Whether you’re a new player just setting up your first base or a veteran who’s cleared half the Shrouded zones, figuring out how to feed cat Enshrouded can feel like one of the game’s most confusing hidden tasks. Unlike explicit main quests that give you clear waypoints, this small side activity is easy to miss if you don’t know where to look, or what items you actually need to bring to the interaction. Most players stumble on the stray cat near the starting settlement by accident, and have no idea why their attempts to give it random food items keep failing. We’ve tested every possible food type and interaction path to put together this no-fluff guide that works for every game version.
Prerequisites You Need to Unlock the Cat Feeding Interaction
Before you can even attempt to feed the cat, you need to meet a few small prerequisites that most players skip over without realizing. First, you have to complete the first main story quest where you repair the Flame Altar in the starting settlement. This unlocks the base building and NPC interaction systems, and triggers the stray cat to spawn near the east side of the settlement’s wooden fence. If you don’t see the cat hanging around the crates near the cook’s tent, you probably haven’t finished this quest yet.
Second, you need to have at least one piece of cooked meat or fish stew in your inventory. Raw food items, berries, or mushrooms won’t work here — the cat will turn its nose up and walk away if you try to offer those. You can make cooked meat by hunting wild boar or deer in the starting meadows, then cooking the raw meat over a campfire for 10 seconds. Fish stew takes a bit more work, but it gives you a better reward when you feed it to the cat, so it’s worth the extra effort if you have the ingredients on hand.
There are a few other small boxes you need to tick before the interaction will work, so we’ve put together a quick checklist to make sure you don’t miss anything:
- Completed the first Flame Altar repair main quest to trigger the cat spawn
- Have at least 1 piece of cooked meat or fish stew in your active hotbar
- Cleared all hostiles within a 10-foot radius of the cat’s spawn point
- Do not have an active NPC escort quest that blocks side interactions
One common mistake new players make is trying to interact with the cat while they’re in combat, or have an active enemy nearby. The cat will hide if it senses danger, so make sure you clear any wandering Shroud creatures or bandits from the area before you try to approach it. You’ll know the interaction is available when you see a small gray paw icon pop up when you’re within 3 feet of the cat.
Step-by-Step Process to Feed Cat Enshrouded Correctly
Once you’ve met all the prerequisites, the actual feeding process only takes a few seconds if you follow the right order. First, make sure the food item you want to give the cat is selected in your first hotbar slot. The game doesn’t let you select items from your inventory during the interaction, so you need to have it ready before you walk up to the cat.
Next, walk slowly towards the cat until the paw interaction icon pops up. Don’t run or jump near it, or it will get spooked and run away for 2 full in-game hours before it comes back. Press the interact button, and a small menu will pop up asking if you want to offer the food item you have selected. Confirm the action, and you’ll see a short animation of the cat eating the food, then rubbing against your character’s leg.
After the interaction finishes, you’ll get your reward immediately. If you gave cooked meat, you’ll get a small luck buff that increases your resource drop rate by 10% for 30 in-game minutes. If you gave fish stew, you’ll get a larger 20% luck buff that lasts for 1 full hour, plus a rare crafting material you can use to upgrade your Flame Altar later in the game.
If you feed the cat 3 days in a row (in-game time), it will move into your base permanently, and will occasionally leave small gifts like rare herbs or ore near your storage chests. It’s a tiny bonus, but it adds up over time, especially if you’re farming a lot of resources for base upgrades.
Common Mistakes to Avoid When Feeding the Enshrouded Cat
Even players who know the basic steps often run into issues that stop them from completing the interaction, or getting the better reward. One of the most common mistakes is using the wrong food item, as we mentioned earlier. A lot of players assume berries or raw meat work, but the cat will only accept cooked protein items, no exceptions. Double check your hotbar before you approach the cat to save yourself the frustration of it running away.
Another mistake is trying to feed the cat during a rainstorm or at night. The cat will hide under the nearby shelter during bad weather, and the interaction won’t be available until the sun comes out or the rain stops. If you’re in a hurry to get the luck buff for a big resource run, you can sleep in a bed to skip the bad weather instantly instead of waiting it out.
Many players like to take short breaks between long farming or base building sessions to stretch their legs or play a quick casual game to reset their focus. A lot of players I know will load up Spin Winner for 5 or 10 minutes between feeding sessions if they’re waiting for the cat to respawn or for in-game weather to clear, since it’s easy to pick up and put down without losing progress.
You also don’t want to feed the cat more than once per in-game day. If you try to give it a second piece of food on the same day, it will ignore you, and you’ll waste the item you tried to offer. Wait at least 20 in-game hours between feeding sessions to make sure the interaction works every time.
It’s also important to note that the luck buff from feeding the cat stacks with other buffs you get from food or NPC bonuses, so it’s a great way to maximize your resource gains before you head into a Shroud zone to farm rare materials. A lot of top players make feeding the cat the first thing they do every time they log in, just to get that buff active as early as possible.
Finally, don’t attack the cat, even by accident. If you hit it once, it will run away permanently, and you won’t be able to get the permanent base companion or the luck buffs for the rest of your playthrough. There’s no way to reset this interaction, so be extra careful when you’re fighting enemies near the cat’s spawn point.
Hidden Bonuses You Get From Regularly Feeding the Cat
Most players only know about the luck buff, but there are a few hidden bonuses you get from feeding the cat consistently that almost no one talks about. First, once the cat moves into your base, it will scare away small pest creatures that used to steal small amounts of food from your storage chests. This might not sound like a big deal at first, but it saves you a lot of wasted resources over long play sessions, especially if you keep a lot of food stored for long Shroud runs.
Second, if you feed the cat every day for 7 straight in-game days, it will lead you to a hidden chest near the northern edge of the starting map. The chest has a rare legendary crafting schematic for a heat-resistant cloak that makes it much easier to explore the volcanic Shroud zones later in the game. This schematic is only available through this hidden interaction, so you can’t get it anywhere else no matter how many chests you loot or enemies you kill.
Third, having the cat in your base makes friendly NPCs more likely to give you free gifts or discounted crafting services. The NPCs in the settlement love the cat, and they’ll often give you extra food or crafting materials when you talk to them after the cat moves in. We’ve tested this, and the discount on crafting services can be as high as 15%, which saves you a ton of gold when you’re upgrading high-tier gear.
If you’re playing on multiplayer, the cat’s buff applies to every player on your server, so it’s a great investment for the whole group. Even if only one player remembers to feed the cat every day, everyone gets the luck buff and the other bonuses, so it’s worth assigning someone to handle this task if you’re playing with a large group.
At the end of the day, taking a few minutes out of your play session to figure out how to feed cat Enshrouded is well worth the small effort, even if you’re just playing casually. The buffs, hidden rewards, and permanent base companion add a lot of small quality of life improvements that make the whole game feel more rewarding, and it’s a fun little hidden activity that most players never find on their own. Next time you’re wrapping up a base building session or preparing for a long Shroud run, swing by the settlement to give the cat a piece of cooked meat — you won’t regret it.