Hello everyone,
I hope this is the right forum for this question, but please move if necessary. I have three cats, one of which eats in a separte room from the other two. This is for two reasons, one he needs special food due to having a bladder stone 2 years ago. The other is that he (Capone) tries to eat the other cats' food and my other male (Bernard) tries to eat his food. The cats are also only feed two scheduled feedings per day. Before Capone's switching to this prescription food the cats were free feed. The scheduled feedings are actually good for my other two cats as they were both getting a little overweight and now I can better control their portions. The problem is that Capone has not adapted to the scheduled feedings at all. He has always been a grazer and eats small amounts many times throughout the day. He has 'trained' me to keep bringing his food out several times during the day in order to continue his eating pattern. This causes a problem because if I am not right next to the bowl, Bernard will come in and either stare Capone down or just push him out of the way to eat the wrong food. I would like to keep the food down for longer during the scheduled feedings, but again Capone doesn't each much at one time and the other cats try to eat his food. I tried keeping the door closed to the room where I feed my other two cats, but this causes a problem for my female (Cleo) as she hates being confined.
So, does anyone have any suggestions for either training Capone to eating at the scheduled times or for detering my other cats, especially Bernard, from eating Capone's food?
I hope this is the right forum for this question, but please move if necessary. I have three cats, one of which eats in a separte room from the other two. This is for two reasons, one he needs special food due to having a bladder stone 2 years ago. The other is that he (Capone) tries to eat the other cats' food and my other male (Bernard) tries to eat his food. The cats are also only feed two scheduled feedings per day. Before Capone's switching to this prescription food the cats were free feed. The scheduled feedings are actually good for my other two cats as they were both getting a little overweight and now I can better control their portions. The problem is that Capone has not adapted to the scheduled feedings at all. He has always been a grazer and eats small amounts many times throughout the day. He has 'trained' me to keep bringing his food out several times during the day in order to continue his eating pattern. This causes a problem because if I am not right next to the bowl, Bernard will come in and either stare Capone down or just push him out of the way to eat the wrong food. I would like to keep the food down for longer during the scheduled feedings, but again Capone doesn't each much at one time and the other cats try to eat his food. I tried keeping the door closed to the room where I feed my other two cats, but this causes a problem for my female (Cleo) as she hates being confined.
So, does anyone have any suggestions for either training Capone to eating at the scheduled times or for detering my other cats, especially Bernard, from eating Capone's food?