Whisker-friendly, non-plastic cat dish

May 2, 2018 6:20 PM

My fussy cat just got fussier. He refused to eat last night until I hand-fed him, he refused to eat at all this morning, and tonight he ate only after I transferred his food from his bowl to a saucer, at which point he ate fairly enthusiastically. I'm assuming he doesn't like his whiskers touching the side of the bowl, as he's kind of neurotic about any unusual sensory input (noise, movement) while he's eating anyway. I'm looking for recommendations for bowls, either glass or ceramic, that wouldn't bother his whiskers. (He also won't eat out of plastic. Other non-plastic items considered.)
posted by lazuli to Pets & Animals (30 answers total)

Response by poster: I just remembered: He's been fine with stainless steel in the past, but the bowl was light enough that it moved every time he tried to get wet food out of the side, so that frustrated him. So, heavier metal bowls ok, too.
posted by lazuli at 6:22 PM on May 2, 2018

Best answer: I fed my late kitty on dinner plates. They’re big enough that spilling isn’t a big problem.
posted by FencingGal at 6:36 PM on May 2, 2018

Funnily enough, I came across this link a while ago but I never thought I'd have a chance to use it - there's Dr Catsby's Food Bowl for Whisker Relief: https://www.amazon.ca/Dr-Catsbys-Food-Whisker-Relief/dp/B017DUKHKM

It's more shallow so it allows the kitty to eat without his whiskers getting in the way. And according to the link, whisker fatigue is what your cat's fussiness is called.
posted by elsmith at 6:41 PM on May 2, 2018 [1 favorite]

We got these stainless steel bowls at Target and they have a nonskid bottom.
posted by cooker girl at 6:41 PM on May 2, 2018

This has a name, it's called whisker fatigue or whisker stress. If you search for whisker fatigue/stress/relief cat food bowls on Amazon, you'll have a wide range of options in different materials.
posted by Preserver at 6:43 PM on May 2, 2018

Best answer: I fed my fussy cat on glass salad plates, which I think I got at either a dollar store or Big Lots or maybe Walmart at least ten years ago, anyway they were like a buck each and I don't have cats anymore and we've moved twice and I still have all ten that I bought in the first place.
posted by Lyn Never at 6:43 PM on May 2, 2018 [1 favorite]

Yeah just use a plate and put a non-skid grip under like one you use to open a jar or under a rug.
posted by Crystalinne at 6:52 PM on May 2, 2018 [2 favorites]

Best answer: Keep using the saucer that worked yesterday, and just designate it as his now?
posted by Iris Gambol at 6:55 PM on May 2, 2018 [4 favorites]

Response by poster: Keep using the saucer that worked yesterday, and just designate it as his now?

The saucer I used for him is one hand-painted by a friend, so I don't want to re-purpose those, but for some reason I hadn't thought of buying other saucers.
posted by lazuli at 6:57 PM on May 2, 2018 [3 favorites]

I got shallow, weighted stainless steel bowls for my cat, with rubber grips on the bottom. That helps keep them from moving. Sometimes it helps to look in the "dog" section of the pet store to find bowls that are wide enough that they won't bother whiskers.

I also sometimes feed her from a plain glass saucer (the kind for people).
posted by BlueJae at 7:20 PM on May 2, 2018

Ahem....tax hasn't been paid yet.
posted by kate4914 at 7:21 PM on May 2, 2018 [7 favorites]

Yeah, we can't accurately answer this question until we get at least one picture of the whisker-bearer?

Silicone trivets/hot pads are good for making the plate non-slip and, like the plates, can be run through the dishwasher.
posted by Lyn Never at 7:26 PM on May 2, 2018

Yeah, this is not uncommon. I'd agree with the consensus that cheap saucers or small plates are likely a good answer for your Feline Overlord.
posted by Making You Bored For Science at 7:27 PM on May 2, 2018

Yep, my cat eats off a ceramic side plate that I picked up at the dollar store. It is yellow and is decorated with...little cats.
posted by janepanic at 7:33 PM on May 2, 2018

Response by poster: Cat tax! Sorry! Radish doing his best Chat Noir. Radish sitting on my chest wanting breakfast.
posted by lazuli at 7:52 PM on May 2, 2018 [11 favorites]

I'm not sure if the dishes I have are the Target ones but they probably are, you'll find a lot just like them basically everywhere. Got the stainless steel originally because of a chin acne problem in one of my cats, very happy with them ever since.
posted by Sequence at 7:56 PM on May 2, 2018

Best answer: I don't blame him. Those whiskers are rather magnificent.
posted by Preserver at 7:58 PM on May 2, 2018 [7 favorites]

Best answer: Those whiskers are so hardcore you may have to turn a bowl upside down and feed him on the underside, one or two spoons at a time.

(My parents had a cat they fed like this. Retired boomers, y'all.)
posted by Lyn Never at 8:16 PM on May 2, 2018 [5 favorites]

Response by poster: Those whiskers are so hardcore you may have to turn a bowl upside down and feed him on the underside, one or two spoons at a time.

Ha! That was actually one of my hesitations in just going with something on Amazon; he's a large cat with large whiskers and I wasn't sure a cat bowl deemed "whisker-friendly" was necessarily going to work for him. Saucers or salad plates are great ideas. Thank you!
posted by lazuli at 8:21 PM on May 2, 2018

Best answer: I got my cat food dishes from Goodwill. They were not originally pet dishes, of course, but they’re unique from all my other dishes and cost like a buck each, if that. You could get fancy china and feed your cat off those if you wanted, and no doubt he would consider that entirely appropriate.
posted by Autumnheart at 8:40 PM on May 2, 2018 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: I'm now slightly tempted to use my never-used wedding china, but I think I'll hit Goodwill or Tuesday Morning and find some cheap saucers or plates. And I'll use a less-sentimental saucer in the meantime (I have weird saucer issues right now). Thank you all! Radish and his magnificent whiskers thank you.
posted by lazuli at 8:47 PM on May 2, 2018

Best answer: Speaking as a purely non-partisan observer, I think this is the perfect use for your wedding china. Cats before ex-husbands, yo.
posted by mudpuppie at 9:40 PM on May 2, 2018 [22 favorites]

I have heard, although I cannot really account for it's accuracy, that smooshing cat food around on a plate or a saucer slows down their eating and keeps them from gulping down so much air and catching the vomits. So if you've got a fast eater, it can actually help. I didn't really notice much difference in my cat, though. She still manages to snorf up her food like it will disappear in 30 seconds, like she always has.
posted by backwards compatible at 4:27 AM on May 3, 2018 [1 favorite]

And what fine whiskers they are!

I got shallow, weighted stainless steel bowls for my cat, with rubber grips on the bottom. That helps keep them from moving.

That's what my boys eat out of, and it seems to work out well for them. They don't know I got them in the dog department.

I got a straight-sided ceramic dog bowl at the same time in case the steel ones didn't work, but now it's my favorite soup bowl.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 8:07 AM on May 3, 2018 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: I did find a set of saucers I’m willing to repurpose, and I used one this morning, which made me remember why I’d bought a high-sided bowl for him in the first place, which is that he noses his food around so much that he gets it everywhere. On the plus side, he did eat most of it. I’ll keep experimenting.
posted by lazuli at 12:50 PM on May 3, 2018

What about some kind of flat tray with a lip that you could put under the dish as a food-catcher?
posted by Autumnheart at 5:06 PM on May 3, 2018

I work with a veterinarian who recommended pie plates as a cat dish. Chasing food morsels around in the pan forces the cat to slow down, which means he eats less ... and has more room for the whiskers
posted by caution live frogs at 9:45 AM on May 4, 2018 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: We're currently doing well with Radish eating in the bathroom, with the door closed, with me sitting there telling him he's a good boy and should eat his breakfast/dinner. As well as the door physically blocking his brother from lurking and stealing his food. I think it was the extra stimulation (whiskers and lurking brother included) that was his main issue, and having a quiet place to eat plus my encouraging him seems to have solved the problem. There's a *new* problem of me needing to figure out how to incorporate 10 minutes every morning and evening of cat-eating-encouragement when really I just want to be on MeFi and drinking my tea, but I'll work that out.
posted by lazuli at 9:28 PM on May 5, 2018 [3 favorites]

Is corralling his brother an option? Like, his dish goes down, and you pick up bro and walk away? Maybe whiskers-friendly plate + lack of lurkers = Radish (how I love that name) can break his fast as leisurely as he likes, no additional (time-consuming) encouragement or physical barriers needed.
posted by Iris Gambol at 11:32 AM on May 6, 2018

Response by poster: So it turns out that Radish was protesting not only the bowl but also the food, as it did not include enough fishes for his liking. As fishes contain too much mercury for my liking, I mixed bonito flakes into his chicken for a couple weeks then gradually stopped, which seems to have tricked him into liking his food again. Now he's happily eating his food from a tea saucer, and I discovered that mashing up the food helps him eat it faster, which has cut down on my needing to supervise to prevent his brother from stealing his food. All is now good.
posted by lazuli at 12:27 PM on June 2, 2018 [3 favorites]