over the meaning. Secondly, the interactions involved in meal and treat feeding are different (Figure 33). Any meal is given on a feeding plate. The caregiver fills the plate; the cat starts eating, interacting with the food rather than the owner. The owner leaves the feeding area to engages in other activities. This may cause caregivers not to fully experience the meanings associated with ‘feeding’ e.g. - nurturing, interacting, caring. On the other hand, treats are detached from responsibility. They are casual and primarily for pleasure. They are driven by emotional triggers and given in a more intimate way; usually by hand. Different from the meals, caregivers usually watch the cat while eating the treat. They feel as if they are the centre of the cat’s attention. We believe the physical contact -ie. eye contact, nose and mouth contact- may reinforce the feeling of intimacy and acceptance, which result in higher satisfaction of the caregiver. This may be the reason why treat feeding is defined to be more emotional and interactive than meal feeding.

Figure 33. Distant interaction in meal feeding (top), intimate interaction in treat giving (bottom)

In this project, we do not prefer to define treats as extra calories which needs to be eliminated. They are the way of celebrating emotional meanings of feeding activity, which fades away in meal feeding due to hedonic adaptation. Unfortunately, we know that many caregivers do not calculate the food intake of their cats in terms of calories. When the occasional treats become routinized they become a part of daily caloric intake, which needs to be considered carefully. We wonder if caregivers were able to fulfil the emotional aspects of feeding by meal feeding alone, would they still feel the need to treat their cats?

Prevention One of the most important insight we got is that although weight and feeding is conceptually linked to each other, they only become contextually linked in the feeding moment- when the cat goes on a diet (Figure 34). Only then do weight related concerns become active in feeding activity. However, weight reduction is a struggling process both for

Figure 34. Presence of weight related concerns in feeding activity; not active (top), active on diet (bottom)

the cat and the caregiver, which requires effort and commitment. Being routinized animals some of the cats show resistance to the diet and this creates emotional conflicts in the caregiver. On top of that, once the cat become overweight, it takes some time to realize the fact and take an action. So, what if we prevent the caregivers and the cats from facing this process? This means rather than going through step 3, 4 and 5 the caregivers will engage to the positive feeding behaviour before their cat become seriously overweight. Therefore, we want to address caregivers who lack of envisioning -step 2 - to prevent future overweight problem. We want to accomplish this by calling weight-related concerns into their feeding activity.

edge and intuition rather than looking for new information. So, it may be challenging to persuade them to accept certain facts or change their routine, if they already engage in negative feeding behaviours. On the other hand, first time caregivers are more open for external knowledge. They ‘ learn by doing’, which makes them more enthusiastic to rearrange the routine. In terms of BC assessment, they are not always familiar to changing body condition in different stages i.e. growing, after sterilization. Therefore, even if they are engaged in regular body assessment - which is usually not the case - it may be hard for them to recognize the change as a problem. We believe that ‘first time caregivers’ are a more accessible target group. Besides, if they once become concerned about weight management they would transfer their positive behaviour to their next companionship. Therefore, we decided to mainly target first time caregivers. We define first time caregivers as people who becomes responsible of a cat for the first time in their life. This definition includes people with with no animal companion experience before and extends to people onced lived with a cat, but never involved in caregiving e.g. having a cat as a child without any caregiving duties. Note that feeding activity is our focus when we mention caregiving. So, ‘first time caregivers’ are cat owners that become seriously responsible of feeding activity for the first time. Keeping in mind that once they set a particular feeding routine they show the similar characteristics with the experienced caregivers. So, we preferably want to intervene in the

TARGET GROUP Our target group is defined as first-time caregivers with indulgent feeding styles. The early stages of the relationship is considered to be more effective to intervene.

First-time Caregivers The ‘experience cat owners’ term is defined as caregivers who took care of at least one cat earlier in their life. The experienced owners seem to be more confident about their own way of feeding and BC assessment. They tend to be more conservative and defensive ; they follow the feeding practice of their previous cats and trust on their own knowl-

early stages of their relationship to create a bigger impact.

Indulgent Feeding Style Thanks to our research we were able to identify certain feeding styles of caregivers i.e. authoritarian, authoritative and indulgent. We believe that these styles may be relevant to all caregivers regardless of their experience level. Selecting first time caregivers as main focus, we translated these styles into this group in the form of three different personas. The acquisition, the perceived role of the cat and general caregiving attitudes are also included to personas (Figure 35). A detailed story of each persona can be found in the Appendix.

Figure 35. The personas; depicting the different profiles of first time caregivers with regards to their relationship, caregiving attitudes and feeding styles

Anna- a first time caregiver with indulgent feeding style is our main target group. Since the emotional decisions overtake the control in food intake, this persona is more prone to overfeeding behavior, especially in the beginning of the relationship. A lack of future vision, poor awareness on weight management and a flexible and intuitive caregiving attitude amplifies the possibility of an overweight problem in the future.

Feeding Experience Journey The storyboard (Figure 36 and 37) depicts the feeding experience of â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Annaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; with special attention to weight management. Treats are given special attention since they are rich in emotional appraisals. Each step illustrates an important touch point, which lays the bases for multiple intervention opportunities. A detailed description of the storyboard can be found in the Appendix.

Figure 36. The feeding experience of an indulgent first time caregiver (establishing the feeding routine)

Figure 37. The feeding experience of an indulgent first time caregiver (Weight management)

DESIGN GOAL Based on our vision we formulated our preliminary design goal statement and desired interaction qualities (Figure 38).

Preliminary Design Goal Statement

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Empowering first-time caregivers to make weight-concerned decisions in their cat feeding routine, in order to prevent overweightâ&#x20AC;? Desired Interaction Qualities

Kind: The caregivers know the best about their cats and have good intentions. The intervention should not have a judgmental or offensive tone. This may result in defensive attitudes of the caregivers, which would become a boundary for positive change.

Candid:

Our target group tends to underestimate weight management, thus they need to be enlightened. If needed, they should be confronted with their indulgent tendencies in an objective way.

Intimate: The interaction should support/contribute to the intimate relationship of the cats and the caregiver. Weight concerned feeding should not mean being distant.

Effortless: The intervention should not require too much effort from the cat or the caregiver. Feeding is an everyday activity, so the intervention should not turn it into a burden.

Figure 38. Ernest Hemingway at table with his cat Cristobal: The image represents our desired interaction qualities.

by Kuniyoshi

CHAPTER 5

CONCEPTUALISATION P75 P77 P84

Directions Concepts Final Concept

This chapter explains how we moved from an abstract goal to a concrete concept. The conceptualisation phase certainly was not a linear process. Various ideation steps took place with various purposes, techniques and sometimes with multiple minds involved. It was the iterative way which made conceptualisation rich and inspirational. However, for the sake of clarity, only the keystones that communicate our main decisions will be explained in this chapter. Figure 39 (in the next page) illustrates the steps of the conceptualisation phase and the evolution of the design goal during the process.

Figure 39. The conceptualisation process

DIRECTIONS Defining the Directions I did a set of preliminary ideation activities (Appendix) to explore potential directions. The storyboard of the target persona provided the ground for the creative activity. Illustration of the ideas gave rise to three directions, each of which touches upon different key points in the feeding experience of an indulgent caregiver.

DIRECTION 1: Easy and effortless way of BC Assessment at Home As discussed before, current methods - checking appearance, heaviness and comparison- quite subjective and requires knowledge and experience, which our target group is lacking off (Figure 40). The purpose of the direction is to engage caregivers to a regular body assessment, so that they will be able to detect weight gain before it gets serious. An easy and effortless way of BC assessment embedded in the routine may provide the caregivers with the skills to act upon the change.

Figure 41. The focus of the Direction 2; lack of weight concerns in treat feeding

DIRECTION 3: Emotional & Interactive Meals Caregivers feel less emotionally-fulfilled in meal feeding, compared to treat giving (Figure 42). I assume that treats bring to the emotional aspects of feeding activity, which has faded away in meals due to its routinized practical nature. However, compared to meal feeding, caregivers are less concerned to caloric intake while giving treats. What if meals become as emotional and interactive as treats? Would the caregivers still feel the need to give extra food to their cats? This direction aims to redefine the meaning of meal feeding by introducing new interactions that satisfy the users as much as treat feeding.

Figure 40. The focus of the Direction 1; poor BC assessment

DIRECTION 2: Mindful (weight conscious) Treats Our target group is enthusiastic to try out new treats, especially in the early stages of the relationship. This makes treats to be a perfect gateway to reach them. Occasional treats are given with emotional triggers without any concerns about caloric intake (Figure 41). An intervention embedded to treats may be an opportunity to raise awareness on weight management in a sneaky way in the feeding moment.

Figure 42. The focus of the Direction 3; poor emotional fulfilment in meal feeding

Exploring the Directions In order to explore the potential of each direction, I conducted an ideation workshop with six designers with different expertise (Appendix C). After getting a sense of the design space per each direction, I evaluated them by using the Harris Profile Method. The strengths and weaknesses of each were assessed based on criteria*. Figure 43 shows the criteria - in the order of significance- and the profiles of each direction.

Direction 2 appeared to meet our criteria the best. The main goal of this direction is to create awareness within the feeding activity. Therefore I believe it is the most powerful one to stimulate caregiversâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; concerns. When being triggered enough, they may reflect on their habits and take a step to change them. As the stimulation will happen in the moment of treating in a subtle way, the caregivers do not need to be persuaded beforehand. Treat feeding activity already involves affectionate interaction. Therefore, the direction may present weight management as a positive value in the relationship. Therefore, we decided to keep it as our main direction for the next ideation phase. On the other hand, we think certain ideas of other two directions reflect a similar mind-set, thus can be considered as the extensions of Direction 2. For example, providing caregivers with the skills of BC assessment - emerged from Direction 1- can create practical consciousness. Enhancing physical contact in meal feeding -emerged from Direction 2- can intuitively remind the real value of feeding. Figure 43. The profiles of each directions

* Since the directions were still rich in various approaches, I kept the criteria broad to embrace all possible implementations.

