** cat who is veracious around feeding time help**
Hello! I have 3 cats that are patients there. I have had 2 cats, Blink and Havoc for about 5 years now. They are biological brothers. They have always shared everything and we never really had any problems with food or their weight.
About 2 months ago, we adopted a blind cat, Gemma who is about a year old. Her foster said that she would free feed her at her house and that she never really had any aggression with food. I’m not sure what happened because once we adopted her and brought her back here, she has became very veracious with her food. Our solution now is to feed her the dry food in a separate room (we feed her according to the package instructions) because if we do not, she will race through eating her food so she can start trying to eat the boys food as well.
With wet food, I monitor them and am constantly shooing her away so the boys can finish their food as she always inhales her food super quickly.
When we separate her, she will cry until we open the door and then she comes running full speed to the food bowl.
I’ve never really seen anything like it! She is so sweet and other than that there really is no issues I’m just looking for advice if there is anything I can do to make feeding time not so chaotic.
I want her to feel secure that she will always be fed but I can’t leave food out because I don’t want my other cats to eat hers.
I guess my question is, is this a behavior that can be changed or do we just work with it the way we are now? She seems to have a lot of anxiety around food and I’m sure being blind doesn’t help so I wasn’t sure what else we can do.
Thank you!
In all seriousness, get her bloodwork done. A cat that crazy about food might have a thyroid or other medical issue.
You’ll probably have to separate to feed for a long while yet. If she starts to calm down about it, maybe you’d be able to try feeding in like…a dog crate, perhaps. In the same room, so she can smell their food. It’s a good test while allowing them the ability to eat their own food peacefully.
You can also try bowls which only open for the right collar. Amazon sells them, but they are NOT cheap: https://www.amazon.com/Sure-Petcare-SureFlap-Selective-Automatic-Stress-Free/dp/B00O0UIPTY/ref=sr_1_17?crid=O9337BSZVCPE&keywords=cat%2Bautomatic%2Bopen%2Band%2Bclose%2Bbowls&qid=1695900727&sprefix=automatic%2Bopen%2Bcat%2B%2Caps%2C57&sr=8-17&ufe=app_do%3Aamzn1.fos.f5122f16-c3e8-4386-bf32-63e904010ad0&th=1
I have those bowls that only open for the right cat. Expensive but so worth it… One of mine needs to take medication twice a day but doesn’t take treats and both are very slow eaters. So I either had to seperate them the whole day, or she wasn’t getting her medication. As Laura says, get her checked up and if everything is fine, maybe try feeding her more? I have learned that kittens and young cats can eat as much as they want, so they can learn that there is always enough food. This way they get calmer with… Read more »