Stubborn Mini Is Driving Us Crazy!

shopcat

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It's been an ongoing battle to get her to eat out of her own food bowl! And no matter how many times she is scolded, or reminded, or what have you, she remains stubborn.
I know it sounds silly, but we have 3 cats here with different eating personalities.
Skyler mainly eats out of his own bowl, he knows which one it is & is pretty good about it. He will only eat out of the other 2 bowls if there is nothing in his.(gee, I wonder where it could have gone?
) He knows he is also allowed to finish everyone else's soft food because they are so picky they don't eat much of it anyway. His bowl is next to Mini's.
Tucker's bowl is off to the side in another area because he doesn't like Skyler & I put it there to reduce conflict in that area. Tucker is a good boy & I've never seen him eating from any bowl but his own. He'll sit there by his empty bowl & cry for food when there is plenty of food in the other 2 bowls. Why does he have no food? Because Mini eats it all!!! There is something about Tucker's bowl that she wil not resist. We ahve already bought her different bowls, switched Tucker's bowl to her area thinking she didn't like her own bowl, etc.
I know she knows where her bowl is, she is a clever girl. She is just being willful & stubborn & this silly battle is getting old.
Normally this wouldn't be a big deal but Tucker is the one who is being robbed!
We are going to try to change the placement of the bowls where Tucker has his over near the others, but does anyone else have any thoughts about this silly situation?
It's almost gotten to the point where I want to take Mini to the vet to get checked for worms or something! Ugh!
 

larke

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Oh just feed her (or Tucker) in another room or something and relieve everyone.
 

jen

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Ya feed her in another room. She doesn't understand the difference between two bowls. Punishing her for eating out of one, in her eyes, is the same as punishing her for eating, period. It is like trying to get cats to use separate litterboxes, it just isn't likely going to happen. Please stop scolding your cat.
 
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shopcat

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"Please stop scolding your cat."
I don't scold her in a mean way, I will direct her over & always tell her "your bowl". I am not mean to her about it. It just bothers me because she is eating Tucker's food & he doesn't switch around. He is the one who ends up with nothing to eat because Mini hogs it all. Feeding them in seperate rooms isn't an option, they are left free to nibble as they please thru out the day.
And she knows the difference. She is the smartest of the 3 & the other two know the difference.
 

larke

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Excuse me, but who's in charge there? I've had a gazillion cats over a gazillion years and every single mealtime I'm there, dishing out both wet & dry to every cat, who knows enough to eat their meal. It takes a whole 3 mins. of my life. If cats don't finish, the bowl goes away for 15-20 mins. and they finish it up. If not, they just have to go hungry til the next mealtime (3 daily + the odd treat). If one cat is slow and another is piggish, then I interfere and keep the piggy away from the slow one til he's done - a lot easier than feeding a child throwing food all over the room. I've never let anyone free feed all day and have never had a 'fat' cat, but all get as much as they need, and all get to eat their own food and clean the dish if they want. Allowing a piggy to consistently short-change another cat is abuse because we're responsible for them - they can't very well just leave and go to McDonald's and can't even open the fridge. Take some control and stop letting Tucker be cheated.
 
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shopcat

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Wow, I can't believe that you guys are being so snotty to me!

It kind of irks me that I've felt like I've had to take a defensive stance not once but twice in response to what I thought was a simple matter of training!
One gives me a hard time for "scolding" my cats, the next gives me crap about the whole "who's boss in your house" kind of thing.
Well gee, let me explain once again. If scolding a cat means saying no & directing said cat to appropriate behavior then yes, I do have to scold my cats & no, they do not rule the house hold just because I chose to leave dry food in the bowls while we work 8 hours a day. Sorry if that offends anyone!
By the way, Tucker is NOT starving to death for crying out loud I was just posting a thread for some advice about an annoying little habit that Mini has, so give me a break. And thanks for the "advice".
And my cats aren't fat.
 

jen

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I only repeated what you said, you said "And no matter how many times she is scolded, or reminded, or what have you, she remains stubborn." You used the word and I repeated it. The point is to not bother stopping your cat from eating out of another bowl because it is most likely not going to happen. That is not how cats work no matter how smart they are. No one is being snotty.
 
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