Dry food pieces too big?

Niko's a petite cat, so far at nine months old, and I'm starting to think the bits of EVO dry I feed him are a little too large. He loves it, but he makes a total mess as he breaks the pieces into smaller bits, out of the bowl. Every day, the kitchen floor is covered with tiny li'l pieces, as is he!

He didn't do this when he was on the food the shelter gave him, which was much smaller in size, for the first week he was home. Immediately after I started adding in the EVO, this issue came up. I've tried larger bowls, which didn't change the situation, and chopping the pellets up finer just made him entirely disinterested. I'm reluctant to switch him to something else since he can be a bit sensitive, but doing well on the EVO (the dry, at least, the wet was a disaster).

Should I switch foods or is there something else I should try? He'll eat just about anything, so that's not a problem, I just don't like to change something that seems to be working for him.

Evo actually has a small bite size... have you tried a plate??

Heh, yup.. tried small saucer types, as well as dinner plates.. that just made it worse.

The mess isn't fun, but it's good his teeth need to do some work. A cat in the wild would do some serious chewing every meal which cleans the teeth and massages the gums, if a cat eats kibble that is too small they'll just swallow it whole.

Mimosa: Oh, it's not the mess that really was bothering me, I just thought it might be harmful or something for him to be chomping so much on bigger pieces of food. Hey, if it's good for him, then let there be mess! *giggles*

Everything for the little critters.

At least he likes chewing his food, Mimosa would prefer all food blenderized and slurpable if it was up to her.

Evo dry bit are pretty small. But if they were giving him kitten food, many of those are even smaller. If he's eating the Evo but just a little slower at it, I'd give it time. He'll get used to is.

hehe...my cat food is on the counter in the laundry room. I have 8 cats, so there are 6 bowls there and 2 upstairs. Evreyday I have a ritual of picking up the little crumblies off the counter and putting them back in the bowl. I hate it. And Oscar, my tuxedo, likes to pick up his first bite and shake his head, so food goes flying, usually with cat spit on it, and sticks to the wall. It's great. Ahhh, the pleasures of being owned by cats

Your problem may actually just be a problem with EVO. It's crumbly. We're typically left with a pile of food dust with some larger chunks in it that the cats just ignore, until it gets filled up with "real food." We weren't sure which dry food of our mix was the culprit until we made another mix, and discovered that the evo in the bag was on the crumbly side.

Perhaps try transitioning to another dry, if the crumbles bug you? EVO actually doesn't have a kitten size and only has the one size, good for both kittens and adults. I guess the crumbly nature means it sticks to the teeth less and encourages chewing a bit more?

We use a medium size, high rimmed plate we got at IKEA for free-feeding both guys, and supplement their meals with wet food in dishwasher safe bowls (also from IKEA). The high-rimmed plate seems to help them eat from the middle and sides, rather than simply sticking their face against the edge, and so far there hasn't been any spillage. The wet food bowls keep the food pretty well contained and they clean up any mess they make since it's so tasty (or so they tell me).

Kit E Cat: *giggles!* That's kinda what Niko does.. he picks up a piece or two, shakes his head (and pieces go flying), then plops down the food about a foot away from the bowl to eat it off the floor.. and then when he chews, the crumbles go all over. At least it makes me sweep and mop his food area every day, which otherwise, I might not do as often.

EggyToast: Since I started receiving samples from various places, I, too, have noticed that the EVO is especially crumbly. I've tried every type of bowl/plate/platter I have in the house, so I don't think it's the vessel, but thanks for the IKEA dishwear suggestions, I'll still check 'em out. The mess doesn't really bother me, just thought it meant there was something wrong.