Problems eating togetehr

[onirin]

Decided to try posting here because you were all so helpful with me introducing my two kitties to one another.

It has been a year sense we brought home our newest cat Marble.  Gypsy was the resident cat.  Though they had their hissy fits in the beginning they never fought.  Now they play, hang out, and sleep together.  They make quiet a good pair, but there is one problem…meal time.

We feed our cats twice a day. 

Gypsy is a fast eater.  She always has been even before we got Marble.  Sometimes she throws up because she eats too fast.

Marble is a very slow eater.  Sometimes she barely eats anything from her bowl.

The problem is when Gypsy is done eating she goes over to Marble and sits nearby. I think she stresses Marble out because most of the time she will stop eating and walk away and then Gypsy swoops in the finish the rest.

We have attempted to solve this by putting their bowls at opposite ends of the room.  That worked for a while but Gypsy would still loom over Marble waiting for her to finish.  So now we have to sit in the room and keep Gypsy away so Marble can safely finish.  It’s been hard working an extra 20-30 min into our schedule every morning but we’ll make it work.

Where is really affects us is when we want to go out of town.

If it is for one night, we give them a big meal and then will feed them the next day as soon as we get back… but we might like to take 2 nights out of the house without worrying about our cats.  I can’t prove it but I’m pretty sure if we left a free feeder out Gypsy would eat all of it and leave none for Marble.

How can we help Marble be a more confident eater so we don’t have to keep her company all the time?

 

[Kieka]

SureFlap makes a food bowl that only opens for a specific cat. It's works by scanning the your cats microchip (assuming you have one) or off a collar tag. They aren't cheap ($150, https://www.sureflap.com/en-us/pet-feeder/microchip-pet-feeder) and the sound or movement of it might be too much for your kitties. I use the sureflap pet door and my cats have adapted well to the sound and the chip reader is excellent. It doesn't help though with spacing meals out over multiple days but it would help with separating food for Gypsy and Marble.

There are a lot of automatic feeders out there where you can put 6 days worth of food into them and it opens a section each day. They range from webcam enabled smart feeders of $230 to simple $30 ones. But since you have the problem of two separate speed feeders that probably wouldn't help too much.  

 I don't know if it was you or someone else I recommended it to, but you could try an interactive feeder with Gypsy to slow her down when eating so Marble gets more time to eat. I don't know if it would help Gypsy any because of age and habit but you could also try retraining how to eat. Link was an aggressive speed eater at first (we are talking 6 week old kitten) and I would just sit there and take his dish away after a few bites, pet him and coo at him and then return the food dish. It slowed him down and he learned the food was always going to come back. He now free feeds and will take a few bites, walk away, take a few bites and go about his day. His weight is pretty perfect so it worked to slow him down and he stops when he is full. My three are all different aggression levels and I just know who I have to give food first and who gets food last (with wet food) to prevent someone from being nudged out of their bowl. They tend to finish at the same time and when they finish their bowl they typically are full (although sometimes Rocket licks the other two bowls). It sounds like your is more a problem of Gypsy never knowing shes full, having a food fear of not eating enough, or not feeling full to stop; which is a whole other beast and I don't think any change to Marble will really help with that. 

Honestly, with what you are describing, it is probably better to arrange for someone to come over and feed them. 

 

[onirin]

Hi, thanks for the reply.

I looked into those feeders with the microchip collar but both my cats are collar free.  Personally I think collars would look so cute on them but they dont agree and will find a way to wiggle out of them.

I will try looking into interactive feeder for cats.  I normally only find ones for dogs in the stores.

The other problem is Marble follows us if we walk away.  Now she only eats when someone sits in the room.  Thankfully she did eat when we were away for 5 days and hired a sitter.  

 

[Columbine]

Your best solution in this case really is to feed them in separate rooms. That way, there's no chance of Marble feeling intimidated or pressured by Gypsy whilst she's eating.

Will Marble eat alone if Gypsy's not in the room? If she will, then an easy answer would be to install a microchip specific cat flap in the door to a suitable room, and programme it to only let Marble through. That way, she can eat in peace (and come and go as she pleases) without worrying about Gypsy. These days, microchip cat flaps (and most microchip feeders too, I think), are designed to work with the identity chip that the vet implants under the skin - no collars are needed

Another solution would be to get a slow feeder bowl, or improvise one with, say, an upturned eggcup in the centre of her regular bow so she has to eat around it (I did this for my girl at one point)

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• Columbine
• Aug 22, 2015

or even smear the food in a thinnish layer on a plate (think putting peanut butter on bread), so that Gypsy HAS to eat more slowly. From what you say of her eating habits, this might be a good idea in any case - it's not great for her to bolt her food anyway.

Hopefully you'll be able to find a solution that works of all of you very soon :cross: