I Think My Cat Is Scared Of Her Food Bowl

[Lunarmewn]

My Cat Hufflepuff has always been a problem child. She use to be extremely skittish, but is now more open and happy. She is though, still a tiny bit skittish. Any changes stress her out.
She’s always been a picky eater. I’ve wasted I don’t know how many cans of food because she decided she no longer wants it. She’ll go on hunger strikes but never lose any weight. She’s a healthy weight, and does fine with a couple nibbles of food here and there like she likes to do.

Because she hates change, I make sure to keep her food dishes and such kept the same way. She’s been acting a bit odd here lately. She acts scared of her food dish, the same dish she’s used for a couple years now. At first I thought she wasn’t eating because she didn’t want what I offered, but I noticed some different behavior. She will stand as far away as she can, and stretch her neck out to reach the bowl. She’ll grab a piece, jump back and eat it on the floor. She’ll do this over and over till I believe she gets frustrated and gives up. I tried feeding her on her plate that she also likes, but acts the same way. I’ve tried several other bowls that she won’t even bother to try. She doesn’t act this way if I sit on the floor with her and she’s about halfway in my lap to eat comfortably. Unfortunately I just don’t have time to sit with her every morning.
Nothing has changed, there’s no bugs or any thing that could have hurt her when she was eating. Nothing to scare her, as I’m always monitoring her until she’s done eating to ensure she did eat.

What can I do to help get her back to eating out of a dish? She will sometimes eat food if it’s placed on the floor, but it just makes a mess and once it’s all spread out she no longer wants it.

 

[maggiedemi]

You've already tried a flat plate? My cats will only eat from a plate. You could tried spreading it on a washable placemat.

 

[Lunarmewn]

You've already tried a flat plate? My cats will only eat from a plate. You could tried spreading it on a washable placemat.

Yep, tried the plate, and tried her placemat. But she hates the placemat and refuses to touch it. Before when she’d use her bowls, if food fell in the mat she just left it there. If it’s on the floor she would lick it up.

 

[weebeasties]

Have you had her mouth checked? If she is having pain, that might account for her behavior. When our Shady became ill, the first signal that something was wrong was that he was pulling food out of his dish onto the floor. Unfortunately for him it was cancer but with your girl it could be something as simple as a bad tooth. I know vet visits are traumatic, but I would get her to a vet to check her mouth.

 

[Kefa]

Consider smells. Also whisker stress. I feed Homer dry food on piece of cardboard. He doesn't like bowls either. We tried flat plates but he would knock them on the floor when he was hungry. When I put them on the floor he would sit on them. Then I switched his wet food to plastic bowl lids, because they wouldn't break or make loud noises, and he would still knock them on the floor and sit on them. So now he eats his dry food on his cat scaffold on a piece of cardboard. Because cat.

 

[maggiedemi]

The only other thing I can think of is maybe a stainless steel baking sheet or a pile of paper towels. But yeah, get her teeth checked out if you can.

 

[Lunarmewn]

Have you had her mouth checked? If she is having pain, that might account for her behavior. When our Shady became ill, the first signal that something was wrong was that he was pulling food out of his dish onto the floor. Unfortunately for him it was cancer but with your girl it could be something as simple as a bad tooth. I know vet visits are traumatic, but I would get her to a vet to check her mouth.

Yes she’s been checked. She has the disease Feline Stomatitis. I guess I never thought of it before, maybe she remembers her teeth hurting from her last bad flare up?
She had a few teeth pulled and she’s been fine after that. She doesn’t exactly let me look in there to examine her so maybe a vet check up is in order.
I’m sorry to hear about Shady, sending you all my love.

 

[Lunarmewn]

Consider smells. Also whisker stress. I feed Homer dry food on piece of cardboard. He doesn't like bowls either. We tried flat plates but he would knock them on the floor when he was hungry. When I put them on the floor he would sit on them. Then I switched his wet food to plastic bowl lids, because they wouldn't break or make loud noises, and he would still knock them on the floor and sit on them. So now he eats his dry food on his cat scaffold on a piece of cardboard. Because cat.

I’ll have to try different objects and see what she likes. I worry since she usually won’t bother with new things, but I’ll give it a shot.
Cats sure know how to make things difficult don’t they?

 

[Tribeof1]

My Cat Hufflepuff has always been a problem child. She use to be extremely skittish, but is now more open and happy. She is though, still a tiny bit skittish. Any changes stress her out.
She’s always been a picky eater. I’ve wasted I don’t know how many cans of food because she decided she no longer wants it. She’ll go on hunger strikes but never lose any weight. She’s a healthy weight, and does fine with a couple nibbles of food here and there like she likes to do.

Because she hates change, I make sure to keep her food dishes and such kept the same way. She’s been acting a bit odd here lately. She acts scared of her food dish, the same dish she’s used for a couple years now. At first I thought she wasn’t eating because she didn’t want what I offered, but I noticed some different behavior. She will stand as far away as she can, and stretch her neck out to reach the bowl. She’ll grab a piece, jump back and eat it on the floor. She’ll do this over and over till I believe she gets frustrated and gives up. I tried feeding her on her plate that she also likes, but acts the same way. I’ve tried several other bowls that she won’t even bother to try. She doesn’t act this way if I sit on the floor with her and she’s about halfway in my lap to eat comfortably. Unfortunately I just don’t have time to sit with her every morning.
Nothing has changed, there’s no bugs or any thing that could have hurt her when she was eating. Nothing to scare her, as I’m always monitoring her until she’s done eating to ensure she did eat.

What can I do to help get her back to eating out of a dish? She will sometimes eat food if it’s placed on the floor, but it just makes a mess and once it’s all spread out she no longer wants it.

Wondering if you figured out the causation. We now have two cats exhibiting the same behavior. A common denominator is both recently had flea treatment applied. Both are light weight cats.

 

[catlover73]

Is it possible that some noise from outside startled Hufflepuff when she was eating? It could be as simple as your neighbor mowing the lawn or someone ringing a door bell next door. My Apollo does not like it when someone rings a doorbell. If this happens when he is eating he will run away until he sure the noise is gone. If I have someone coming over I tell them not to ring my door bell. I tell anywhere I am ordering delivery from that my doorbell does not work and to call me upon arrival. He still gets startled if we get a package delivered. He does go back to eating once he realizes the noise is gone. I live in a town home. I can control who rings my doorbell. I can not tell my neighbors they can not use their doorbells because that would be obnoxious. I do have one neighbor that has shy cats of her own that prefers people do not ring her doorbell too. We knock on each other's doors if one us gets a piece of misplaced mail or ends up signing for a package while the other is at work.