CONCEPTS Defining the Concepts I started generating ideas around the central direction â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Mindful Treatsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; by using the Lotus Blossom Method. The method provided me with a fresh look and lead to plentiful thematic ideas (Appendix). By clustering the ideas, I came up with five themes (Figure 44), each of which had multiple ingredients that can be integrated into concepts. Then I selected the ideas that have the most potential to fulfil the design goal.

Figure 44. The themes, the underlying thematic ideas, and the selected ideas to be synthesized into concepts.

Afterwards, I synthesised the selected ideas (with similar characteristics) into individual concepts. Some of the ideas served as the core value of the concepts e.g. completing a story, whereas some were implemented into multiple concepts in different ways e.g. reflecting on purpose by picking a treat or by logging into an app. Those ones were employed as supporting features of the core value (Figure 44). At this stage, traces of other directions also came in i.e. hand- feeding tool, BC Assessment step.

Ernest Hemingway feeding his cat Cristobal

Final Design Goal â&#x20AC;&#x153;Creating a conscious* cat feeding experience by facilitating reflection and providing information within the feeding activity, in order to prevent overfeeding behaviourâ&#x20AC;? *We want caregivers to be conscius about their intentions, knowledge and actions reagarding their feeding practice

Desired Effect Critical thinking Being confronted with the feeding habits Doubting the feeding routine

The Concepts The common goal of the concepts is to raise awareness by facilitating reflection and providing information within the feeding activity. How they fulfil the goal slightly different ways. Hereby we explain each concept briefly.

CONCEPT 1: CONFRONTING PATTERN The concepts aims to confront caregivers by revealing their treat giving pattern. It consists of portioned treat packages and a digital platform (App). Each treat package has a QR codes inside, which directs the caregiver to the app each time she scans a new QR code. In the app, the caregivers will first be asked to select her purpose of treating at that moment. Her input will be saved and will be translated into a visualised pattern over time. The pattern will provide her with an overview of her treating habits i.e. purposes, time , frequency and possibly reveal certain links that were invisible before e.g. giving in around afternoon. In addition, the caregiver will receive some tips about weight management each time she logs into the app. The new understanding she gained with the raised consciousness in her pattern, she will hopefully feel confronted with her indulgent habits and will be encouraged to change them.

CONCEPT 2: MINDFUL BITES Concept 2 has a holistic approach to conscious feeding. The concept consists of a gift package designed for an occasional event e.g. Christmas. There are three products in the package, each of which contributes to weight conscious feeding activity in different ways. The first one is a treat product facilitating instant reflection within the treat giving activity. There are four categories of treat packages, each of which represents a purpose i.e. to appreciate, to compensate, to attract and to give in. Each time the caregiver wants to give a treat, she needs to select one that fits to her intention. This will trigger instant reflection on her behaviour. Opening the package, she will receive a message that gives a tip about weight management. Reflection and new information will trigger critical thinking. The second product is a wet food package which becomes a hand-feeding tool. The aim is to facilitate an intimate interaction while feeding. The third product is a booklet consisting of the visual steps of BC assessment method. The concept also covers the marketing side of the package, by a special exhibition stand. The front side of the stand exhibits the package and the products inside. The back side exhibits an optimal body sized cat model with basic steps of the BC Assessment method. The model will drag attention while promoting the ideal image of a healthy cat. The life-like body texture will enable people to practice BC assessment steps so that they will learn how an ideal size cat should feel like.

CONCEPT 3: VISIONARY TREATS The concept aims to make caregivers envision the possible future of overweight by storytelling. It consists of a treat package and a treat calendar. In the package there are portioned treats with numbers. In each portion there are parts of a story hidden (stickers). Each time the caregiver treats the cat, she will stick the stickers to the corresponding number on the calendar. The story will be completed step by step over time. The story illustrates the experience of an indulgent cat owner whose cat gain weight overtime. Certain issues resulting in overfeeding will be conveyed by the story, such as a poor BC check, defensiveness and emotion related treats. While the caregiver is completing the story, she will reflect on her own feeding routine and question the relatedness. Additionally each page will provide tips about weight management, similarly to Concept 1.

Concept Selection I discussed the concepts with three first-time caregivers and a veterinarian to select the most promising one. During the discussion I provided them with the visualisation of the concept within a storyboard. Based on their feedback, Concept 2 was the most potential intervention to fulfil the design goal. Figure 45 briefly illustrates the effectiveness of the concepts with regards to certain criteria. Further explanations can be found in Appendix C.

Concept 2 appears to fulfil the design goal in the most effective way. It enables reflection instantly within the treat giving activity, thus has more potential to create an impact on conscious levels. Different from other concepts, caregivers do not need to switch from the treat giving activity to another platform or a product to reach the information: They exposed to it unintentionally. Thus there is no way to disable the concept. Yet, it is still up to the caregivers to what extend they will mind the messages. It is not demanding, pushy, or requiring commitment. Therefore, it has the most potential to be accepted in a real life scenario. The hand feeding tool and the booklet extend the weight conscious feeding experience to intimate aspects of feeding and practical skills of weight management. Thus, the overall concept is powerful enough to promote weight management as a positive aspect of the relationship. On the other hand, Concept 2 does not promise a clear image of treating pattern, as much as Concept 1. Besides, the illustrations of Concept 3 are powerful enough to convey the need of weight management. The marketing aspect of Concept 2 seems to be a dedicated design challenge, exceeding our expertise as an interaction designer. Therefore, a final iteration was done by considering the favourite elements and limitations. The refined version of Concept 2 will be presented in the next section.

Figure 45. The profiles of each concepts

FINAL CONCEPT Mindful Bites â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Mindful Bitesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; is a package consisting of three products; Mindful Treats, Mindful Meals and Mindful Strokes. The overarching purpose of the package is to create a conscious feeding experience to prevent overfeeding in the long term. The product serves this main purpose in different ways. Each package comes with a slogan to communicate the purpose of the product in an inviting yet implicit way. This way the caregiver approaches the product with positive emotions like anticipation and curiosity.

Mindful Treats ‘Mindful Treats’ is a treat box which aims to facilitate reflection, thus, critical thinking in the moment of treat giving. It also aims to introduce weight related concerns to the feeding activity. It consists of portioned treats with hidden messages inside. There are four types of portions, each of which represents a specific purpose of treat giving i.e. Appreciate, Compensate, Attract, Give in.

PURPOSES Purpose-categories aim to facilitate reflection in the picking moment. When the caregiver opens the treat box and sees the question “What is the purpose this time?”, she reflects on her intention. Trying to find the corresponding category, she examines the deeper layers of her purpose corresponding to the situation.

Over time, some purpose-categories will drain faster than the others. The unequal amounts will serve as visual feedback. This way the user is stimulated to make insights into her overall treat giving pattern, which is the first step to plan new arrangements of the routine.

MESSAGES The messages aim to introduce weight-related concerns in the treating activity. The information gained within the action of treat giving creates an emotional impact. When the caregiver with indulgent tendencies is confronted with her habits, she will experience conflicting concerns, thus mixed emotions. Negative emotions, such as doubt, worry, and guilt will encourage her to make weight conscious arrangement in the feeding routine. There are four types of content of the messages: • General information gives general facts about weight management • Purpose related information gives specific tips and facts for selected purpose category • Translations illustrate some examples of human food and what they mean for a cat regarding caloric intake. • Alternative ways gives tips to fulfil the purpose in ways other than food. See Appendix D for the full content of the messages.

PORTIONS A portion consists of recommended amount of treats for a single treat giving activity*.The package of the portions are reclosable, so the caregiver can freely decide the amount she wants to give. The semi-transparent material makes the remaining treats visible. At the same time, it enhances the feeling of curiosity about the messages inside.

* Further study is needed to determine the recommended amount of the portions. It is based on the caloric value of the specific treat and the average frequency of treat giving in a day.

Mindful Meals â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Mindful Mealsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; consists of a handfeeding tool which facilitates an interactive and intimate meal feeding experience. By recalling the emotional appraisals, mostly vivid in treat giving- to meal feeding activity, Mindful Meals aims to create a more emotionally fulfilling meal feeding experience of caregivers. As a result they

HANDFEEDING The tool is used to feed the cat from the hand. The physical contact enables an intimate interaction with the cat, thus transfers the emotional and interactive characteristics of treat giving to meal feeding.

THE FORM The tool is purposely designed to be unstable. The caregiver needs to hold it during the whole eating activity. This way they become an active provider rather than a mere observer. Being exposed to the whole eating activity, the caregivers will feel emotionally fulfilled.

Mindful Strokes ‘Mindful Strokes’ is a booklet to engage caregivers to regular Physical Body Condition Assessment* of their cat. The booklet aims to contribute to conscious feeding indirectly. By regularly checking the BC, the caregivers will realize the change and adjust the diet before the overweight gets serious. Mindful strokes provides caregiver with the practical skills of weight management. Caregivers realizing the issue themselves may become more concerned and less defensive towards vets recommendations regarding weight management. The booklet consists of three sections;

WHY: This section explains the need of regular body assessment through a story. The character represents an indulgent first time caregiver. The content of the story touches upon key issues underlying poor weight management.

STEPS: This section guides the user through the basic steps of the method in a comprehensible way.

NOTES: The booklet can be stored next to cat’s documents such as vaccination schedule. It can be checked regularly until the caregiver fully adopts the skill. The caregiver can take notes of her cat’s changing body condition in this section and discuss it with the vet during regular visit. See Appendix D for the full content.

* It is an existing method that is proven to be the simplest and most effective examination method so far.

