Research overview: feeding anticipation and pre-feeding pacing in big cats

Much pacing in captive big cats clusters in the period before scheduled feeding, suggesting that predictable meal times generate anticipatory arousal expressed as repetitive walking. This overview surveys research on feeding-related pacing, how fixed feeding schedules can entrench it, and whether unpredictable timing, multiple smaller meals, scatter and puzzle feeding, or whole-prey presentation reduce or merely redistribute it. It distinguishes anticipatory pacing from stereotypy driven by general environmental deprivation, examines the welfare interpretation of anticipation itself, which may reflect either positive engagement or frustration, and considers methodological challenges in attributing pacing to feeding cues. The synthesis informs feeding-management strategies aimed at minimising stereotypic pacing while maintaining behavioural stimulation around feeding events.