No Bowl Feeding System - Thoughts?

Kieka

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http://nobowlcat.com

I stumbled across this online tonight.

Has anyone heard of it? Tried it?

It seems that the basic idea is to hide your cats food in little mouse shaped boat things. The cat then "hunts" for food throughout the day. Encouraging them to move, hunt, and eat slower.

I already go with my cats instincts when it comes to treats. I've always thrown treats and they love chasing and "hunting" treats. To the point that if I just place a treat in front of them they look at me like I am crazy, lol.

This no bowl system would only work for dry food. I don't think it would be a good fit for my current group but it might be good for an apartment kitty.

What are some other thoughts?
 

Willowy

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I think it would be great for an only cat. When there are multiple cats, though, you don't have any way of knowing who got how much food :/. So it's OK for treats but not practical as an entire feeding method.

But as a general rule, making a cat "hunt" for their food is an excellent enrichment idea.
 
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Kieka

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Agreed.

You might be able to manage in a multicat household if you did a supervised "hunt" each day and bowl fed the rest. Or if you free feed you might be able to just keep the centralized feeding area along with the mice hidden around.

Knowing my cats one of my males would likely bring one of the food dishes to my female. Then she'd run off with it while he went looking for another for her. Thats what happens with toys and when he catches lizards or grasshoppers at least. lol
 
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cheshirebite

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I've never heard of this, but I think the others are right when they say it's good for an only cat... which is what I have. So thanks for the info as I might try this out. 
 
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Kieka

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I've never heard of this, but I think the others are right when they say it's good for an only cat... which is what I have. So thanks for the info as I might try this out. 
If you do try it let us know how it goes. I am curious.
 
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IndyJones

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Where do you think?
I've never heard of these for cats before. My mom's dog has a thing called a Kong (looks like a beehive) but never seen them for cats
 

kirochka

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I was a Kickstarter backer of the No Bowl system (before I had cats... I just thought it sounded very cool. Plus I suspected I might end up with a couple someday...). My two kittens, who are about six months old, eat dry food almost exclusively using the No Bowl mice, along with 1/4 small can each of wet kitten food I feed them in bowls morning and evening. The vet who developed the system says that using two sets of the mice (total of ten) works for two cats, and in our case it does. They have different eating styles - they aren't littermates, and their vet thinks the boy may have starved as a small kitten - but generally they do well together, to the point where sometimes one of them will turn over one of the mice and then both will eat the food that came out of it, without problems. You do tend to end up with dry food on the floor, so if you're worried about that (I'm not), it would be a problem. Sometimes they play with the mice when they're not hungry, which definitely leads to kibble left on the floor!

The concept is that after they're up to speed on using the system, you hide the mice to make it more challenging. I've had mixed success with that part - I live in a small two-bedroom condo, and have branched out to putting some of the mice in the bedrooms, but if I get too clever with hiding them, they might still be full at the end of the day. But a mouse inside an open box gets found, as does one on the bottom level of the cat tree. Occasionally one goes missing, but it usually turns up eventually. Someday it may go to that mysterious location where all the plastic coils have gone and never be seen again.

Also, one last thing, the vet who developed the system actually responds to questions emailed to her through the No Bowl site, or at least she did to mine. All in all, I'm very happy with it. I just need to get more creative in hiding the mice, but not so creative that the wee mongrels don't find them.
 

solomonar

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At least could be a nice toy - then nothing to loose (but depending on the price).

I would closely monitor such a device at least for the first use, to see whether the cat does not go to frustrated.

Myself I am very much in favor of innovation, therefore my opinion is somehow biased.

I was thinking to make something similar, but as a sort of "comestible toy".
 

abyeb

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I think it's a good idea. I already do something like this, putting kibble on perches around the house for Charlie to jump to and retrieve. I do think that it costs a lot of $$$, especially if your cat has a thing for murdering all their toys.
 

1CatOverTheLine

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I think it's a good idea. I already do something like this, putting kibble on perches around the house for Charlie to jump to and retrieve. I do think that it costs a lot of $$$, especially if your cat has a thing for murdering all their toys.
I've tried bowls of food on all six Roombas, crisscrossing the rooms like prey just to see what happened.  Most of the cats simply ignored them (as they usually do) and in the end, the Snowshoe knocked a couple of the bowls off and then walked away, opened the door of the food cupboard, pushed down bag of dry food, and sat there eating and watching the Roombas. 

Let a single fly find its way into the house, and it's descended upon by the whole household instantly.  Bowls of Fancy Feast skittering across the floor on tiny vacuum cleaners?  "Ho-hum....":

.

.
 

abyeb

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Charlie loves chasing flies! He can usually catch them. Great exercise.
 

mizzely

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I would love to do this! Will have to save up though...$110 for a double system is an expensive feeder, especially when there are similar (but not as refined) items already out there that dispense kibble like this.
 
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Kieka

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I would think that with an indoor only cat the system would keep them more active which the physically benefits and reduced health costs as a result would off-set the cost of the set up. 
 

mizzely

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I would think that with an indoor only cat the system would keep them more active which the physically benefits and reduced health costs as a result would off-set the cost of the set up. 
​I don't disagree, but I guess I am wondering, aside from the cloth covering, how it is much different than something like this?
10 of those would be only $60 and unless I am missing something, would provide a similar experience.
 

abyeb

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Mizzely, I think that if you hide these egg-cersizers it will be an equivalent experience to the no bowl. Also, since the egg-cersizers are plastic the cat won't destroy them as easily. Thanks for pointing these out! I think these would be a great way to keep cats active. :)
 
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Kieka

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I think the texture would be the major difference between the two. I haven't used either though to know for sure. Immediate thought would be the practical aspect of the noise level between something cloth covered and plastic. But the plastic ones would be a more budget friendly option for the same practical purpose.
 

kirochka

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Based on the two treat dispenser toy thingies I got (this: https://www.chewy.com/catit-treat-ball-cat-toy-pink/dp/49915), I'm glad I did go ahead and back the No Bowl Kickstarter - the treat balls are too big for my kittens to deal with, at least so far, and it's seemed to be far more difficult and frustrating for them to try to get the treats out of them - again, at least so far. Maybe when they're older and bigger those will work better. I got those for the motion possibilities, which the No Bowl mice don't have, of course (unless someone's run into them full-speed by accident, which happens). So far the No Bowl mice haven't been destroyed in any way - they're pretty solid plastic, and the kittens haven't taken to destroying the cloth coverings. So far...
 
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