Tone of the Design The desired interaction qualities i.e. kind, candid, intimate and effortless motivated the tone of design. The overall aesthetic is simple in order to emphasize the health-relatedness, which aims to increase trustworthiness. On the other hand, the icons, illustrations, the slogans and the texts have a light-hearted and sympathetic style. The tone of the messages is neutral without any judgemental statements. Regarding hand feeding, serving the food from the hand enables a kind and intimate interaction. The products neither demand any commitment nor force extra steps on the caregivers. Although the treat box introduces new steps in treat giving e.g. reflection, it aims to accomplish it in an intuitive way. The user still has the freedom to skip these cognitive steps.

In conceptualisation phase we generated plentiful ideas, directions and concepts based on our vision. We developed our design goal, identified the desired effect and the interaction qualities that we want to deliver via our intervention. Finally we came up with a final concept which aims to create a conscious feeding experience in order to prevent overfeeding behaviour of first-time owners with indulgent habits. However we still need to test if the desired goal of our concept is fulfilled. In the next chapter we will explain how we evaluated our concept with caregivers and their cats.

Snor, while checking the treat box prototype

CHAPTER 6

EVALUATION P92 P95 P104

The User Test Concept Review Conclusions & Recommendations

In order to evaluate our final concept we conducted a user test study. In this chapter, we will elaborate on the details of the study. Then based on our findings, we will discuss effect and the value of the concept. Finally, we will draw conclusions and give some recommendations for further development.

THE USER TEST Purpose The main purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of the final concept on the caregiver’s feeding experience. The effect was assessed based on the design goal and the interaction qualities. Additional to the experience we also received feedback on the usability. We decided to test only two of the products i.e. Mindful Treats and Mindful meals, since they are the ones reflecting the core value of the concept. The following research questions were formulated per product; TREATS RQ1: To what extend does the intervention stimulate reflection? • Do caregivers relate the purpose categories to their experience? • What do they reflect on? • How do they feel when being confronted? RQ2: What kinds of emotions are elicited by the intervention? • Do they experience conflicting opinions? • To what extend do they doubt about their own routine? • What are the attitudes of the caregivers towards the messages? • What type of content generates which type of thinking? MEALS RQ3: How do caregivers experience hand-feeding? • How different does it feel compared to usual meals? • What kinds of emotions are evoked? • Is the goal of intimacy fulfilled? • How do cats respond to handfeeding?

Overview PARTICIPANTS Mainly four caregivers and six cats participated to our study. In addition, partners of the two caregivers tested some aspects of the concept. All of the participants were first-time caregivers with indulgent feeding tendencies1. None of the cats were remarkably overweight2. Figure 46 shows which participants tested which aspects of the concept and our acquaintance. Figure 46. Participants

* 1. We assume that they have the tendencies to some extend based on the previous interviews. * 2. Participant F mentioned that her cats has 500 gr excessive weight.

PROTOTYPES High fidelity prototypes were used in the test, which means not only functions but also aesthetic and material qualities were represented to a great extend. Both of the prototypes were real size. The treat box (Figure 48) was produced by per each participant*. The hand feeding tool (Figure 47) was 3D printed**. A couple of iterations were done to figure out the most appropriate size of the product.

Figure 47. Hand-feeding tool

Hand-feeding tool being 3D printed * Each Treat Box filled with specific threats that the cat used to eat. * Hand feeding tool was covered by a food contact safe plastic layer.

Figure 48. Treat box (inside)

Treat box (outside)

Portions

METHOD Both products were tested in stu. The participants were first given the treat box and a diary. They used the treat box every time they wanted to treat the cat during a couple of days (4-7). Each time they used a portion, they recorded their experience in the diary (Appendixx). Then an interview took place*. First, they rated certain aspects of the concept by using a questionnaire (Appendixx). Then they answered semi structured questions. Following that, the participants described their usual meal feeding experience. They then fed their cats by the hand feeding tool. The feeding moment was recorded on camera. Afterwards, the caregivers were asked to describe their experience by comparing it to usual meals.

CONCEPT REVIEW Mindful Treats REFLECTIVE PICKING Picking step enabled caregivers to actively think about their purpose in almost every treating activity. It increased consciousness, thus reinforcing the feelings related to the purposes e.g. feeling more appreciation after picking ‘appreciate’. The ‘purposes’ related to their intention successfully. However, routinized treats -usually given to keep up the routinedid not always fit in any of the categories. Trying to find the corresponding category, they examined their purposes more deeply. They started being sensitive to the nuances of their purposes. Surprisingly, reflection extended from the use of food to characteristics of the relationship.

Before I would explain why I am giving by only saying ‘Ok because I want her to go to the other room’. With this I can actively reflect on the real purpose. (A)

It also make me see different situations of attracting; random calling vs introducing him to the group. (T)

Before I’d have called ‘when I get home I give treats’ I’d have called that compensate, but actually when I got home I thought ‘No I am not compensating, I ‘m just appreciating’. (T)

It made me think that we often use treat to make her leave a room that we want to close. That’s just giving the treat, that’s no attention and no love. (A)

This (new experience) includes much more love and contact, Because I am thinking about my purpose and her. (A)

Normally I don’t think feeding as an appreciation moment, but just as a candy giving moment. Actively appreciating him was very nice.(T)

As soon as you open the box- even though nobody is watching- you would still reflect, because you see it and go ‘Ok why am I doing this?’. (F)

I have started thinking about why I am giving, how much I am giving? (F)

It not only helps your cats- because you understand them more- but helps you to understand yourself more. ‘What is it about your interaction with the cat you like?’ (F)

* Interviews were planned based on the cats’ usual meal time.

UNEVEN AMOUNTS OF PORTIONS Uneven amounts remaining in the package confronted caregivers with their pattern thus fulfilled the purpose. It facilitated overall conclusions about the pattern. This encouraged the caregivers to maintain their positive behaviour or rearrange the routine to prevent situations that they regarded to be wrong. When one of the purpose rows is finished, not being able to pick the exact purpose was found to be unpleasant, yet not very bothering*. Missing one category would not handicap the reflection moment. Yet, reading a message that does not apply to the situation imagined feeling disconnected, and disappointed.

I realized in the morning I want to appreciate them more, whereas in the afternoon I realize it as more giving in pattern, because they were being annoying. (F)

At first I would feel kind of confused or conflicted grabbing another one, but then I would go for another positive one probably, to be closest. (F)

We used attraction a lot. Why I always want to attract her? (A)

It made me think maybe I am far more attracting him with candy then I was expecting to do. (T)

POLARIZED MEANINGS The categories of purposes were attributed positive and negative meanings. Although it was not the intention, caregivers perceived appreciation and attraction as positive purposes. They felt more positive using these purposes compared to compensate and give in. That was mainly because they thought compensation and giving in manifest ‘improper’ habits such as not giving enough attention to the cat or being weak to resist the cat’s demands. The cold colors and unhappy facial expressions of the icons might also lead to the negative meaning attribution. We suspect that this might lead caregivers to avoid picking compensation and giving in purposes. However, we do not know if they also started avoiding these situations to happen in their daily life.

I looked all of them when picking one but every time I thought yeah I’m never going to be using compensating and give in. (T)

TYPES OF MESSAGES The messages were generally regraded to be informative and eye-opening. The more related the content was, the more impactful it was on the caregiver. Certain types of messages triggered a certain way of thinking. The translation messages facilitated empathy, thus realized the significance of overfeeding. Alternative ways inspired caregivers to think about how to accomplish their purposes, e.g. attracting, without food. Some caregivers even applied some of the tips. The purpose-related messages created instant impact, only if it fits to their situation. General facts found to be informative. They created less emotional response at the moment of treating, but contributed to a general understanding.

In the beginning you think ohh she likes treats its so fun and nice, but then if your realize it is two and a half burgers... It makes you realize that you need to be more responsible. (A)

Eye-opening. Seeing it translated in human form makes you really understand it. (F)

‘Cats get used to treats’ message is weird to read right at the moment of treat giving. (T)

It made me think we should play with her more. It made me feel guilty because we probably give too much food. (A)

* None of the caregivers were able to finish a purpose row. I asked them to imagine how they would feel and what would they do, when they intend to give a purpose that drained earlier.

BALANCE

TONE OF THE MESSAGES

The messages regarded to promote treat giving mostly as a negative habit which needs to be eliminated This was not our purpose. The caregivers voiced that they would feel more motivated receiving new information if they are reminded the positive value of treat giving.

The tone of the messages was regarded as being neutral and objective, not judgmental or rude. The overall character of the treat box was perceived positively. The characteristics associated with the box- straightforward, truthful yet kind and generous.- were in line with the desired interaction qualities - candid, instant, kind and effortless.

If you use negative ones regularly then it might be discouraging to keep doing it, because you know only bad messages are gonna come.

I would like it to in balance; sometimes it is about don’t eat to much but sometimes it’s about it’s OK to treat yourself. ‘Chocolate is not equal to love but it can contribute to your happiness’

Smart, very straightforward, almost Dutch, no hiding, very to the point.. Even though sometimes the truth can be confronting. There is no filter. It is truthful, but not rude. (F)

I see a grandma, I little bit warning with a finger ; ‘Treat your cat responsibly, be nice’ but still give a treat.. I prefer it to an irresponsible father who wants to buy the love of his kids. (A)

FIRST IMPRESSION When they saw the box, caregivers immediately expected to receive a fully positive experience. Thus, when they received a confronting fact with the first package, they felt disappointment and rejection- which is not a pleasant start of a new experience.

