Developed a fear of her dish

sherrylynne

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I raw feed, have for years. Commercial grind in the morning as liver is hit and miss, whole meats in the evening. Our 10m old kitten Bastet was eating her quail the other evening. She gets a half quail and usually scissors off just enough to swallow, but the silly girl tried swallowing a quarter quail. Which of course came right back up, rather violently. Now, she is refusing to eat anything in her dish. Tried a flat saucer and she sniffed her meat and walked away. If I put the chunks on the floor, she will eat it, quite avidly. I tried placing a couple pieces leading to the flat dish, and one laying half on half off. She ate the two pieces on the floor and wouldn't even touch the one half on the plate. Not using a dish isn't really an option because of the grinds, and the liver.
Has anyone here experienced anything like this(I have never had this issue before), or have any suggestions?
 

ladytimedramon

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Try something different shaped, at least temporarily. When I tried getting Delilah to use a fountain, first fountain we used she was so scared of that she refused to go near the spot and anything there even after I took the fountain away. It took her about a week to get over it.

Maybe if you were using a flat dish before, try a bowl. If it's still not working, maybe put her food on wax paper so it's at least not on the floor and it's easier to clean up.
 
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sherrylynne

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She has a shallow oval shaped dish that is the "culprit". I have since tried her with a round dish(one of the other cat's who's food she has stolen in the past), and a small flat plate and still no luck :( I think I will try a plastic placemat since I am out of wax paper at present and see if that works.
All the years I have been doing this, and I've not come up against one who developed a fear of dishes before!
 

catlover73

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I agree with trying a paper plate. When I transitioned a formerly abused cat years ago from eating baby food and wet food off a spoon the only thing she would eat off of was a paper plate. I had to feed this cat baby food off a long-handled spoon because she was too scared to eat anything at floor level. Most likely due to the physical abuse she endured before being found abandoned in a friend's pick-up truck bed. Thankfully the vet I had at the time had experience fostering scared kitties that had been abused. She actually gave me the long-handled spoon that helped get my cat to eat at all. She also followed up with me a lot on the phone to work through this process. Baby-T and I were very lucky we found this vet. Baby-T has been gone for years now but the the lesson I learned about gaining a cat's trust will never be forgotten.
 
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sherrylynne

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Update. Have gotten her back to eating from her own dish via freeze dried raw lol. It is her very favourite by far. I only use it once a week or so, otherwise she will hold out for it if given more than 2 or 3 meals in a row. Gave her 2 meals fdr, and while she was at first hesitant, she finally gave way and ate everything from her own dish. She DID however protest the next couple meals of whole raw meats and only nibbled, now she is back to eating full time from it. Thanks all for all your suggestions :)
 
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