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Bitsy scoops kibble out of bowl with paw, won't eat it normally..why?

post #1 of 12
4/25/10 at 12:59pm
Thread Starter 
My 1-2 yr old kitty Bitsy (such a doll) has this thing with eating dry food. She will not just eat it out of ANY bowl like a normal cat; she insists on scooping the kibble (a few bits at a time) ouf of the bowl with her paw (so of course kibble ends up all over the floor) and eating it off of the floor. It doesn't matter what type or size of bowl. Does anyone else's cat to do this? Any ideas WHY she'd do this? It's so bizarre LOL.
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post #2 of 12
4/25/10 at 3:12pm
My Dharma does this - I've tried various sorts of dishes and plates, but she seems to like to scoop and eat. A friend's cat does the same thing. no clue why.
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post #3 of 12
4/25/10 at 3:15pm
My chocolate lynx point does this. You could put a clean cloth or plastic mat under the bowl to keep the food off the floor. It never bothered me, I just thnk it's funny.
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post #4 of 12
4/25/10 at 8:12pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by mazobear View Post
My chocolate lynx point does this. You could put a clean cloth or plastic mat under the bowl to keep the food off the floor. It never bothered me, I just thnk it's funny.
It kind of creates a problem, her doing this, because I recently got hardwood floors installed and in an attempt to prevent rambunctious Bitsy and her buddy Hobee from accidentally tipping over their water dish while scurrying through the house (as they'd done on numerous occasions), I bought these 2 rather expensive feeder stand thingies; one that has 3 bowls in a row (the bowls are recessed into the holes of the feeder stand, 2 outer ones for kibble, the middle larger one for water). Now when she's doing the scoop thing and kibble ends up on the floor, she uses her paw to get it and in the process she moves the whole feeder away from the wall to get the kibble. As a result, the middle water dish gets jiggled and not only does water spill onto the floor but it spills over into the kibble dishes (meaning i have to toss out the kibble because i don't want a bowl of moist kibble, I imagine that's a good breeding ground for bacteria?). I suppose now I have to buy some type of feeding mat so that it would make it impossible (?) for her to slide the feeder, maybe, not sure.
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post #5 of 12
4/26/10 at 6:41am
Stimpy does this. He's done it since we first adopted him. I looked it up, it's a completely learned behavior. They either learn it from their Mom or another cat. He taught Lola to do this as a kitten. I joke that I'm going to have generations of cats who throw their food on the floor.

Quote:
Originally Posted by the_food_lady View Post
It kind of creates a problem, her doing this, because I recently got hardwood floors installed and in an attempt to prevent rambunctious Bitsy and her buddy Hobee from accidentally tipping over their water dish while scurrying through the house (as they'd done on numerous occasions), I bought these 2 rather expensive feeder stand thingies; one that has 3 bowls in a row (the bowls are recessed into the holes of the feeder stand, 2 outer ones for kibble, the middle larger one for water). Now when she's doing the scoop thing and kibble ends up on the floor, she uses her paw to get it and in the process she moves the whole feeder away from the wall to get the kibble. As a result, the middle water dish gets jiggled and not only does water spill onto the floor but it spills over into the kibble dishes (meaning i have to toss out the kibble because i don't want a bowl of moist kibble, I imagine that's a good breeding ground for bacteria?). I suppose now I have to buy some type of feeding mat so that it would make it impossible (?) for her to slide the feeder, maybe, not sure.
Stimpy and Lola used to knock over water bowls all the time. I would suggest taking the water bowl out and putting it on one of those ridged pet mats to contain water. I keep our Drinkwell on the new Drinkwell ridged mat and in our kitchen (there's linoleum there). I only use our feeders for food. Between Lola and Stimpy playing in water, I'd have a swimming pool otherwise.

I actually tried a different fountain in my office/spare room (hardwood floors) and had to pack it back up. Lola was making a huge watery mess and I didn't want to ruin the floor.
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post #6 of 12
4/26/10 at 7:09am
Years ago I had a cat Jasmine who always scooped out her food onto the floor. Another cat I had Maddie always scooped her water out with her paw so the water dish stayed in the tub.
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post #7 of 12
4/26/10 at 7:23am


Here's Possum, too lazy to even sit over his bowl in proper cat fashion. He's feral, and was trapped as a tiny kitten, so I don't think his mother taught him to use his paws to eat kibble. He taught himself to do this recently, in the past few months. My theory is that he watched my husband eating popcorn. (Doesn't he look like he's watching sports on TV? I can even detect an expression of mingled disgust, hope, and horror.... he's a Red Sox fan for sure.)

He will not only scoop dry food out of his own bowl, he does it while other cats are eating from THEIR bowls. He does it with wet food, too. He licks that from his paw, which seems rather refined.... until you notice the mess he leaves on the floor.