(Reading the first one message) I wanted to reject it ‘Go away I do not want to hear that’. (A)

The tone was really neutral, yet very educational. I never felt like any message was rude or had an angry tone to it. It was quite objective. (F)

A little bit of a know-it-all person. Not in an annoying way. (T)

But it is also quite generous, with all these nice envelops. It feels like Christmas, with the little envelops. (T)

NEW EMOTIONS Our intervention introduced new emotions in the treat giving activity, which used to be mostly about pleasure followed by positive emotions. We realized that the more - the caregivers felt related to the content, the stronger emotional appraisals they experienced. Surprisingly, the messages reassuring the caregivers’ existing habits brought new positive emotions in the activity, i.e. confidence and pride. This way their positive feeding behaviour was encouraged. Especially the tips offering alternative ways make them feel inspired. The upcoming messages evoked curiosity. Surprise was a common emotion experienced in the first time use. The messages which confronted caregivers with their indulgent habits led to a new type of negative emotions, i.e. confusion, guilt, shock, doubt and worry. They were more powerful to trigger critical thinking. Figure 49 shows the new positive and negative emotions introduced to the activity in relation to the relatedness of the content.

I didn’t feel so good. A bit guilty and a bit like a good mum, it’s a bit in between. (A)

Because I never give him cheese, I didn’t apply to me, so I felt neutral. (T)

It made me doubt about: How much feeding is normal? Is she too fat? Would cats in nature like to be fat? What is the normal cat size? (A)

It makes you realize that you’re doing it wrong, but it sometimes can be a bit confronting to yourself. ‘I don’t want my cat to be like obese..’ (F)

What’s on the message! What’s on the message! It did make you curious to see what was next.. (F)

Figure 49. The new emotions which introduced to treat giving

* Surprise and curiosity were evoked in any case

ATTITUDES TOWARDS THE MESSAGES Caregivers had different attitudes toward, especially, confronting messages. The ones that related themselves with the situation the most, started questioning their habits and thinking of changing or maintaining their behavior. These caregivers saw the value of being confronted. However, receiving confronting messages frequently led to an overall negative experience, which might result in defensiveness and discouragement over time. The more they were aware of their habits before, the less defensive they were towards the message. On the other hand, the caregiver (T) who was highly confident about own routine showed reluctance and even a defensive attitude towards the confronting messages. Even though the messages were not powerful enough to create dilemmas in her, it facilitated critical thinking to some extent. She did question the message itself. This way she at least started thinking about weight management, yet still by excluding herself.

I was not conflicting in the sense that I didn’t agree with the messages, but it was conflicting within myself sometimes, which is pretty good because it makes you think. (F)

Not all the messages apply to me. For example Message cheese. I never give them cheese. Also the measuring of the meals; because we don’t measure. (free-choice) I don’t really feel like I can do something with it.

I don’t think I learned more while using it because the messages don’t really apply to me. ı think he knows it himself, doesn’t really overeats. (T)

EFFECT ON THE ACTION The messages did not affect their instant action of giving the treat, but did affect the long term plans. Two of the caregivers who already had doubts, considered changing certain things in their feeding routine e.g. compensating caloric intake from the treats by restricting the meals or increasing the play time. This matched our intention perfectly.

EFFECT ON THE TOTAL AMOUNT Some caregivers mentioned that the total amount of treats given didn’t changed, but the frequency of treating increased. Some kept the frequency the same, thus decreasing the total amount due to smaller portion sizes.

ONE- TIME USE

WEIGHT RELATED CONCERNS

PORTIONS

The main purpose of the intervention was to create weight-related concerns in treating activity. We realized that the effectiveness of the intervention varied within our target group. ‘Having initial doubts’ found to be the main element creating this distinction. The caregivers who have immature doubts* become more concerned about weight management. They started making concrete plans. The caregiver (T) who has no doubts about the routine, no interest in weight management and high trust on her cat’s self-regulation, did not become more concerned. She still did not see any need

The portions set a clear standard for a single treating activity. Unexpectedly, all the caregivers stuck to one portion, although all of them were used to give bigger portions in a single treat activity. They felt comfortable with applying a ‘recommended’ amount.

Sometimes if you know it yourself, but choose to ignore, someone does not necessarily have to tell me. (T)

The box was regarded to be consumed only one time. The caregivers said they would get used to reflecting on their behaviour with the first box and do not feel the need of obtaining it again. Only if there are new messages with a proper balance of the content they would think of using it again.

I wasn’t at all feeling another bag. Because it is a clear finish, also for the cat.. (T)

of making weight concerned arrangements in her routine.

* Immature doubts: The initial doubts in one’s mind, which have not fully been confirmed. The person has not expressed the doubts neither to herself not to others yet.

Mindful Meals USUAL MEALS The participants used to give two types of meals ie. everyday meals and special meals. Everyday meals consist of dry food given in a routine i.e. set time or free-choice, whereas wet food was given as special meals to enrich the appetite of the cat. A special meal is considered to be more exciting since the cat enjoys it very much. It is given occasionally once in one or two weeks. In both meal types caregivers usually leave the cat after giving the food. So, there is not a significant interaction during eating, but right before feeding. They tend to stay longer when they give special food, since they like to watch the cat enjoying, but it does not exceed a couple of seconds. Figure 50 describes the feeding moment of both.

I can really see them eating and enjoying and the sounds. It was nice. I can be sure if they really like the food. (C)

You can really see their face while their eating, this is the most different thing.(C)

I realized how fast she is eating. I don’t normally realize that. (A)

INTIMACY The hand feeding experience considered to be more intimate by all the participants. The intimate interaction was facilitated by two ways; (1) close posture (2) physical contact (Figure 50). The caregivers used the tool by getting down to the cat’s level i.e. sitting on the ground or crouching down. They normally see the cat from the back during the feeding activity. However, while using the tool they adopted a totally different perspective, they faced the cat. This created an intimate moment. They had the opportunity to watch the cats eating more closely. The sounds, the gestures of the cat became more visible, reassuring the pleasure and satiation. This contributed to the fulfillment of the caregivers and triggered the emotions of fascination and joy, as well as anticipation and hope. One of the caregiver was surprised realizing how fast his cats eat. So, face to face posture also helps caregivers to monitor thus ensure the equal food intake of multiple cats. Hand holding facilitated physical contact with the cat. Feeling the pressure of licking perceived as a nice experience by the caregivers. The tool is perceived another layer of the hand. Serving the food in such an intimate way created the emotion of kindness.

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It is nice to watch them and expect/ hope them to finish all of it. It is a nice feeling while waiting.(C)

facing him is nice. I didn’t have the feeling that he noticed that I was holding it. So I tried to hold it up in the air to see what happens. (T)

I was quite fascinated about how he eats. It is nice to see him enjoying so much. (T)

it is like another layer of my hand, feels more intimate. It feels like they ‘are’ eating from your hand. (C)

ACTIVE PARTICIPATION Hand-feeding regarded to be more interactive than usual meals by two reasons (1) active participation (2) flexibility. Holding the food until the cat finishes, caregivers obtain an active role rather than just being an observer. The interaction which has started in the preparation moment is extended to the whole eating activity (Figure 50). One participant moved the tool around while feeding the cat to add playfulness. So the tool also provide opportunities for flexible feeding settings.

The tool also provides the opportunity for involving multiple caregivers in the feeding activity. One of the participant asked helped of her partner - who is normally not responsible of feeding duty- to feed the cats together, since it is not easy to hold two tools at the same time. The caregivers feel being the centre of attention since the food is located on them rather than on a feeding area. Although they realized that the cats attention is primarily on the food but not necessarily on them, it still felt nice. In this sense we can confidently say that the tool completed the ritual from the caregivers experience perspective. It created trea-like feeding experience.

Figure 50. Interactions during meal feeding with regards to postures and interaction time .

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It was way more interactive than what we normally do. We normally only look at them eating (treat meals), but we don’t actively participate. (F)

We only do it (hand-feeding) while feed them with sausages and and we didn’t do it any more. (Due to disease specific diet). (C)

It was definitely more intimate. Normally the beginning process is intimate but then it is finished. But I’ve never realized that it would be enjoyable to watch him eat, to do it together. (T)

EFFECT ON THE BOND All of the caregivers already had an established bond with the cats. However they indicated that the tool might help them to built trust and attachment in the beginning of their relationship.

For them it’s not much difference, but for us, we feel different.(C)

I would have like it when I got her in the beginning. It would help the relationship especially in the beginning. (A)

OCCASIONAL USE Caregivers prefered to use the tool occasionally, when they treats the cat with special food. This is due to two reasons (1) feeding regimen and (2) practicality. The cats fed free choice don’t have meal times except from special meals. Besides every time use is not practical for the caregivers who have busy schedule. Thus, hand feeding regarded as a leisure activity.

It’s kind of toy-like. Play is for interacting with the cats in leisure time, but with this you also feed them at the same time. (C)

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COMFORT In general the tool regarded to be comfortable both for the caregivers and the cats. The tool provided various ways of hold (Figure 51). Hold A was the intended way, yet was only prefered by one of the users. Two of the caregivers used the tool in Hold B , but later found Hold C more comfortable. The most commonly preferred hold was C. It regarded to fit the palm perfectly, without posing any obstacle to the cat’s eating. Besides it contributes to intimate interaction better than B, by creating the illusion of ‘feeding from the palm’. Hold D - with a similar fit- regarded to be more secure, yet was not used by any caregivers during the feeding. The - intentionally designed - instability did not pose any significant discomfort during preparation or feeding phase. However caregivers mentioned the importance of stability in case of liquid content e.g. milk. As is explained by the caregivers, cats did not show any discomfort while eating from the tool. Their eating pace and behaviours were the same as usual. The cornerless shape prevent the stucking of food, therefore enhance the comfort of cat while eating.

