ok, explain this!

the boys eat in the kitchen together. tabitha has always eaten on a higher surface as when i first got her as a baby, my rb lurcher couldn't grasp the concept that cat food was just that, food for cats! so all the cats had to be fed up high. so 9 years on she will only eat on the dining room table.

now when i put breakfast down for them, biscuits, the boys will quite often turn their noses up at their bowls.

however, when tabby has finished what she wants, they both eat the remainder from her bowl.

so why do her leftovers taste better than their fresh biscuits?

Sophie's done this for a while now. All three of them sit beside each other to eat, but then half way through Sophie looks to the side where Jack and Rosie are, then very slowly she steps over and just pushes her nose in to eat their food they let her as well!. Then when she's finished she goes back to finish hers

She usually looks back at me when she's ready to make her move because i usually say "No Sophie, that's not yours!"

What's a lurcher?

A lurcher is a breed of dog

Originally Posted by Rosiemac

A lurcher is a breed of dog

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OK; I was picturing the butler from "The Addams Family", and that didn't quite make sense.

My cats eat together most days, and Brandy will eat from his own bowl first, then scrounge the girls food from theirs..thus pushing them aside like a greedy pig!

Originally Posted by BabyWukong

Could it be a dominance issue? Maybe putting this in behaviour page will help... ?

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i did wonder if that was part of it. they don't touch their own food but eat hers even though it is exactly the same. they are only 12 and 18 months old and she is 9 years old, could that still happen in neutered males so young? i always thought that an older female would be dominant.

please could this be moved to behaviour if possible then?

Originally Posted by Zane's Pal

OK; I was picturing the butler from "The Addams Family", and that didn't quite make sense.

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Love it!!

Originally Posted by Zane's Pal

OK; I was picturing the butler from "The Addams Family", and that didn't quite make sense.

Click to expand...

Originally Posted by Rosiemac

Love it!!

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oh good grief! that doesn't give a stereotypical view of us brits does it!

I think it's a case of the grass is greener. Stolen food will always taste better! I think pets think that whatever the other one is eating must be tastier so they've got to nab some.

Originally Posted by pushylady

I think it's a case of the grass is greener. Stolen food will always taste better! I think pets think that whatever the other one is eating must be tastier so they've got to nab some.

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I think it's part dominance and part "stolen food tastes better". Stan will push Bella aside to eat from her bowl the same food he just stuck his nose up at in his own bowl.

My smart girl will just walk around him and start eating from his bowl.

Originally Posted by Zane's Pal

OK; I was picturing the butler from "The Addams Family", and that didn't quite make sense.

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Eat leftovers? Butzie doesn't but I am the chef and the rest of us do. Wait, is she spoiled?

Swanie and Cindy, being the spoiled kitties they are, eat their meal wherever they please. I take it to them. They rarely eat in the same area as each other. Swanie will eat what he wants from his dish, sometimes most of it, sometimes not much at all. But no matter how much he's eaten, if I don't pick the dishes up right away, he will sneak up on Cindy's dish (after she's through with it of course), and help himself. I think it just tastes better in someone else's dish. It's seriously funny watching him sneak up on the bowl too.

Originally Posted by Misty8723

I think it just tastes better in someone else's dish.

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i'm starting to think that is the case!

the boys will actually turn their noses up, you know when they sniff their food and kind of back away? they'll do that and then eat the same food from tabbys bowl!