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I've been thinking of starting a discussion thread on this for a while, as I'm curious what other cat owners do...
Do you place it facing the room so that your kitty has a view of the goings-on in the room while he or she eats?
Do you place the dish against a wall or in a corner so that the kitty just stares at the wall while eating?
Do you feed your kitties with the dish on the floor, or do you raise it up off of the floor -- maybe on a shelf, table, or cabinet? (I'm not talking about raising the dish up a few inches like one would for a kitty with arthritis, for example, to help them eat, but, rather, having the cat eat while perched up in a higher "position of power", far off of the floor...)
Do you find that your kitty eats more readily when the dish is in very particular places/rooms versus other areas of your house (bedroom? kitchen? other)?
Do you vary the placement of the food dish on a daily or weekly basis, for variety?
Do you leave your cat's food dish in the same location for their entire lifetime?
I actually vary the placement of Milly's dish quite frequently. There are about three places where I feed her most regularly, but I also move it around if I feel she is not approaching her food dish for some reason -- I feed timed meals, not via free-feeding, and occasionally it seems like she doesn't want her playtime or nap interrupted, and won't come to eat. So, I set the dish nearer to her current location, and then she does eat. I've also found that with cats who do not feel well (nausea and the like), if I set the food dish up higher on top of a shelf or table or cabinet, the cat will jump up and eat more readily there (off of the floor), than if the food is set on the floor. Weird. Maybe when they are feeling ill, that more vertical "position of power", where they can also survey the room, makes them less nervous at the food dish.
I also think it is good to change up the location of the dish at times because if we were ever to have cat sitters in the future and the cat sitter puts the food in an unfamiliar place, I'm not sure Milly would eat as readily if she was too fixated on having the dish in only one location.
How about you?
Where do you usually place your cat's food dish?
Do you place it facing the room so that your kitty has a view of the goings-on in the room while he or she eats?
Do you place the dish against a wall or in a corner so that the kitty just stares at the wall while eating?
Do you feed your kitties with the dish on the floor, or do you raise it up off of the floor -- maybe on a shelf, table, or cabinet? (I'm not talking about raising the dish up a few inches like one would for a kitty with arthritis, for example, to help them eat, but, rather, having the cat eat while perched up in a higher "position of power", far off of the floor...)
Do you find that your kitty eats more readily when the dish is in very particular places/rooms versus other areas of your house (bedroom? kitchen? other)?
Do you vary the placement of the food dish on a daily or weekly basis, for variety?
Do you leave your cat's food dish in the same location for their entire lifetime?
I actually vary the placement of Milly's dish quite frequently. There are about three places where I feed her most regularly, but I also move it around if I feel she is not approaching her food dish for some reason -- I feed timed meals, not via free-feeding, and occasionally it seems like she doesn't want her playtime or nap interrupted, and won't come to eat. So, I set the dish nearer to her current location, and then she does eat. I've also found that with cats who do not feel well (nausea and the like), if I set the food dish up higher on top of a shelf or table or cabinet, the cat will jump up and eat more readily there (off of the floor), than if the food is set on the floor. Weird. Maybe when they are feeling ill, that more vertical "position of power", where they can also survey the room, makes them less nervous at the food dish.
I also think it is good to change up the location of the dish at times because if we were ever to have cat sitters in the future and the cat sitter puts the food in an unfamiliar place, I'm not sure Milly would eat as readily if she was too fixated on having the dish in only one location.
How about you?