# Your cat prefers to eat...



## Straysmommy (Dec 23, 2010)

a) alone and undisturbed, away in a corner
b) doesn't mind as long as there's food
c) with company
d) other

You

a) indulge his preference
b) try to make him eat alone/in company because it's preferable
c) don't mind 
d) other

I'm constantly wondering if I should sit by Prince while he eats or leave him alone. I know I prefer company, but I don't know about cats...


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## Coyote (Jan 16, 2011)

I bought this for the twins:








They HAVE to eat side by side. Eric takes the tail end dish, Ernie has the head. Even when one comes to eat first, they'll always take "their" dish. 

We originally had 2 single dishes, but they'd only ever eat from the one bowl, side by side. Eventually they grew too big for both to get their faces in, and I had to find a solution - the Fish Bowl seems to work! 

Sparky, my old cat, will eat only if his food has been piled into a pyramid shape first, and you have to put his food in front of him, stroke him to the tip of his tail and tell him he's a good cat. If you stroke him and don't say anything, he'll look at you and refuse to eat. He'll actually walk out in a strop.


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## Straysmommy (Dec 23, 2010)

Awwwwwww, so cute for the twins! 

And so funny about Sparky, I was laughing outloud!


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## swimkris (Jul 17, 2010)

My cats each get their own plate to eat their moist food. They share a bowl of dry and a "bowl" of water (recently updated to one of those water "tank" things). When they are eating their moist food they start out eating from separate plates, but a lot of the time they will switch part way through. If they both want dry at the same time, Simone usually eats directly from the bowl, and Pumpkin will pull a few pieces out at a time with her paw.

Oh, and they don't mind me in the room as long as I don't make any loud noises.


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## Straysmommy (Dec 23, 2010)

swimkris said:


> Oh, and they don't mind me in the room as long as I don't make any loud noises.


Now that you mention this, I realize that I don't move much or make loud noises when I'm next to Prince and he's eating, because it makes him stop eating...


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## The Humble Servant (Mar 16, 2011)

I don't know where they'd prefer to eat because I always feed them in their crates. It saves me from having to chase Jasio out of the other's dishes. Honestly all 3 are so food motivated I think they'd eat even if they were being dangled upside down over a shark tank...


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## konstargirl (Feb 4, 2011)

Misa and the boys eat everywhere! Haha..


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## doodlebug (May 13, 2006)

It's very simple around here...I dish out the food while Holly & Kobi sing for me and Maggie decides whether she's eating on the counter or on the floor with the other two. Then...I put the food down, they eat. I just have to make sure Kobi doesn't scarf his down and then push the girls out of their dishes.


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## Fyreflie (Mar 5, 2011)

They eat side by side, always start out at their "own" bowl and don't care where we are as long as we leave the food!  Exception: raw--the kitten flips out and drags it into a corner of the kitchen, then growls over it until it's gone, and even Wicket will now swat at Atlas if the kitten tries to take away his raw chicken--which is good, because other times he lets the kitten do whatever he wants and then is hungry a half hour later because he didn't eat enough....


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## saitenyo (Nov 28, 2010)

Feeding time is complicated for me. Apollo gets easily distracted by eating, and if anyone moves to fast or makes loud noises, he runs away from his bowl. So I feed him in the kitchen and try to stay out of there until he's done, but inevitably he will run in and out of there a few times before he finishes.

Athena I try to also feed in the kitchen (simply because it's the only place with a large, easy-to-clean floor, as opposed to carpet) but she can't eat too close to Apollo, and if he gets too close she'll just walk away from her food and let him eat it (which he tries to do often.

Sometimes she seems more comfortable if i sit with her and pet her while she eats, other times I can put her in front of her plate and walk away and she'll eat without issue (she rarely goes to her plate on her own), and other times still I just have to put her food wherever she is at the time, if she keeps running out of the kitchen.


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## MowMow (Nov 6, 2010)

I put it down and wait until he starts. That takes a few moments because he has to check all around him to be sure it's safe. I'm not sure who he thinks is going to appear after 4 years of us living alone but.....

Once he starts eating I leave him alone to finish.


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## jusjim (Jun 30, 2009)

I think eating and eliminating are the times they are more vunerable to predators. Yesterday there was noisy work going on next door and Guy, the outside semi-abandoned cat had to be coaxed to eat. I expect that all their senses are on high alert at these times. I see it as a sign of trust that they don't mind us around when they are doing essential things.

Zenobi definitely did not want to be watched while she used her litterbox, but when she came to me she was terrified after using her litterbox, and I think she'd been abused for scattering litter, which she was very good at. Of course that abuse never got her to stop. Poor girl, but I couldn't help being amused as she carefreely scooped great pawfuls of litter over the side without a care in the world.

After she understood that she wouldn't be attacked after using the box, she developed a habit of giving me a call to come and scoop.


