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Moping and not eating regularly

post #1 of 8
6/24/10 at 10:28pm
Thread Starter 
I added a new cat to the household three months ago. The resident cat had a particular eating pattern. When I give her the wet food in the evening she would eat a bit, leave the bowl, clean a bit, go back, eat a bit more, go to the window and look out a bit, then back to the bowl - so it would take her about an hour to eat her food. The new cat is a real gobbler. He will leave his food bowl and finish off her's while she is away from her bowl. When she returns she finds no more food. She will NOT go to his bowl and eat his food. She has gotten very thin, no real muscle mass anymore, she just lies in the window. I give her extra food during the day sometimes while the other cat is outside, she eats that gladly and is very happy for it. But...what will I do in the winter? Is there a way to deal with this problem? Any ideas?
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post #2 of 8
6/24/10 at 10:42pm
I too have a cat that tends to nibble on his wet food and another cat that will chow. I sit down and watch him eat when I feed him. If I can not watch him eat I put out an extra bowl of food because she can not eat out of two bowls at the same time. You could try putting out an extra bowl and divide up the food between multiple bowls. Is there any where the slower eating cat hangs out that the other cat can not get to? At times I had to feed Claude on top of a hutch because Starbuck has short little legs and could not jump that high but he did not like to eat up there. When I can not watch him eat I just use a bigger can of food and put out extra bowls. Another thing I have seen mentioned is too feed the slower eating cat in his own room. That may or may not work for you. That would not work for me because Claude does not do well being closed in a rooom alone. Another thing you could try is to see if there are different flavor wet foods that each prefers. Perhaps there is something the slow eating cat likes that the gobbler does not.

Good luck I hope you figure out something that works for you. If you do come up with something else that works I would love to hear about it.

Hopefully some other people that own multiple cats will have better ideas.
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post #3 of 8
6/24/10 at 10:50pm
Get her in to see a vet. Make sure there's nothing else wrong with her causing loss of appetite and that her decrease in eating and weight loss has not caused any problems. Something as little as stress can send some cats into a serious health crisis.

If she's lost a significant amount of weight, discuss with the vet as to how to best get her to a healthy weight. If nothing else is wrong with her a more calorie dense food for a bit could help but, again, discuss this with the vet.


I deal with food thieves by watching and separating them. I also feed more than one meal a day.

Maybe you'll need to put your girl completely in another room for her to eat her food slowly without anyone bothering her. Pick a room she's comfortable in, like a bedroom (if allowed in there) and make sure there's a litter box and water available.
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post #4 of 8
6/25/10 at 5:34am
i think she needs to see the vet

my sooty will wolf his food down and go over to flash's and try and finish hers, when we had the flat they were fed in different rooms now they are watched when they eat so her cant eat her food
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post #5 of 8
6/25/10 at 6:46am
I free-feed Mandarin and I used to feed Linus only two times a day. How I solved them eating each other food, was to put Mandarin's bowl on our dresser - since he likes to jump - and Linus's in the floor of the bathroom when it was time for him to eat. Linus didn't like to jump so this was an ideal situation.

Don't know if this helps or not.

If there wasn't weight loss associated I would say that maybe your kitty is just trying to lose weight on her own as this is a rare event but can sometimes happen. Sometimes cats will go through a "cleaning out" period where they won't eat as much, but it's better to be safe and take her to the vet than to be sorry.

Best wishes,
Liz
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post #6 of 8
6/26/10 at 4:15pm
Thread Starter 
Thank you everyone, people are always so helpful on this site. I'm trying to correct the problem(s) like this. First, I'm paying extra attention to the resident cat, she really feels like she's playing second fiddle all of a sudden. The new one is very active, he wants out, he wants in, he want food, he wants brushing etc. So, she is in a slightly better mood now. I'm still feeding her separately during the daytime when the other one is outside. If I feed them HER favorite food, she will no longer leave her bowl until she has had enough. If she doesn't like the food so much, she leaves the bowl, the male gobbles up her food (even before finishing his own) - so, I am going to try to monitor her bowl, when she leaves it I will either remove it or just make sure he leaves it alone.
I think what annoys me the most about this is his attitude, he leaves lots of food in his own bowl and goes for hers when she leaves - but she will not go and finish off his food, which would be fair. I think maybe she wants to keep a what's mine is mine and what's yours is yours attitude with him. He is a very slow learner, or maybe he wants to "share" more. Anyway, time will tell and I will keep trying various tricks to see how we can work this out. Thank you all very much again for the wonderful ideas!
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post #7 of 8
6/27/10 at 8:51am
^I see no mention of a vet visit. Are you going to take her to the vet or not? Waiting won't help if there's something wrong.
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post #8 of 8
6/27/10 at 10:07am
Yes, time to take her to the vet - weight loss like that needs to be checked.

Something else I highly recommend: Two feeding stations - completely separate areas... He has his own area, she has hers. I do this here with Bugsy and Hope, otherwise Hope gets shy of eating in Bugsy's presence. If she likes hanging by the window, make her feeding station by the window - nothing wrong with that.... His would be on the floor, away from her.
Or put his in on room, and hers in the other. Mine are both in the same room, but in different corners. They do eat from each other's plate, but mainly from their own. If I put the plates in separate rooms, like where Hope hangs out, under the bed, then she only eats hers, and vice versa. That is what you should do. Put her plate where she hangs - by the window.
Please take your girl to the vet...
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