From his looks and size, he seems to have some native Maine Coon in him, and I have heard that they are very handy with their paws, and he loves splashing water around, too. (So that's my REAL theory.) It drives me crazy although I also find it hilarious and endearing. I'm glad to know I'm not alone!
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post #8 of 12
4/26/10 at 12:59pm
That picture of Possum is hysterical! That's what Larry does! Sometimes he'll lie on the floor like that and lazily get one piece at a time and eat it, other times he'll be sitting up but still putting his paw in and getting one piece at a time.

Sometimes he'll scoop one out and bat it around the floor and pounce on it and calmly eat it and go back for another one!

He cracks me up. I think it's a really funny trait.
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post #9 of 12
4/26/10 at 1:13pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by the_food_lady View Post
I suppose now I have to buy some type of feeding mat so that it would make it impossible (?) for her to slide the feeder, maybe, not sure.
Your best bet is probably to keep the water separate, but also definitely get a mat, which can contain any messes and keep it off your hardwood (I have hardwood too, so I feel your pain!). Neither of my two put their paws in their kibble, but they both seem to think that the water bowls are little amusement parks, and their paws are in the bowls constantly (Soph has actually SAT in the water bowl a few times ). I actually use a dog food mat for them...it's large, made of heavy rubber material, fits all 4 bowls on it easily (two for food, two for water), and has raised edges to contain any messes. If they DO make a mess, I can easily just toss it into the laundry tub and clean it.

If you do look for a mat, check the dog versions...at my local pet store, almost every "cat mat" was a slicker material that slid on hardwood, but (as usually seems to be the case, sadly) there are a million different options for dogs. The dog mats also tend to be much bigger, so there's less chance of kibble or water being thrown off them.
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post #10 of 12
4/26/10 at 4:33pm
Try putting her food on a plate. Maybe she doesn't like her whiskers touching the bowl when she puts her face in it to get food. Just a thought.
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post #11 of 12
4/26/10 at 7:16pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by NutroLori View Post
Try putting her food on a plate. Maybe she doesn't like her whiskers touching the bowl when she puts her face in it to get food. Just a thought.
Well up until a while ago, I'd always kept the cats' kibble in a pie plate-type dish...until a couple of months ago when I found Bitsy digging in the plate of kibble with her front paws (standing in it), then preparing to lowering her butt down and pee on the floor LOL. She's been known to pee on clean fluffy towels (thought we had that licked over the past 2 months but dang, last night she did it with me 6 inches away from her!) And yes, she has had a urinalysis x 2 plus a culture, no bacteria, not a UTI; just a behavioral thing. She's an odd little duck, but a sweet one. She was a stray I adopted from the H.S. so who knows what her history is, where she came from, what kind of living arrangements she had, how she was treated, etc.

My angel kitty Taco, who was a very big cat (18 lbs, still at age 15 yrs old LOL), he was known to 'lounge' beside the bowl of dry food and lazily scoop it out with his big mitten. I thought he did it mostly because he was just too lazy to do otherwise, plus he didn't do it all the time.

This past weekend I got 2 vessel sinks installed in my bathrooms and both Hobee and Bitsy (the youngest ones) think they are amazing big water fountains. LOL. If I run the water, Hobee's got his tongue in the water stream, dipping his paw in it too. At one point they were both standing together in one of the sinks, it was hilarious. I hope that he's not smart enough to one day figure out how to turn the water ON (wouldn't take much, just move this lever a little bit).
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post #12 of 12
4/26/10 at 7:27pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by the_food_lady View Post
Well up until a while ago, I'd always kept the cats' kibble in a pie plate-type dish...until a couple of months ago when I found Bitsy digging in the plate of kibble with her front paws (standing in it), then preparing to lowering her butt down and pee on the floor LOL. She's been known to pee on clean fluffy towels (thought we had that licked over the past 2 months but dang, last night she did it with me 6 inches away from her!) And yes, she has had a urinalysis x 2 plus a culture, no bacteria, not a UTI; just a behavioral thing. She's an odd little duck, but a sweet one. She was a stray I adopted from the H.S. so who knows what her history is, where she came from, what kind of living arrangements she had, how she was treated, etc.

My angel kitty Taco, who was a very big cat (18 lbs, still at age 15 yrs old LOL), he was known to 'lounge' beside the bowl of dry food and lazily scoop it out with his big mitten. I thought he did it mostly because he was just too lazy to do otherwise, plus he didn't do it all the time.

This past weekend I got 2 vessel sinks installed in my bathrooms and both Hobee and Bitsy (the youngest ones) think they are amazing big water fountains. LOL. If I run the water, Hobee's got his tongue in the water stream, dipping his paw in it too. At one point they were both standing together in one of the sinks, it was hilarious. I hope that he's not smart enough to one day figure out how to turn the water ON (wouldn't take much, just move this lever a little bit).
Sounds like you have some cute characters in your house! My Chester Cheetah like to scoop water out of our drinking glasses with his front paw but he has never done that with his food. Maybe try a small saucer that is less like a pie plate. Hopefully she won't try to squeeze her rear in it to tinkle!

I moved Chester's litter box once from upstairs to downstairs, I will never do that again! He was not a happy boy. He started going everywhere but the litter box. As soon as I put it back he was fine. Stinker!
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