Shape really benefits them in the sense that they can eat everything. Normally chunks stuck in the corners of the plate, they get trying to get it and leave the chunks.(F)

They ate like they normally do and they were very much focus on the food, so nothing else matter at that moment. (F)

It is easy to grab due to its shape. (C)

It really fits to the top part of the hand. (T)

HOLD C

HOLD A

HOLD B

HOLD D

HOLD B

Figure 51. Different holds of the hand-feeding tool

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CONCLUSIONS & RECOMMENDATIONS The user test provided us with plentiful insight. Most of the insights confirmed the desired effect, thus fulfilling the design goal to a significant extend. Also, some unexpected insights help us to detect points that need to be improved upon. Hereby we will conclude our findings in relation to the aspects of the theoretical models reflected in the concept. Finally, we will give some recommendations and raise questions for designers and researchers who would like to take the project to the next step.

Mindful Meals Mindful Meals is an attempt to transform the meanings associated with meal feeding practice and it enables it with a dedicated tool (stuff). Our study proved that the tool fulfils the goal of creating an intimate and emotionally fulfilling meal feeding experience. Not only the physical contact and prolonged exposure time, but also –surprisingly- close posture and active participation contribute to intimacy. Thus, the experience enabled by the tool matched our vision nicely. Nice to remind that, the hidden agenda of designing for emotionally fulfilling meals was to suppress the need of giving extra food. Since our study was limited to test one time experience, we still do not know how the tools affect the owners feeding behaviour in the long term. Is this new, exciting experience vulnerable to hedonic adaptation? Will the fulfilment really suppress the need of giving extra food, or is it going to trigger overfeeding even more? It is critical to answer these questions to assess the value of the tool regarding weight management. Regarding the material qualities of the tool, we believe the form needs to be defined better to guide users to the optimal hold. Besides, different materials can be explored to amplify the intimate interaction. Enabling haptic senses by flexible materials or creating illusion of touch by transparent materials are some of the directions that come to mind. If the tool is under the brand of a specific food, it is also possible to integrate a measuring function.

Mindful Treats The study proved that the product transforms the meanings of treat giving practice from mere pleasure to a reflective activity- which was our first goal. Surprisingly, the critical thinking is extended from the purpose, knowledge and habits of feeding, to the dynamics of the relationship. The box enables deep exploration of intentions: It reveals certain links that were concealed by everyday practice. As suggested by the Transtheoretical Model, we believe that realization is the first step for changing behaviour. From Practice Theory perspective the product enabled discursive consciousness. Targeting the elements of images and skills, Mindful Treats is a serious attempt to change existing treat giving practices. Therefore, the effect is line with our overall goal corresponding to the models that inspired us. The second goal of the intervention was to introduce weight related concerns in the feeding moment. We aimed to accomplish it with the Design for Emotion Approach. We primarily aimed to trigger negative emotions –which were missing in treat giving - thus create conflicting concerns. Interestingly, the effectiveness of the box seems to differ within the target group (Figure 52). The product surfaces and magnifies the caregivers’ immature doubts and worries regarding weight management. It confronts them with their indulgent habits, evokes negative emotions, thus leading up to weight conscious arrangement plans. However, the intervention does not seem effective enough to create the concerns from the stretch; to change the mind-set of a caregiver who has no doubts or interest regarding weight management. So it is possible to conclude the intervention was successful in revealing concerns rather than creating them. Still, we believe it is not sensible to make such a big conclusion based on only one person’s response. Therefore, further research with a bigger sample size is needed. What are the other variables influencing the effectiveness? To what extend do personalities play a role? We recommend introducing the product in the early stages of the relationship, when caregivers feel less confident and more doubtful about their feeding routine. Since the concept is more effective on people who has immature doubts, we assume that it would be also effective on people who are at the stage 4 on the bahaviour cycle. The caregivers who are aware that their cat is overweight may be

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encouraged to take actions for weight loss. Unexpectedly the intervention also created positive emotions by reassuring positive habits. So, with further iterations, it is also possible to include the caregivers who already start changing their behaviour (Figure 53). Lastly we have some recommendations regarding the perceptions of the box. We feel uncomfortable that the treat box is perceived to promote treats as unnecessary or unhealthy bites to be eliminated. This does not match with our vision. We believe the content of the messages needs to be balanced with positive reminders of the value of the treats. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s better to include experts in content-making to prevent misinformation. In addition, the first time impression plays a big role in the overall experience. We believe that kick starting the box with a positive message can contribute to an overall more positive experience.

Figure 53. Other potential target stages on the overfeeding behavior change cycle

It is worth mentioning that the research tool diary itself posed a limitation to the study. We assume it enhanced the amount of reflection. Thus it is necessary to examine to what extend reflection was enabled purely by the treat box.

Figure 52. Effectiveness of the Mindful Treats on the various groups of caregivers within the target group

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Mindful Strokes The purpose of the booklet was to engage caregivers to regular BC assessment. From practice theory perspective we mainly targeted the element of skills. Due to the time limitations the booklet was not tested. So the following questions remained unanswered: To what extend does the story communicate the need of regular BC check? Are the steps clear enough to practice the method confidently? How persuasive is the booklet to engage caregivers to regular BC check? How they feel when they find out unexpected results? Is it powerful enough to contribute to weight conscious rearrangement plans?

Channels We certainly believe it is not suitable to launch the concept as a regular market product. It possibly appeals to a niche group, thus, should be promoted in special ways. Agreeing on the caregivers, one of the ways is to promote it as a gift package for cat owners. Another way is to launch it one-time-only, as a campaign product. For example, it can be distributed on the â&#x20AC;&#x153;Pet Obesity Prevention Dayâ&#x20AC;?. It is also possible to use veterinary clinics as channels, since it is for a health benefit. Considering the effectiveness, we think one of the best ways to promote it is as a starter kit. So, shelters and pet shops are highly recommended channels.

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Franky and his caregiver, while testing the hand-feeding tool

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A painting by Yutaka Murakami

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Conclusions P110 P111 P112

Domain Theoretical Models Reflection

In the next pages, we will draw an overall conclusion regarding our project. We will discuss our opinions about designing for different domains that our topic adresses. Furthermore, we will refer to the theoretical models that we used. Finaly, we will conclude our overall contribution and give recommendations for researchers and designers who would like work on this topic.

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Domains Designing for Animal Health

Designing for Pet care Industry

Designers’ role in shaping society is extending from creating products to providing new perspectives to wicked problems. Our project is a presentation of the complexity and multidimensionality of behaviour related health problems in animal companions. This project is a nice example of how designers can create value by overturning fixated perspectives of other

The pet-care industry mostly launches products with practical purposes. This project is an example to see the potential to design for meaningful products by addressing the unique aspects of animal companionship. We believe it is possible to design profitable yet meaningful products for the benefit of animals. There is a misperception that a food brand

domains. So far obesity in cats has been defined as a medical problem. Therefore, the proposed solutions mostly have revolved around medical implications and practical recommendations. By redefining the problem from caregivers’ behaviour perspective, we proposed new opportunities. Mindful Bites was a small yet promising intervention in caregivers’ conscious levels. We wonder what the other health issues that have strong connection with human behaviour are, and how designers can create new perspective in these.

would not like to promote weight management, since their sales would drop. However caregivers think that if a brand were to honestly position itself for the benefit of the animal, it would be more trustworthy and appealing. If we want to create awareness on this serious health issue, multiple parties needs to collaborate; veterinary professionals, the food industry and even media. In this collaboration, a designer can be the leader by envisioning meaningful applications.

Designing for Human Animal Companionship For this project, we considered both cats and humans as interactive parties, whose needs and actions influence each other. We saw that feeding –a practical everyday activity- implicitly carries traces of the core concepts of companionship. Therefore we are glad that the value of our intervention extended to meaningful relationships with animal companions.

Designing for Feeding Experience Our research pointed out the gap of studies investigating feeding as a human experience. During the project we explored feeding from multiple perspectives i.e. interaction, practice, and behaviour by using multiple models and centralized it as an experience. Unfortunately we did not have time to come up with a framework illustrating how these perspectives work together. However, our research provides plentiful ingredients to create an interaction oriented framework of the feeding experience.

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Theoretical Models Designing for Emotions

Designing for Practices

We used Design for Emotion Approach throughout the project. During the research phase, we looked into the emotions evoked in the feeding moment. This way, we managed to get an understanding about the concerns of the humans. Our exploration gives raise to emotional experience journey of our target group, which provided us with tangible starting

We used the model of Social Practice Theory both in research and design phases. In the research phase we identified the elements of feeding practice. It helped us to see the components of the feeding experience from a different and holistic perspective. We especially played around with images. With our intervention, meal feeding became more

points to design for. In the design phase, we pursue the goal of introducing weight-related concerns in the feeding activity. We aimed to accomplish it by evoking negative emotions for a positive behavior change. With this regard, we think our approach was flirting with ‘design for dilemmas’ and ‘design for rich experiences’. However we did not go in deep in these topics. We believe these approaches are worthy of exploration in our topic.

intimate and interactive, whereas treat feeding became reflective and confronting. We targeted the element of skills with a booklet and the information was delivered with the messages. Although we did not aim to change element of stuff, the products touched this element by their material qualities. The most important value of our concept was creating consciousness within feeding. The type of consciousness we aimed for was discursive consciousness, which is usually missing in daily practices. Therefore, we think the project represents a tangible application of these theoretical concepts. Furthermore, it extends the applications of the theory from social practices to an everyday practice shared by humans and animals.

In addition, we believe it would be valuable to design research tools for ‘self-reported emotions’. The experience we were exploring was a repetitive everyday activiy, thus we could not capture the emotions in stu- e.g. by using emotion capturing method. We provided the partiticipants with tools to capture their own emotions and to tell us afterwards. These tools -diary, calendar- were attempts to facilitate participants to analyse and report their own emotions. Although they were helpful, the partipants were still lack of detecting and expressing the nuances. We believe devepoing tools for participants to analyse and report their own emotions would enable a more smooth and truthful interpretation process.