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## Sinatra-Butters (Aug 9, 2010)

My cats wherever, as long as it is my food .


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## Carmel (Nov 23, 2010)

*Your cat prefers to eat...* 
b) doesn't mind as long as there's food

You
c) don't mind 

Annnnd... that's that. They're indifferent.


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## Hitomi (Nov 15, 2010)

Boo will not eat unless I sit near by or feed him on the coffee table while I watch tv if I'm not feeling well.....


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## Abbie (Jan 13, 2011)

Coyote said:


> I bought this for the twins:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I have these bowls! I have the pink one and the white one. My girls have one each though- one side for food, one for water. They also have a third food bowl for wet food. Spoilt, much?

I usually leave them alone to eat unless one of them is being cheeky and attempting to pinch the other's food!


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## Huge2 (Jan 28, 2008)

Mixture of these two. She will eat when there's no one around, but she likes company.
b) doesn't mind as long as there's food
c) with company


You

a) indulge her preference


She's a fussy little begger, so I tend to just give her what she wants. Junk whiskas mostly. I've tried her on expensive high-quality food, but she got bored after a week, and refused to eat it :roll:


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## marie73 (Jul 12, 2006)

Charlee jumps on my bedroom door in the morning as if she hasn't eaten in days. I put the food down, she looks at it and usually walks away. Cleo eats right away in her own spot. Sometimes Cali eats when I put it down, sometimes not. It's all gone when I get home.

Gigi will eat anything I put in front of her. Or anyone else. My little hoover has to eat in her own room because she can't eat the same food as the other girls. Plus, she'll finish anything they don't eat.


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## Straysmommy (Dec 23, 2010)

marie73 said:


> Charlee jumps on my bedroom door in the morning as if she hasn't eaten in days. I put the food down, she looks at it and usually walks away.


I thought this happened only to me, hehe. Now I know if I play with him first, it opens his appetite (hunt, then eat).


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## Magicats (Apr 21, 2011)

My two boys are EXACTLY like Athena and Apollo. I don't really have to even write anything! Thanks saitenyo! Haha

My part feral will eat anywhere and anything (except liver --I know it's weird) she can be assaulted by a swarm of bees and she's not even fazed. I think it's because her beginnings were so rough she almost worships food.

The one awesome thing about all of my cats is that none of them will wake me for food. They'll wait for it patiently until Im ready to give it to them. They hardly have to wait long but y'all know what I mean!


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## Goldtanker (Jan 9, 2011)

Midnight, the wild cat, will eat whether anyone is there or not. He has started to associate scratching the sisal rope board by the garage back door with getting treats. He also sits behind his dish at parade rest waiting for treats (from those Purina baggies). Noise doesn't bother him. Even if I start up the giant, noisy diesel truck while the garage door is opening at the same time, and he is eating - he doesn't even look up from his bowl.


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## Straysmommy (Dec 23, 2010)

Wow, that's unique! Especially for a "wild" cat...


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## bkitty (Aug 17, 2009)

Bentley & Pixel A
Rest of the crew B
Wet food goes on a paper party (4") plate
Dry in plastic bowls 
Methos & PuddyWoW will bring dry cat food to me & offer to trade for my food at suppertime. i'M BAD I fell for it a couple times & now they push it just in case I might fall for it again.


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## Straysmommy (Dec 23, 2010)

LOL smart kitties!!!


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## saitenyo (Nov 28, 2010)

marie73 said:


> Charlee jumps on my bedroom door in the morning as if she hasn't eaten in days. I put the food down, she looks at it and usually walks away.


Apollo does this too. He meows like crazy, scratches my chair, makes a general nuisance of himself as if he is starving...and then I put the food down and he's like, "Oh, that's what you're feedng me? No thanks."

Unless he gets raw chicken or canned food. He loooves those and almost always eats right away. But raw turkey or rabbit he's very stubborn about. He eventually goes back and eats them...slowly, picking at them over an hour.


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## marie73 (Jul 12, 2006)

Actually, Charlee is probably jumping on the door more because she wants inside than wanting food. She hates my door being shut.


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## Natalie Jayne (Apr 21, 2011)

Nothing gets between Ginger and his food bowl! He loves to eat, and always goes back for seconds! He will eat anywhere, but usually eats in the kitchen cause it's easier for me


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## Time Bandit (Aug 17, 2010)

All three of my girls are C. and A.

They all eat together in a row in the kitchen, and the order HAS to be Alice, Samantha, and Rochelle from left to right...they look at me funny if I switch up the order. :roll: They each have their own separate stainless steel dish. I stay because I think they like having me there...Rochelle in particular won't eat, unless her Mommy sits close-by. I don't mind indulging them, because I love to watch them eat, and then I can make sure to keep whoever finishes first from nosing into the others dishes.


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