My cat is A)Stupid B)Stubborn or C)Philosophical

*emeleel* · #1 03-30-2005, 10:03 AM

Mine's one of those that starts yowling for more food even when there are more bites in the bowl. Sometimes a lot of bites. Call me a dumb human, but I finally figured out what her problem is:

As she eats, food get naturally pushed around, hither and yon, but of course goes no further than the edges of the bowl. But for some reason, to her, the edgles of the bowl do not exist.

If it's not right there in the middle, the food does not exist. I finally realized this the other day when she was yowling and I shook the bowl, I thought to just convince her it actually had food in it, but she started eating from the middle after some pieces shook their way back.

Cats. Weird. Oy.

eris esoteric · #2 03-30-2005, 10:06 AM

That's OK. Pixie's a feline vacuum cleaner, and Stranger likes to pick her food up, drop it on the floor, pick it up again and THEN it it. I think she's checking the kibble for bounce. I've yet to determine whether high bounce is good or bad in kibble.

**theworm**[$] · #3 03-30-2005, 10:31 AM

This is normal cat behavior. We use dry and canned food, and we periodically must push the wet food back to the middle of the bowl and make a tidy little mound.

eris esoteric · #4 03-30-2005, 10:39 AM

Oh, man, don't tell her cat that she's normal, she'll find something different to yowl about!

**theworm**[$] · #5 03-30-2005, 10:46 AM

The Beast just howls. He wants attention so instead of coming over and jumping on a lap, he goes to some other room, plops his butt down, and howls this mournful cry.

**mjfrombuffalo**[$] · #6 03-30-2005, 11:00 AM

I went through this for YEARS with Buffy.

Buffy: "meow meow meow"

Me: "There's food in your bowl. Go look at your bowl."

Buffy: "meow meow meow"

Me: "YOU HAVE FOOD. LOOK. LOOK AT YOUR BOWL." (Points to bowl)

Buffy: (looks at bowl, then back at me) "meow meow meow"

Me: "Doofus! You have food! LOOK!" (picks up bowl and shakes it)

Buffy: (looks at bowl. waddles over to bowl. sniffs at bowl. eats three of the 75 kibbles in the bowl. takes a few steps away from bowl. Looks at me.)

Buffy: "meow meow meow"

Rinse and repeat.

eris esoteric · #7 03-30-2005, 11:56 AM

Quote:

theworm said

The Beast just howls. He wants attention so instead of coming over and jumping on a lap, he goes to some other room, plops his butt down, and howls this mournful cry.

Stranger does this. She stands at the door and YOEWLS. Food, hugs, play, doesn't matter what she wants, she stands at the door and makes this ungodly noise. Sometimes she even does it when she wants to go out and explore the hallway.

murasaki · #8 03-30-2005, 12:10 PM

Kushi I, the cat I grew up with, would stand over his bowl and yowl at whomever came along. He was not satisfied until his victim reached down and stirred the kibble with their finger. Then he would eat no problem. Kushi II resumbles a Hoover and has no such finickiness.

nicholmere · #9 03-30-2005, 07:41 PM

Quote:

emeleel said

But for some reason, to her, the edgles of the bowl do not exist.

If it's not right there in the middle, the food does not exist.

I think it has to do with a cat's sense of dignity. Since cats cannot hold the bowl still, some choose to only eat what is right in the middle of the bowl. If they go for the food on the side of the bowl then they end up licking and chasing the bowl all over the floor.

very undignified.

I suggest this because my cat Gemma has no such concern. She will chase a tin of tuna all around the kitchen while the other cats stare at her with embarrassment.

*emeleel* · #10 03-31-2005, 12:08 AM

Oh, Missy will chase a tuna can all over, too! Yogurt cups, too. (We love to give her a yogurt cup and lie in wait with the camera, waiting for the cup-suctioned-to-face shot

) But the dry food bowl? Bah.

**jgibson2**[$] · #11 03-31-2005, 12:46 AM

We never had cats who were finicky about food.

They were finicky about water.

One could turn on the tap in the bathroom. OTOH, she could also use the toilet. Appropriately. She never did learn to flush. Fortunately we did not simultaneously have a dog.

Another preferred to drink from our aquarium. It had 7 large, ancient goldfish in it. Cat would leap to the edge of the aquarium and lap water until she could barely walk. One day, as she was drinking, I refilled the aquarium. I never saw her drink from it again. I don't know if she quit, or just watched for me to leave the room.