Cat Feeding Styles During our research, we were able to associate certain caregivers feeding activates with parental feeding styles. This helped us to define certain personas. It is worth mentioning that we identified the cat feeding styles in an inspirational manner with a lot of assumptions. We believe it is possible to find out certain cat feeding styles with a dedicated research. We still wonder whether there are any cat keeping styles in general, and if so how are they reflected in feeding styles?

Changing the Overfeeding Behavior This project extends implication of the Transtheoretical Model from self-centric behaviours to other centric behaviour. We used the model in the research phase to identify the stages of overfeeding behaviour. Among these stages we targeted a certain stage. We believe each stage create opportunities to support the caregiver in different ways. Designers can therefore use our cycle as a starting point. However we believe the cycle can be reconfigured. Evaluating our concept, we realized that some stages did not have to follow each other as we proposed. We belive detaching the model from cats’ body condition would be one of the ways to start reconsidering the model.

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Reflection As an Animal Lover, as a Designer

Learning and Development

I have always had a special interest and appreciation of animals since I was a child. I always had animal companions in my family: fish, birds, turtles, hamsters and finally two cats. When I was a child, animals were a part of my imagination. They were the prototypical elements of my drawings and the fable-like stories I liked to write. Animals were a part of my

Before I started it , I used to think of a graduation project as a way to present the skills I gained during my education. In a way it turned out to be true. I learned a lot during my masters. My perspective as a designer has steered from products to humans, society, values. In the end, I am happy that it changed in a way that I like my profession more. In

future dreams. I used to dream of being a zoologist when I was six, then it turned out that dreaming of being a vet was a more down to earth wish. However, as time went by, I ‘grew up’ and realized that showing explicit admiration for animals is regarded as weird, creepy, useless or even childish in the society of my country, Turkey. I was introduced the fact that people and animals ‘are not’ and ‘should not’ be placed on the same level. The reason was so straightforward: you shouldn’t feel sorry for stray cats while people are dying of hunger on the streets. My aspiration about animals was slowly pushed aside. I started to direct my interest, my love and my passion to the humankind in general, which most probably led me to select my profession as a designer.

this project I had the opportunity to work on the approaches that I was interested already; Design for Emotion, Behavior Change and Contextmapping. I celebrated the research and communication skills I got; interviews, sessions, sensitizing, analysis, journey mapping, etc. It was fulfilling. On the other hand, the project also served as a learning opportunity. For example, practice approach provided me with a different perspective to see every day interactions. Besides, I gained a lot of confidence in the skills that I thought I was missing of. The first one is planning. This was the first time I took responsibility of planning a project from scratch. Thanks to my mentor, I got a lot of guidance during the process, but still I was the one who determines the key stones. It was a big deal for me. Although in terms of time management I was behind of my plans, the steps in overall went smooth. Now I feel more confident initiating long term plans. This is very valuable for me as a designer and as an individual.

Being a designer means creating things for humans and the human world by addressing human needs. During my design education I have been fully engaged in thinking from the human perspective, maybe even to the extent of underestimating the role of other creatures in our lives. With this project, it was the first time that I imagined design and animals going hand in hand. Therefore, I see this project as a nexus of the elements I am identified with; being a designer and being an animal lover. Although my focus was still on the human behavior, the overall purpose of this project was for the benefit of the animal. Thus I am glad that my work humbly contributes to animal welfare.

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My academic writing is the second skill that I developed during this project. I always have a lot to say, yet I find it very hard to structure my thoughts in a comprehensive way. However, now I know that it is something that can be developed by practice, and this thesis was a very useful practice for me. Taking initiation was the third skill that I developed. I used to be afraid of taking risks, thus initiating anything scared me. From the beginning of this project, I had to push myself to take steps forward. Although I still need to work on it I become braver to initiate something on my own.

What would I do differently? First of all, I feel like I spent an excessive amount of time and energy in literature research. It is because that time I didn’t know what will benefit this project and what will not. Besides, I was so curious about the things I was reading. Yet still it could be better if I was able to limit the topics to some extent. So I wouldn’t find myself reading the ‘Goal Based Personality Model’ and mapping the people in my life, on the value map. I learned a lot, yet regarding the time limitation I could keep literature research more compact. Secondly, I would plan Study 1 differently. Although it was super insightful for my project, I feel like there was also a huge amount of data which did not contribute to the scope of my project directly. Analyzing and mapping all of these take so much effort of me. Maybe it was due to the fact that we did it with Lei, thinking that our topics are close; cat and food. Yet when I look back now, I think it would be better to plan one study in two steps; (1) learning about the relationships, (2) exploring feeding routine and experience within these relationships. I believe this way I could formulate my vision earlier. Lastly, I would trust my intuition more during the project. Now I see that my first insights and first ideas led the way through my final design. However; I didn’t stick to them in the first place. I still see the value of being critical and exploring other ideas. Yet, my hesitation was a drawback regarding my time management, especially when I needed to make decisions. If I have thought less and followed my intuition more I would have had more time to have a more dynamic conceptualization phase. I could develop the details of the concept with multiple experience prototypes. I do not know whether it has changed the final design, yet I am sure that the process would have been more fun.

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Walsh, F. (2009). Human‐animal bonds I: The relational significance of companion animals. Family process, 48(4), 462480.

of the International Association for the Study of Obesity, 18, S22-8. Serisier, S., Feugier, A., Venet, C., Biourge, V., & German, A. J. (2013). Faster growth rate in ad libitum-fed cats: a risk factor predicting the likelihood of becoming overweight during adulthood. Journal of nutritional science, 2. Shove, E. (2006). A Manifesto for Practice Oriented Product Design. Document presented at the Designing and Consuming workshop, July 6-7. Durham, UK. Shove, E., & Pantzar, M. (2005). Consumers, producers and practices: understanding the invention and reinvention of Nordic walking. Journal of consumer culture, 5(1), 43-64.

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Ward, E. (2007). Weight reduction in cats-general information. Association for pet obesity prevention. Retrieved from http://petobesityprevention.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/Weight_Reductionin_Cats_General_Information.pdf Warde, A. (2005). Consumption and theories of practice. Journal of consumer culture, 5(2), 131-153. Woods, G., German A. (2016). Running successful weight management clinics. Feline Focus International Society of Feline Medicine Journal for Veterinary Nurses and Technicians, 2(1),15-27. https://icatcare.org/nurses/felinefocus.

Appendix Appendix A Appendix B Appendix C Appendix D

Contextual Research Vision Conceptualisation Final Concept

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Appendix A Study 1 RECRUITMENT A questionnaire was used to recruit participants. There were three main criteria for the recruitment: (1) being involved in cat feeding practice at present or in the past, (2) having an ongoing relationship with their cat- preferably currently living together. We especially paid attention to select the group of participants with diverse types of relationships by looking into the factors such as; the period of relationship, ages of the participants and their cats, gender, housing condition etc. Participants were recruited mostly from the researcher’s’ own networks involving contacts mainly from their country of origin, i.e. Turkey and China. This was due to the fact that it was easier for researchers to examine the details of the relationship they are familiar with. In order to reduce the effect of cultural bias in the results, different nationalities were also included in; i.e. Dutch and Taiwanese.

PARTICIPANT PROFILES Only participant E* was not in charge of daily feeding activity. He regarded himself as ‘semi-owner’, since the cat is actually a stray cat living in the apartment, fed by a neighbour. The affectionate activities - playing, sleeping together, petting- was the main purpose of their relationship without any feeding responsibilities. However, E - recently spending significant amount of time with the cat - was used to occasionally give some food - salami, milk etc.

The participants of Study 1

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SENSITIZING EXERCISES Caregiver Radar

Related practices map

INTERVIEWS The main interiew questions were: • How do you know each other? • Can you mention 3 things come to your mind to describe X? • If it was possible, how would X describe you to me? • How do you see your own role in your relationship with X? Why? • Can you give one example of a specific behaviour of your cat in a certain situation that you understand? • How was your relationship in the beginning? • Looking back to all the things you’ve gone together, is there any key moments comes to your mind? • What are your main sources of knowledge about cat keeping? • How you evaluate your pet’s wellbeing? • What do you think abour your cat’s BC? How do you know that? • Do you have a regular vet? Do you often follow your vets instructions? Why why not? • Can you explain the usual routine of feeding to me? • What are the things you like and don’t like in feeding activity? Why? • What are other people’s roles in cat caring/feeding? • What if your cat is totaly independent for his food intake -like you,he can go shopping, cook etc.- how would your relationship be like?

ANALYSIS

Daily activities timeline

Each researcher analysed the transcripts and prepared statement cards - consisting insights related to particular participant quotes. Then analysis session took place, where statement cards were discussed, rephrased and clustered. In total 230 statements - varying from general to particular and abstract to practical - were grouped into 8 main categories consisting of many subcategories. Main categories were: • Interpretatiın of the behaviour • Assessing the BC • Food • Evaluating Health • Feeding Rotine • Feeding Moment • Source of Knowledge • Relationship

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EXTRA FINDINGS Meanings of Feeding • Despite the conflicting expression on being dependent, we have concluded that certain level of dependency is desired by the caregivers since it promotes the feeling of competence. That is why perceived thankfulness of the cat makes the caregiver feel good. • Although food is sometimes perceived as a condition of love, most of the caregivers prefer to think that their cat loves them regardless of their role as a ‘feeder’. Caregivers Attitudes • Feeding creates the feeling of being dependent, therefore, it reinforces the feeling of being superior to an animal. Some statements were in line with the ‘extension of the self’ metaphor. Especially highly attached owners tend to reflect their own opinions , values and emotions through the cat. The perceived roles sets the limits of the expectations of the caregiver, “I think I understand everything they do. Because they are cats, doing something bad is part of their life, breaking things, stealing food, well that’s normal, nothing wrong since they are cats. No big deal.” ( V) • In multiple households it is be hard to track the food -especially extra food- given during the day, which may end up with over-feeding the cat unconsciously. Cat’s Behaviour • Understanding cat’s need of food creates the feeling of mutual understanding makes caregivers feel proud and accomplishment. • The caregivers of gourmand cats experience doubt while assessing the satiation of the cat. Especially the participant, whose cat is on a diet, feels confused when cat demands for food. • On the other hand owners who have cats with less demanding seems to be more confident differentiation the hunger from mere desire for food. These owners are more confident rejecting cats demand for ‘extra’ food. • Usually chubby cats were considered to be the ideal size. We assume that gaining weight makes the appearance of the cat getting closer to this infantile ratio, thus promotes the perception of ‘cuteness’.

