My Cat Moves Bowls And Food Mats Around The Room

[detectiveoreo1]

My cat Luna Jinx has this habit of "rearranging the furniture." By this I mean I constantly come home to find her food mat and bowls dragged across the room with the bowls toppled over from being dragged. She also does this with my other cats bowls and mat. I have seen her do this randomly where she will bite the corner of the mat and drag them to the other side of the room with the bowls still on top. I have found the mats in different rooms than the bowls multiple times. I used to have rectangular silicone mats from Petco for both cats but she made holes in them from biting them to drag them so I just replaced them with slightly thicker dog mats from Petco. Does anyone have any suggestions as to how to stop her from doing this or even why she is doing this? If not does anyone know of any heavier food mats that would make it harder for her to drag them?

 

[Kitty Mommy]

My cat JC does this with her water bowl. I thought it was because she like the movement of the water when she moved it so I bought a fountain and she still does it. In the morning I often find the bowl in the middle of the kitchen floor. Maybe she is telling me she needs fresh water. She doesn't do this with the food bowl though. I did try putting a rubber mat under the water bowl to stop it but she can still drag it. She has always done this, even as a kitten. Is there a way you can secure the bowls to the floor or use a piece of carpet that is heavier than the mat?

 

[Ardina]

You could try those double sided sticky pads meant to keep rugs from sliding on hardwood floors. Or put heavy books on the corners.

 

[Kieka]

If she is constantly dragging them to the same spot then it might be time to reconsider moving them to that spot. I know my rabbit removed his hay rack from the wall three times so I stopped putting his hay in the rack. Some animals can be super picky.

The two options to keep her from moving it would be either attaching the existing mat to the floor somehow or getting bowls too heavy for her to move. I am assuming you have the food set up in an area with a tile, wood or other smooth surface floor. If so, you can get 3M Command Damage Free Picture Hanging Strips Medium White Pack Of 3 by Office Depot & OfficeMax these. They are meant for hanging picture on the wall but are essentially velcro strips that won't damage your wall when removed. I use them to hang pictures up around the house but if you were to put one side on the mat and one side on your floor they should keep the mat in one spot. Probably go for the bigger ones and use maybe two per side of the mat if you want to go overkill.

I think even with anchoring the mat you'd need to get heavier bowls since it sounds like she can tip them. Something like this maybe: Or maybe this: Or this:
Kinda depends on your budget and how you want it to look. You could also look at dog bowls that are made for the bigger breeds. They should be heavier and harder to move but they would be bigger. Do keep in mind that cats do better eating out of a shallow bowl without corners and with some slope to the bottom. Cats can't actually see well within a foot of their faces so when they eat they are usually eating by smell and air flow to figure out where the food is. A shallow bowl doesn't cause whisker problems (compression or fatigue from over stimulation by the bowl sides) while a curved bowl prevents the food from gathering in a corner and adding a curving to the bottom makes it so that gravity pulls food to the center. All of which combines to make it so that the food is where the cats mouth is and reduces the amount of times your cats complain the bowl is empty even though there is food in the corners or sides.

 

[detectiveoreo1]

If she is constantly dragging them to the same spot then it might be time to reconsider moving them to that spot. I know my rabbit removed his hay rack from the wall three times so I stopped putting his hay in the rack. Some animals can be super picky.

The two options to keep her from moving it would be either attaching the existing mat to the floor somehow or getting bowls too heavy for her to move. I am assuming you have the food set up in an area with a tile, wood or other smooth surface floor. If so, you can get 3M Command Damage Free Picture Hanging Strips Medium White Pack Of 3 by Office Depot & OfficeMax these. They are meant for hanging picture on the wall but are essentially velcro strips that won't damage your wall when removed. I use them to hang pictures up around the house but if you were to put one side on the mat and one side on your floor they should keep the mat in one spot. Probably go for the bigger ones and use maybe two per side of the mat if you want to go overkill.

I think even with anchoring the mat you'd need to get heavier bowls since it sounds like she can tip them. Something like this maybe: Or maybe this: Or this:
Kinda depends on your budget and how you want it to look. You could also look at dog bowls that are made for the bigger breeds. They should be heavier and harder to move but they would be bigger. Do keep in mind that cats do better eating out of a shallow bowl without corners and with some slope to the bottom. Cats can't actually see well within a foot of their faces so when they eat they are usually eating by smell and air flow to figure out where the food is. A shallow bowl doesn't cause whisker problems (compression or fatigue from over stimulation by the bowl sides) while a curved bowl prevents the food from gathering in a corner and adding a curving to the bottom makes it so that gravity pulls food to the center. All of which combines to make it so that the food is where the cats mouth is and reduces the amount of times your cats complain the bowl is empty even though there is food in the corners or sides.

So when this first started happening I first switched to heavier glass type bowls. That didn't help. They just made a louder sound when she dragged them. She doesn't seem to be moving the bowls to any certain spot or same direction except away from the original spot. She also does this with my other cats bowls (who does not appreciate it) so I don't think its the spot she minds... I will try the damage free Velcro and see how that works..

