Puzzle Feeder

[danteshuman]

So I figured if Jackie wants to nibble on dry food, he needs to work for it. My question is how long do I need to leave it onthe easiest setting? 2 weeks& then I can make the holes a bit smaller?




He currently nudges it with his head despite my showing him he could tap it with a paw.

I could really use some advice from people who use puzzle feeders. (He is fed wet 4 times a day but I’m taking it down to 3. He is in no danger of going hungry.)

 

[Kieka]

I dont have a puzzle feeder, but from similar training items.... I'd leave the opening larger until he gets the idea. Hitting with his head or paw, once he figures out he gets food from it I'd make it smaller. Just a smidgen smaller and once he's adapted to the smaller, go smaller again.

 

[rubysmama]

I tried one of those puzzle feeders with Ruby, and she had zero interest in it, and that was back when she was food obsessed. So, unfortunately, I can't help you work out a schedule for making it more difficult for him.

As of now, does he nudge it around till he eats them all, or does he come back periodically throughout the day for snacks?

 

[danteshuman]

It is on it’s biggest so a lot comes out. He nudged eats. Then might come back to nibble on what was spread .... when that runs out, he nudged it. Because it spills so much, it is on a mat to help contain it. I fill it up once a day (his dry food amount is limited ...... he eats more when I try to feed him chicken with put Bonita flakes )

I think I will give him a week and then make the holes smaller. Then make the puzzle harder each week. Maybe in a month I will try an empty water bottle with dry food in it. Eventually I want to move the feeder around and use a few different puzzles. He is a clever kitty and needs a challenge.

 

[ArtNJ]

Then make the puzzle harder each week.

I'd be concerned about developing a hyper intelligent cat that can get food out of the bag merely by looking at it. Maybe do a training montage video, so that when Jackie has you hooked up to a treadmill begging for mercy the rest of us will know where the red line of danger lies.

 

[danteshuman]

Jackie is half siamese. Besides I keep his dry food in cat proof Tupperware container & his bag in a cabinet.... otherwise he chews through the bag! He is on 2 cans of wet and 1/4 cup dry per day. So his dry food I take is limited.

A bored kitty is a destructive kitty! Plus it will be raining soon and he will be trapped inside all day.

 

[danteshuman]

Even if I give him extra dry food he still only eats a 1/4 cup or less per day.

 

[rubysmama]

Eventually I want to move the feeder around and use a few different puzzles. He is a clever kitty and needs a challenge.

Since you're considering different puzzles, here's one I made for Ruby. I just used yogurt and other containers, but with a clever kitty, narrower containers would probably work better.

The inspiration was the Catit Senses 2.0 Digger

 

[ArtNJ]

I could never use one of these -- they would disrupt my entire system. I put down a half can of moist food at a time for my two (one is small, one is lean, they don't eat a lot) and I leave the half can down as long as it lasts. My entire strategy for evaluating if my cats are really hungry revolves around whether or not they have scraped the last bits of moist food out of the standard pet bowls I use. Using this info, I vary the timing and amounts slightly. They are so lazy that they will only work get the final bits out if they are truly hungry (or its night time and they know I will never do anything about it). If the last bits last past the time they normally eat, I eventually mix it into the next feeding and add a bit of water (the water and mixing makes the smell pop and gets rid of any reluctance to eat browned food).