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Study 2 LOVE FILLED BITES QUESTIONNAIRE The questionnaire consisted of five sections. The first section was to gather general information; such as the participant’s age, the duration of the relationship, the household circumstances and the level of involvement in feeding activities. The other sections consisted of 5 Likert scale-type questions. Section 2 was designed to get an understanding of the cat’s attitude in feeding activity i.e. the agency level, the appetence and the perceived level of self-regulation in food intake. In the third and the fourth sections we aimed to get insights into the feeding attitude of the caregiver by providing general statements about the meaning of feeding and the level of control on the diet. The content of this section was inspired from the Child Feeding Questionnaire (Birch & Davison, 2001), which aims to identify feeding attitudes of parents based on their concerns and practices related to child weight management (Pai & Contento, 2014). The questions that are applicable to the cat human companionship were adapted to the domain of cat feeding experience. The last section of the questionnaire was to shed light on the caregiver’s beliefs and practices regarding weight management and the cat’s current ‘perceived’ BC. The questionnaire was filled by in total 66 caregivers. We did not score the results, but rather went through all the answers one by one per each and tried to grasp a sense of the case that each caregiver may possibly fit in. In this sense, the recruitment was not done in a quantitative way but more in a qualitative manner, which was supported by our intuition cultivated by the knowledge gained through the reserach. The next step was to group the profiles and select the ones that seemed to be the most representative. I should admit that the process of grouping was a bit of a mind game. For example, I find it hard to interpret the cat’s current BC, since we know that many caregivers have misperceptions on their cats BC. The differentiation of the case 3 and 4 was tightly linked to the perception of the BC. Therefore, I selected the participants with the clearest profile, but also be open to possible shifts in the identified cases.

RECRUITMENT The criteria of recruitment were: (1) to be representative of one of the target groups previously identified, (2) to live in the Netherlands, (3) to be responsible for feeding activity (4) to have an ongoing relationship with the cat. In addition, I tried to achieve diversity in terms of the cats’ BCs, the feeding regimens, the cat’s’ agency levels, the caregivers’ experience levels, and the duration of the relationship. An invitation letter was sent to selected participants of each group. Interviews were conducted with the ones who responded to the invitation. Unfortunately anyone who possibly represents Case 6- Maintaining did not respond to the invitation. However, since Case 6 stands for the next step of Case 5, we possibly managed to cover this group in certain extend. One of the participants was selected as a representative of Case 1 - positive behaviour- however; we learned that the cat is actually on a diet. The caregivers who seemed to belong Case 1 - positive feeding behaviour from the beginning of the relationship - would be inspirational to reveal the factors and motivations leading to positive behaviour without facing the overweight problem.

PARTICIPANT PROFILES Two of the participants had two cats. Since we have already learned that cat’s attitude is an important factor in feeding experience, I expected the caregiver with multiple cats to experience slightly different emotions while feeding each cat. However since the activity is an instant action, I suspected that it would be hard for participants to report their experience per each cat. Those ones are asked to report the feeding activities only with one of cats. Based on the previous research, I assumed that the cats with higher agencies may cause higher emotional response of their caregivers. So among these cats Morphy and Bontekoe were selected since they regarded to be more demanding than their cat companions. However during the interviews these participants intuitively compared their experiences with the other cat or mentioned emotions evoked by the interactions of two cats. It was interesting to see that in the same feeding routine same caregiver with same feeding behaviour may experience feeding activities differently depending on cat’s attitude.

The participants of Study 2

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SENSITIZING Booklet The booklet contained four exercises. First exercise asked for basic information such as the cat’s age and the frequency of vet visit. In the second one, it was asked to illustrate the cat’s daily routine on a timeline. Third exercise was to map main food and other types of food consumed by the cat. The last exercise asked participants to select two moments in their feeding experience - one evoked positive feeling and the other created negative feeling- after they filled in the feeding calendar. Calendar The participants were asked to record all of the feeding moments, no matter if they gave the food or not, since I was also curious to see how caregivers feel if they resist to cat’s demand. Each day was given a page on the calendar. Sticker Pack It was consist of stickers and an emotion list. Stickers were color coded for ease of use (see calendar 2nd page). Emotion list was to help participants to self report the nuanced emotions. I created the list based on the emotions mentioned by the participants of the1st Study - while explaining their feeding routine.

Introduction page of the calendar

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Emotion list in the sticker pack

CONTENT OF THE INTERVIEW The ‘Love-Filled Bites Questionnaire’, provided a background information about participants’ feeding practices so that interview questions were customized individually. In the first part of the interview we went through each feeding moment recorded on the calendar and asked follow up questions to get a deeper understanding. The caregivers whose cats are currently on a weight reduction diet were provided with a journey map (1). They compared the feeding practice before and after the diet. The comparison was realized by five sections: food, routine, cat’s behaviour, experience and relationship. In the second part of the interview participants were first introduced with the term ‘conflicting concerns’. Then they came up with their own conflicting concerns experienced during their feeding activity. After mapping these concerns on a provided template (2), we moved on the third part focusing on the weight management. Participants were first asked about their opinions on their cats’ BC, their way of assessment and their sources of knowledge on this topic. Afterwards, they were introduced with three different scenarios framed around the topic of ‘receiving feedback on cat’s BC. Each scenario was introducing a different domain of feedback i.e., from the cat, from someone else, from an object (3). The participants were stimulated to think of each case in terms of possibilities regardless of any boundaries. Four participants were interviewed at their home, but I could not witness any real-time feeding activity.

2. Conflicing Concerns Map

3. Three ways of receiving feedback

1. Diet Journey

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ANALYSIS The feeding calendars were also analysed. The table below shows a part of the digitized version of the calendars. Certain elements, i.e. the presence of cat’s demand, the feeding types and the caregiver’s’ response were colour coded which made the patterns more visible in the big picture. This also facilitated the comparison of each feeding routine. The ‘emotions’ and the ‘reasons’ sections were carefully analysed with the anecdotes gathered during the interview. Although ‘reasons’ section enabled the participants to reflect on the

appraisal of a certain emotion, the self-reported statements were limited to activity level. It was only possible to obtain deeper level concerns by using laddering-type of question in the interview. For example, Participant O note to his calendar that “I feel relaxed because they waited until I wake up to ask for food”. Asking further questions in the interview, we found out that this statement actually reflects the need of tranquillity. He wants the cats to be ‘understanding’ to his own need - of sleeping until late time- by being patient for asking for food.

Purple: cat’s demand Green : owners respond Blue: owners reject Red: meals Yellow: additional food Variety in individual feeding routines (K &L)

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The conflicting concerns mapped by the participants were listed. I went through the emotion section on their calendars and the anecdotes linked to certain emotions to paraphrase self-reported concerns in the form of “I want to…” statements accompanied by the universal concerns.

DETAILS OF FINDINGS Feeding Routine The caregivers with a structured daily routine on their own i.e. participant O, K, R - seem to be follow a more structured feeding routine. Only one participant (T) applies fully freechoice regimen and her cat shows no demand in the routine. The three participants (L,R and A) apply only meal-set feeding, while two participants (O, K) provide all day accessible extra food next to the meals. Concerns in feeding activity Participant O clearly indicated that weight has never become a matter of concern in the relationship. Although one of his cats is seriously overweight - since the acquisition - he doesn’t take any action. The reason is that he does not know how to make her lose weight and he doesn’t want her to suffer during the process. Participant K - an experienced caregiver who never faced overweight problem with her previous cats - was aware that her cat is a bit overweight, but informed by the vet that her current weight is stable. Apparently, she does not think it is too serious to take an action, as long as cat looks healthy. Participant T, first time caregiver of a young cat, indicated that overweight would be the last thing she would be concerned about. Although she was warned by the vet that cats may gain weight after sterilization, she did not change the diet. Since her cat doesn’t eat more than before, she thinks there is no need to take any precaution. Conflicting Concerns The table (right) shows the conflicting concerns of the participants. The bold concerns are the ones mentioned to be the strongest ones which are prioritized by the caregivers. If both are bold it means that they are equally strong. In this case caregivers prefer one or another in that moment (K3, N1) or they create strategies to resolve them (T1, L1, L4). As is shown, the conflicting concerns of the participants touch upon different type of universal needs.The dilemmas of the caregivers whose cats are on diet (L, N, R) revolve around weight related concerns, which are framed with red on Table X. The feeding ball is used to resolve the dilemma. The ball kept the cat longer time and more effort to finish the food. This way concern of “I want to give my cat what he wants” and “I want my cat to lose weight’ are not conflicting anymore.

Confling Concerns ( Weight manageent related ones are in frame)

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Appendix B

KATE: AUTHORITATIVE

Personas

Kate is a middle aged woman, living alone and working at home as a freelance. She has experience with cats from her childhood, but never involved in caregiving herself before. She always wanted to have a cat ,but postponing it due to her unstructured lifestyle in college years. Then one day, she visited one of her college tıme and introduced kittens that her friend’s cat has just given birth to. She thought it would be nice to have a companion at home and decided to adopt one of the kittens. Her friend agreed to give one of the kit-

Hereby we will elaborate on each persona through the individual stories. The descriptions about the relationship are motivated by Belk’s metaphors as well as the anecdotes of the participants.