 

[detectiveoreo1]

My cat JC does this with her water bowl. I thought it was because she like the movement of the water when she moved it so I bought a fountain and she still does it. In the morning I often find the bowl in the middle of the kitchen floor. Maybe she is telling me she needs fresh water. She doesn't do this with the food bowl though. I did try putting a rubber mat under the water bowl to stop it but she can still drag it. She has always done this, even as a kitten. Is there a way you can secure the bowls to the floor or use a piece of carpet that is heavier than the mat?

She seems to be using the mat as the pulley and she does it with all bowls. My other cat is not happy about it. Poor thing keeps looking for his bowl and getting confused.

 

[Caspers Human]

The cat moves her food and water bowls because she doesn't like where they are located.

We put Casper's food and water bowl where us humans thought they should go but Casper soon told us that he didn't like where his water bowl was. We'd keep finding it in the middle of the kitchen floor, even after we moved it back to its "proper" spot before going to bed. When we woke up in the morning...sure enough...the bowl was in the middle of the kitchen again.

Finally, we moved his water bowl to a different place on the other side of the room. Casper likes that spot and we haven't had any problems since.

For cats, the food and water bowls don't need to be next to each other. In the wild, a cat would not often find food and water in the same place. I suppose that a house cat would probably think it weird to have their food and water in the same place.

 

[detectiveoreo1]

The cat moves her food and water bowls because she doesn't like where they are located.

We put Casper's food and water bowl where us humans thought they should go but Casper soon told us that he didn't like where his water bowl was. We'd keep finding it in the middle of the kitchen floor, even after we moved it back to its "proper" spot before going to bed. When we woke up in the morning...sure enough...the bowl was in the middle of the kitchen again.

Finally, we moved his water bowl to a different place on the other side of the room. Casper likes that spot and we haven't had any problems since.

For cats, the food and water bowls don't need to be next to each other. In the wild, a cat would not often find food and water in the same place. I suppose that a house cat would probably think it weird to have their food and water in the same place.

Do you think that means she has issues with where my other cats bowls are? Because she moves his too...

 

[Caspers Human]

I don't know. Maybe she's moving things because she doesn't think that they belong where they are.
("Hey! This isn't where these bowls go! They belong over...SLIDE...SLIDE...here!")

Cats often share food and water bowls with other cats even if we provide a separate bowl for each one. She could think that all food and water bowls are hers.

 

[detectiveoreo1]

I don't know. Maybe she's moving things because she doesn't think that they belong where they are.
("Hey! This isn't where these bowls go! They belong over...SLIDE...SLIDE...here!")

Cats often share food and water bowls with other cats even if we provide a separate bowl for each one. She could think that all food and water bowls are hers.

They have food bowls in different rooms because my boy cat Detective needs to lose some weight and he keeps finishing her food which doesn't help him or her. They're so funny though. Always trying to eat from each other's food bowls even though they get the same flavor of food. Guess the grass is always greener. Maybe she's trying to bring him closer to her for easy buffet access.

 

[J. A. Vann]

My cat Luna Jinx has this habit of "rearranging the furniture." By this I mean I constantly come home to find her food mat and bowls dragged across the room with the bowls toppled over from being dragged. She also does this with my other cats bowls and mat. I have seen her do this randomly where she will bite the corner of the mat and drag them to the other side of the room with the bowls still on top. I have found the mats in different rooms than the bowls multiple times. I used to have rectangular silicone mats from Petco for both cats but she made holes in them from biting them to drag them so I just replaced them with slightly thicker dog mats from Petco. Does anyone have any suggestions as to how to stop her from doing this or even why she is doing this? If not does anyone know of any heavier food mats that would make it harder for her to drag them?

My 7 yr old Siamese, Rocky does this usually when he wants food! Problem is he would spill water all over & leave trails! I buy this really cheap shelf lining at Big Lots! It’s rubber & sorta, to me looks like lattice work! I cut it the size of the plastic try I put the food on plus I cut out smaller pieces & put them under the bowls! I even bought heavy glass bowls & he would still scoot them all over but this rubber shelf liner seems to work really nice! BTW...I also use it for a lot of other things plus shelf liners! I use it under my mixing bowls when I’m using my hand mixer so it won’t slide all over the counter. I also put it under things that could slip off my end tables...like candles in glass jars, really you can put it under just about anything so it wont move until you pick it up! Only problem is it doesn’t last forever. I usually need to make new cut outs for everything about every year! I love the stuff & Big Lots seems to have the best prices plus it comes in several colors! I even put it under our telephone! Yes! We still have a land line, which our son thinks is funny! We put one of those really long stretchy/spiral cords on the receiver & some one was always pulling it off the counter so I cut a square to fit the bottom of the phone from the shelf liner & it now stays on the counter! Actually I think I got this idea from Alton Brown when he was on the cooking show Good Eats! He loves to “multi-task”!
Oh...my cat will also slide-scoot around the floors paper of any kind & it’s always backwards!!! My husband gives him the junk mail to scoot!
Hope this can be of help!
Jill

 

[rosgood]

My cat liked to move her water bowl, so I 1) replaced it with an unused large dog watering bowl, 2) placed everything on a boot mat, and 3) weighed the boot rack down with a large rock. It works, but I notice the inside of the watering bowl has lots of scratches so she's still trying. Before coming to me this cat lived with large dogs so I guessed self-protection from dog slobber.