Cat feeding dilemmas

May 22, 2006 9:08 PM

How can I stop one of my cats from bullying the other during mealtime?

My wife and i are experiencing some problems in feeding our two cats. One of them, who I'll call the General, is dominant, and she bullies the skinnier one, aka the Dude, during mealtimes, pushing him out of the way when she feels like it. The Dude eats so daintily that he almost seems to have some kind of "eating impediment" (if there is such a thing).

Things have gotten complicated in the last few weeks, ever since the General was diagnosed with crystals in her urine and prescribed a special diet to prevent them. The Dude hates this prescription food, and started losing weight because he didn't want to eat it. Meanwhile, part of the prescription is that we don't leave the food out all the time, but only give them a short window of time, like a half hour each morning and evening, for them to eat. But when we've tried that, the Dude hasn't eaten anything during his "window of opportunity," and proceeds to turn into a little monster at 4:00 or 5:00 in the morning, attacking our feet and gnawing on our fingers in order to wake us up and make us put food out -- the old brand of food he eats, that is.

So really, I have two intertwined dilemmas:

1. How do I stop the General from bullying the Dude when he's trying to eat? Locking them into separate rooms wouldn't work, I don't think, since the Dude only nibbles a little at a time, so he would have to be isolated for a long time for that to work.

2. How do I give the Dude the opportunity to eat the regular food which he likes, without giving the General access to it? Is there any way to allow the Dude to eat whenever he wants, while the General is limited to just a half hour each morning and evening?

Forgive me if the answer is super-obvious and I'm just not seeing it. I have ridiculous MacGyver-like visions of customizing one of their carriers so that it has a Dude-sized door that the General can't squeeze her belly through. But if I try that, and she's hungry during the day, I'm certain that she'll spend her days trying to break in to it.

I'd love to hear your thoughts and suggestions.

posted by umbú to pets & animals (10 comments total)

A spray bottle full of water is a good discipline tool. Cats don't like squirt guns. (Crank the nozzle down to "stream" so that it has a lot of range.)
posted by Steven C. Den Beste at 9:12 PM on May 22, 2006

MacGyver lite ideas follow:

1) Is the Dude a better jumper? Can you put his food in a higher place that the General can't get to?

2) A complicated and expensive solution would be a feeding room or large crate with a cat door that would open only for the Dude, as he would wear a special key on his collar. (This is a ridiculous solution, but maybe it will inspire a better idea from someone else.)

Ixnay on the spray bottle. You have to stick around to make this work, and it's been my experience that the more neurotic cat gets more weirded out than the aggressive cat, even if he doesn't get hit by the stream.
posted by rosemere at 9:18 PM on May 22, 2006

I see 5 options.
1. Put Dude in the carrier (a larger one for medium to large dog might work best - try borrowing one if you can rather than buying to try this) with his food at feeding times. Let him out after he eats.
2. Reverse cats - just don't let the General out until Dude is done. Might not work well based on what you said.
3. Put one cat in carrier at night, leaving the food with Dude.
4. Put one cat in a seperate room at night.
5. Ask the vet if there is another brand of food that does the same thing that you can try. Dude might like it better. If Dude is fixed, he is likely to need the special food as he gets older so he doesn't have urinary problems. Getting him on it now can save lots of money in vet bills. (Speaking from experience!)

One of my previous cats would attack me in the early morning, much like Dude. Feeding before bed definately helped. Confinement of one cat - the one that protests the least would seem to be the way to go.

Wife of 445supermag
posted by 445supermag at 9:27 PM on May 22, 2006

Whoa, this is very similar to our situation, only the crystals in the urine belonged to the timid cat.

Our first Rx food didn't work for her, so we asked for and were prescribed another one. This one they all love. But timid cat still eats much slower. We've been putting her and her food up high and letting her eat, then when the fast cat gets done, distracting or playing with the fast cat (taking him to another floor, or locking him in the bathroom for a while). Timid cat still doesn't eat everything in her bowl, but she eats more than before.

We also were able to slow down fast cat at chow time by mashing dry food, which he has to chew, into the soft RX food. (But he's not the one with crystals, so this might not work for you.)
posted by GaelFC at 9:50 PM on May 22, 2006

We had a similar problem -- since the food is only out for half an hour in the morning, then again in the evening, & we're home during that time, we'd lock which ever cat we caught first with their food in a separate room. When the food is gone/half hour is up, we'd release the locked up cat.
posted by susanbeeswax at 10:36 PM on May 22, 2006

We have two cats. Giving one medicine via food is not an option. The same would go for a diet. This is not a new problem. There is almost certainly a solution to your problem that doesn't involve doping food. You should talk to your vet. If they are unhelpful, try another vet.
posted by krisjohn at 10:49 PM on May 22, 2006

I can sympathise with your problem. I currently have 2 cats with different urinary crystal problems. For both types of urinary crystals (oxylate and struvite) there are several different (crystal type specific) prescription food formulas available, all through your vet. If they don't stock them, I'm sure they would be pleased to order you some sample packets so that the General can find one that she really likes and keeps her away from the normal food that Dude likes. These foods (made by Iams and Hills) come in both dry and wet formulation, so it's possible to vary the diet a little by a use of both types. I find that dry food is eaten more slowly.

I'd suggest that meal time supervision is the answer, and I'd second putting Dude's food up on a higher surface where the more dominant General cannot easily/quickly get to it. Supervision will eat into your time, but I've found with pushy cats (I have 5, some pushy, some not) that with some quiet persistence, they will eventually get the message and stay with their own plate. However, as Dude is of a timid demeanor, he may well appreciate having some quiet space to eat, either a crate or another room. Quietly picking up the General and placing her infront of her own food with no comment/stress may take a while but eventually it may work, if she moves constantly in on Dude's food before finishing her own.

Don't use spray bottles or spray guns, you don't want to introduce even more stress into cat mealtimes. Picking up and removing the dominant cat to another room once she has finished his/her food will also get the message through eventually.

Some cats are just slow eaters, some are real shovel-it-up merchants. You mentioned 'impediment' in your description of Dude, so if you have any worries about this, ask your vet to give Dude a thorough mouth examination.

How about dividing their food into 3 and feeding morning, early evening and late evening?. If you can get hold of the kibble/dry prescription food you could alot some of General's food portion to give as single 'chase and catch' treats whilst Dude is munching on the normal food. This would be a good distraction technique, but you may need to use it in combination with removing General to another room for this play-time-with-treats time.

As far as I know, certainly in the UK there is no tablet/injection fix that will change the acidity of the cat urine. The changes to the urine ph levels required to stop crystal formation need to be achieved through diet by addition/removal of certain substances. Consequently, it's not a good idea to allow Dude who has no crystal problem to eat the prescription food as this will eventually cause a change in his urine ph and could lead to future problems.

If Dude has been eating the prescription formula for more than a couple of weeks, I'd recommend you get his urine tested so that you can be sure that his urine ph hasn't been changed.

As will all animal behavioural issues, approach this problem as if you have all the time in the world to solve it and you will reach a solution more quickly.

Incidentally, in the absence of any obvious physical cause of feline cystitis/urinary crystals, stress is believed to be a significant cause. Kitting your home out with some Feliway diffusers, may well even out the behavioural dynamic in both cats, allowing General to lose some of her dominant behiour and Dude to be more relaxed.

Good luck :)
posted by Arqa at 1:22 AM on May 23, 2006

The good Mr. Arthur Pedrick has your solution in GB1426698.

There is at the "Hillfield Road, One Man
Think-Tank Radiation Research Laboratory", a Ginger Cat, who, with increasing years, is not as agile as he was, and quite often when coming in at nights from a bit of mouse hunting, is, when the kitchen door is open, over taken on the way to his cat food, by the black cat from next door, who is much younger and more agile. The problem therefore is how to let "Ginger" in, but exclude the black cat who belongs next door.

According to the invention therefore, the chromatic cat flap control unit, as shown in
Figures 6 and 7, has a spring mounted floor plate 11, which if a cat stands upon it, is depressed to operate a switch 12, linked by cable 13 to a terminal 14, on a control unit 15 which energises two strong lights 16 and 17, which direct strong beams of light on the cat's back as he stands on plate 11.

Radiant energy reflected from the cat's back, as illuminated by lights 16 and 17, passes up tube 18, to a radiant energy detector, according to the invention, as described with reference to Figures 4 and 5.

If the radiant energy is strong enough to operate the switch of detector device 19, the control unit 15, operates a motor 20, to raise by pinion and rack or other suitable form of mechanism the "cat flap" plate 22, and allow the cat to move through the access hole into the kitchen.

By such a control unit it ought to be possible, since the fur of a black cat, as shown in Figure 7, will not reflect much radiation from its back up tube 18, to exclude the black cat from next door, while "Ginger" will have access to the kitchen if he stands on plate 11.

In this way considerable feline rivalry may be avoided.

When I showed Ginger my drawings for the "chromatically selective cat flap control unit" he was very impressed.

"Purr-purr" said Ginger, thats quiteclever . . . I shall be able to get in to eat my food, without worrying about "Blackie" from next door.
posted by caddis at 5:25 AM on May 23, 2006

I had the same problem. The dominant cat was also getting fatter and the other one skinny due to that.

A simple solution that worked great was the box trick. I created a box with holes of course "for light and avoid claustrophobia" long enough to fit the length of the small cat and his dish. And with a round opening small enough so that the skinny cat can go in while the bigger cat can't.
I feed the small cat in his box only, this way if he did not finish eating his food, he can go again and finish it later without being inhaled by the fat cat.
I still feed them at the same time together, but the fat cat now has more control. don't forget to create a small opening at the top of the box to be able to dump the food into the dish inside.
posted by convex at 8:39 AM on May 23, 2006

Locking them into separate rooms wouldn't work, I don't think, since the Dude only nibbles a little at a time, so he would have to be isolated for a long time for that to work.

It will work. You just have to try it. Cats are quick learners. In short order, they will learn when the mealtimes are and will adjust their eating habits appropriately. I have three, all on separate diets (and a dog, too). They all eat twice a day and the cats all eat in separate rooms. I've been doing it for years. Be as consistent as you can with the meal times and they'll pick it up just fine.
posted by wheat at 10:15 AM on May 23, 2006