Cat Won't Eat His Food - But Will Eat The Other Household Cats Food

[DespicableCi]

Hi everyone,

So to give a (hopefully) quick run-down of events that have lead to this, my boy Pookie and I moved house in August into another home with an already established cat. Pookie has been raised his entire life with other cats, so this wasn't the issue. The other cat, however, is not so social and this has caused a bit of tension between the 2 cats.

Over the course of the past few months things have toned down a bit, they can at least be in the same room as each other without any adverse reactions. But as of recently (about a month or so) I have noticed that Pookie will refuse to eat his own food, but will opt to eat the other cat's food. We feed the cats in separate rooms to avoid fights and they are given the exact same food, from the exact same can.

I have tried unsuccessfully to deter Pookie from doing this, but he will basically refuse to eat from his own bowl and will go for the other cat's food whenever he gets the chance. He will lick his own food a few times, turn his nose up at it and try to go for the other food bowl in the other room. Its gotten to the point where he is losing weight over his "need" to get to the other food bowl. I have taken him to the vet to see if there is a medical reason behind this, but he has a clean bill of health.

Can anyone offer any suggestions or reasons as to why he has started to do this? Pookie definitely isn't the alpha of the household either, so is this a dominance thing and if so, how can I get him to eat his own food?

Thank you

 

[susanm9006]

It is worth trying to feed the two in the same room, in close proximity to one another. Perhaps if he can see the other cat and other bowl he will realize there is nothing better in that dish.

 

[Cat_mediator]

Question: do you assign them to the same bowls? If so, maybe Pookie doesn't like something about his own bowl? like the smell of it or the texture etc. If not, that should be a dominant behavior. Do they have their own territories and resources? If so, I would switch that. Put Pookie in the other cat's territory and the other cat in Pookie's territory. You should also try to use the brush technique twice a day. Brush Pookie's fur and concentrate on his head, sides and back areas (avoid hindquarters and tails), and take it to the other cat see how he reacts, if he doesn't like it, just leave it in his main area but away from his resources and leave some treats next to it. Use another brush and do the same thing on the other cat and leave it for Pookie. Once they show no signs of stress, you can try to use the same brush and mixing their pheromones like this twice a day. In addition, from what you explained above, it seems like you don't remove their bowls right away after they eat? I would remove the bowls right away, so Pookie would know that if he doesn't eat in his own bowl, there will be no chance to eat at all. Let me know how it goes.

 

[maggiedemi]

Can you close him in the bedroom with the door closed for an hour with his food?

 

[Ardina]

My cat Mishka does the same. No matter that the food is the same and the dishes are identical, she'll insist on eating out of Saipha's dish. And Saipha is a pushover, so she'll sit back and watch Mishka finish first her dish and then the other. So now I feed Saipha in a separate room. Mishka still hangs out on the other side of the door, occasionally sticking her paws under the door. But once I open the door and Mishka can confirm that Saipha's dish is empty, she'll go back and eat from her own dish.

The other thing you can try is to take Pookie's uneaten food and transfer to the other cat's empty dish and see if that tricks him into eating it.