Eating the other cats food

We feed both cats the exact same food. Thier dishes are somewhat close to eachother. Coco's dish is in a chair (she likes to eat up high) and Pumpkin's is down on the floor next to the chair.

Anyhow, Coco, being the brat that she is will eat Pumpkins food. She has food in her dish and it's the exact same food that Pumpkin has, yet she still insists on eating Pumkins. We usually shoo her away from Pumpkins food and show her her own food. Yet, after we do that, she acts like she dosn't even want to eat anymore and just walks away.

Any ideas as to why Coco does this?

Because Cocoa is the dominant cat would be my guess, and therefore should be fed first just by a few minutes, and then the other cat's food be put down. If they are different sizes, you can always make a quick feeder out of a cardboard box and do a hole in the box that only Pumpkin can get through, either that or feed them in separate rooms versus right on top of each other.

That makes sense. Coco was here before Pumpkin. Thing is, if their dishes aren't in their normal spot, neither of them will eat. Goodness they are so picky

I'll try timing it differently...

Will let you know how it works

We have two bowls, one large one in the kitchen on the table for them, and one in my room for my cat Mia who has to be kept seperate (long story) when Mia wants outside in the garage I let the other kitties in my room to sleep and play, they all seem to think the food in my room is sooo much better. Some have even decided that they won't eat out of the kitchen bowl, they have to have the one in my room! I get bombarded by cats whenever I go in or out of my room!!!

I've noticed in my cats that they are not solitary eaters. One bellys up to the bowl and a few will always follow. If you look at lion prides in the wild, they will surround their "kill" and the dominant lion eats first then the rest will jump in. Domestic cats have a lot of similar behaviors as lion prides, and I think it is somewhat instinctual to eat as a group. I agree with MA that Coco is probably dominant and needs to eat first to retain status. If you are not controlling the amount they eat, they are eating the same food, or are free feeding them, is there a need to give them separate bowls? Mine aren't happy unless there's a lot of heads in one bowl (I use big bowls).

Bailey sits by Sam's bowl waiting for his food to appear. Then runs over to her bowl to wait for hers. And she won't start eating from her bowl until Sam is there. I tried feeding her first, just to see what would happen, and she sat and waited for Sam before she would start.

Then, when she is done, Sam strolls over and cleans up her dish.

Originally posted by Momofmany
I've noticed in my cats that they are not solitary eaters. One bellys up to the bowl and a few will always follow. If you look at lion prides in the wild, they will surround their "kill" and the dominant lion eats first then the rest will jump in. Domestic cats have a lot of similar behaviors as lion prides, and I think it is somewhat instinctual to eat as a group. I agree with MA that Coco is probably dominant and needs to eat first to retain status. If you are not controlling the amount they eat, they are eating the same food, or are free feeding them, is there a need to give them separate bowls? Mine aren't happy unless there's a lot of heads in one bowl (I use big bowls).

Click to expand...

We control the amount that they eat. If we didn't, they would over eat. They do drink from the same water bowl and somtimes they drink at the same time...suprisingly