MARTIN : AUTHORITARIAN Acquisition Martin is a young professional, living with her partner and 4- year old son. He used to have a dog when he was a child. One day they had a mice problem at home. One of his colleague mentioned how good his cat is in hunting mice. After 2 weeks of desk research on cats and cat keeping, Martin decided to get one. Having a cat would not only solve the problem but also be a nice opportunity to teach his son about responsibility. So they went to a shelter and Martin choosed ‘Leon’, an active 5-year old cat with a muscular body shape, although his son was into the fluffy one rubbing his legs. The cat needed to be fit to the job in the first place.

Acquisition

tens once it is proper to take apart them from their mother. During that time, she arranged the environment, buy some cat toys and searched a proper cat food. She call her cat owner friends and ask about their opinion. She didn’t need to gather information about cat keeping ,since she already know the basics. Role of the pet She get a male kitten and called her ‘ Molly’, the name of her childhood cat. They got easily attached. Being fully charged of him make her almost feel like a mum. Molly filled her life. He is her life companion.

Role of Pet He thinks there should be certain hierarchy between the owner and the animal; too much affection would only spoil the animal, so discipline is important. The cat is just an animal and someone has to make the right decisions for him. Caregiving Attitude Martin is the main caregiver of the cat. He is mostly responsible of practical duties; feeding, litter box, vet visits etc. He involve his son to feeding activity to develop his responsibility skills. It is nice to see that cat has become a companion for his son. He has a fully rational approach in caregiving. He follows the requirements and vet’s recommendations strictly. His main source of knowledge is the vet and a couple of respective websites. Feeding Style He has an authoritarian feeding style. Feeding is mainly about nutrition, so health concerns are the most important factors shaping his decisions. Feeding is also a way to regulate cat’s behaviour. Treats are used as positive reinforcement and only given if the cat deserves it. He keep an eye on cat’s body condition and cut the food if he starts getting weight. He doesn’t want to have a chubby useless cat at home.

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Caregiving Attitude Since she didn’t have a particular knowledge on kitten caregiving, she consult to experienced caregivers when needed. If there are some conflicting information, to get a confirmation. She respect the cat’s unique temperament and disregard his demand. but don’t hesitate to set some boundaries if needed. She feels confident in making rearrangements in the routine, based on the cat and herself. Feeding Style She has an authoritative feeding style. For her, health is as important as the satisfying her cat. So from the beginning she does her best to find a balance between responding to the cat and controlling the food intake. She loves her cat and wants to provide her a happy but also healthy life so that he lives longer. She mostly trust her vet in terms of BC check. If something needs to be arranged, she would follow her vets recommendations.

ANNA: INDULGENT Acquisition Anna is a college student and living with a flatmate. She neither had an animal companion before nor take care of any other creature. One day she came across to a post on social media. A kitten was excluded from the litterbox; therefore owner was looking for a new caregiver. Seeing his heartbreaking pictures she felt sympathy to the cat. The next day she got the kitten and called him ‘cupcake’. She promised herself to compensate the bad experiences he had before. Role of the pet Although Cupcake was a kitten, Anna considered him as a friend and companion more than a child. In general she thinks animals should be treated equally because they are smart creatures not robots or toys to dictate whatever you like. She appreciated Cupcakes unique temperament and skills to communicate her needs and even emotions. Day by day she feels Cupcake is becoming her best friend. Caregiving Attitude Her flatmate was not really into cats so, Anna took the all responsibility of the cat. She start getting basic knowledge from cat owner friends or from internet, as long as she face a specific problem. She usually follow her instincts and the cat’s response, but sometimes feel unconfident about the decisions she make. Since Anna has a flexible daily schedule, their routine is not really structured. She is not fond of rules, because it makes her feel distant from the cat. She is tolerant and flexible in his caregiving. According to her, most important thing in their relationship is love. Rules and health can be arranged later when it is necessary, as soon as their bond is preserved.

The Storyboard Especially, in the beginning of the relationship affection based concerns overtake the weight related ones. During this period occasional treats are introduced which are given due to certain emotional appraisal, e.g. giving treat as an apology or being accepted. The fear of underfeeding and lack of control in food intake also causes unproportional food intake ofthe cat. Over time, the cat becomes conditioned to a certain food and develops demanding behaviours. Indulgent habits become routinized. Although it may not pose a problem in the beginning, after sterilization the cat’s metabolic rate decreases. Most of the time, especially the first time caregivers underestimate this fact and keep on with the same routine, therefore the cat starts putting on weight, which is hard to detect and except. The defensive attitude may mislead the perception of BC as well as the acceptance of the problem. Weight check is done by the vet usually once a year. (Keep in mind that many owners only visit the vet in case of a health issue and gaining weight is mostly not considered as a serious health issue at all). The cat is diagnosed being overweight. This is the moment the caregiver realizes the problem and become conscious about weight management, which is already Then the weight reduction phase starts. Weight related concerns become apparent, which creates dilemma in the feeding experience. The cat’s resistant attitude and caregivers indulgent characteristic makes the the diet challenging. After a while owner manages to deal with her dilemmas and becomes determined and confident in food restriction.

Feeding Style She has an indulgent feeding style. Feeding is primarily satisfying the cat more than only providing healthy nutrition. Anna is not concerned with weight management yet. She thinks as soon as cat is happy there is nothing to be worry about.

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Appendix C Ideation Workshop The purpose of the ideation workshop was to explore the design space per each direction. Not only the quantity, but also the quality - creativity, feasibility, added value etc.- of the ideas was a matter of our interest in the workshop.

DESIGNERS The workshop was conducted with 6 designers; second year mastersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; students of TU Delft Industrial Design Engineering. The group was quite balanced in terms of expertise in design field, gender and experience with animal companions. My preliminary ideation activities showed that directions give room to both product and interaction level design interventions. Therefore, I invited designers from both fields of expertise, i.e. IPD and DFI. Besides, three of them were conducting projects on Design for Animal field, one of which was my co-researcher in Study 1. Their experience with animal companions were also various; three of them were experienced dog owners, one was grown up with cats, two have no caregiving experience.

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1. Images illustrating the context

PROCEDURE The ideation team was first synthesized to the topic by (1) images illustrating the context of feeding, the overweight problem and the cat- caregiver interactions and (2) a presentation explaining the main finding of our research. Afterwards, ideation phase took place per each direction. First step was a brainstorming activity, in which each designer posted some quick ideas on a big sheet of paper. Next step was an individual ideation activity. Designers sketched their individual ideas, in a more detailed way and presented them to the group.

OUTCOME

One of the designers is presenting her ideas

Different expertises provided different approaches to each direction, which broaden our perspectives on the opportunities. We clustered the ideas into categories per each direction, so we obtained â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;themesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;. Following images show the themes emerged in each direction. (Rectange: Theme,

Square: subtheme, circle: tangible ideas). The ones that I personally find the most inspiring are marked with an orange dot.

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Evaluating the Directions

Evaluating the Concepts

DIRECTION 1 : EFFORTLESS BC ASSESSMENT

CONCEPT 1: CONFRONTING PATTERN

The direction promises wide range of ideas on new ways of BC condition assessment. Most of them consist of product oriented solutions with the functions of tracking. It is powerful to create practical awareness on the BC of the cat, thus directly addresses the goal of prevention. The ideas are acceptable, but the caregivers first needs to be persuaded. The direction does not promise any feature to contribute the affectionate relationship of the caregiver. My favourite approach in this direction appears to be â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;educating owners in Physical Body Assessment Method. I would like to pursue this direction in a way that it will provide caregivers with the skills to conduct BC assessment, rather than making them dependent on the feedback of an external device.

Providing a visualised treating pattern found to be the most valuable aspect of the concept, since it reveals a concealed routine. The purpose picking function was envisioned to fulfill the aim of reflection and the tips regarded to be useful as well as confronting -especially by the caregivers who has indulgent tendencies. On the other hand the concept requires high commitment; the caregivers should use the app in each treating activity. In real life scenario it does not seem realistic due to practical reason. Switching to a digital platform in such a spontaneous and physical activity may be distracting. Users may not report every treat, thus the pattern visualised by the app may not reflect the reality. On top of that there may be people who does not scan the code at first place. In this case the most important point of the concept would be jeopardized. The concepts is demanding and vulnerable to be disabled, which makes it less appealing.

DIRECTION 3: INTIMATE MEALS The main idea of the direction is fulfilling the emotional meanings of feeding activity within the meal feeding experience; rather than treats. The direction aims for an unconscious intervention. Thus, I still doubt if it will be powerful enough to prevent overfeeding behaviour. The ideas emerged in this direction propose extreme cases to create intimacy in meal times, some of which may not be accepted by the owner or by the cat. However, I still think more appropriate implementation of this concept can be inspiring to remind people the real value of feeding. Since it targets intuitive levels of the feeding behaviour, it makes me curious to see the effect.

CONCEPT 3: VISIONARY TREATS Revealing a story step by step found to be engaging, since it creates curiosity. Besides visual illustrations of the story convey the message in a clear way, which has the potential to create empathy. However defensive caregivers would still find it hard to relate themselves to the character in the story. We believe the concepts it is less effective to confront caregivers with indulgent habits, because the tips does not instantly intervene to treating moment. The caregiver needs to follow an extra step to receive the information- sticking the sticker to the calendar- which might happen right after treating as well as a couple of hours later. Besides if the calendar is lost or never used the value of the concept would be disabled. Thus we believe the concept is vulnerable to be jeopardized due to practical reasons.

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Appendix D The Messages

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The Content of ‘Mindful Strokes’

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