Weird behavior while eating

[sootypaw]

I'm gonna preface this thread with the fact that me and my partners' cat has gotten dentist work done recently (a few months ago) so I don't think it's her teeth bothering her. Her diet consists entirely of wet food.

So our cat, Morrigan, does odd things of:

• yowling while she eats -- particularly whenever I'm not paying attention to her while she is eating (she also (sometimes, not always) yowls when we leave the room or while we're sleeping -- I think she does this in particular because she has separation anxiety? But I'm not entirely certain).
• she also on-and-off drags food off her plate to eat it next to her plate instead, for no discernible reason?
• and if I, (and usually only me, she only rarely does this with my boyfriend), am across the room from her food plate, she'll bring mouthfuls of food over to where I am to eat it (despite the fact that even across the room from her I'm only 10 feet, at maximum, and barely out of her sight).

Is this just her having really bad separation anxiety? If we feed her before we go to bed or leave the room, she doesn't drag her food around the room or in front of the doors, she only does it when we're near her but not in her line-of-sight / not paying attention to her. She still does the yowling thing in those situations, though.

 

[FeebysOwner]

Hi. How old is Morrigan?

I have heard of other cats who will take food from their dish to place on the floor to eat it, so that by itself might not be any particular issue. Did she do that before the dental work, or just afterward? If only afterward, that could put a different spin on things. Aside from more dental issues, which seem to be fairly common, it could be the height/placement/type of dish that for one reason or other bothers her from time to time.

What about the other things she is doing - only after the dental work? It does sound a bit like separation anxiety, but you can't entirely rule out there being a follow up dental issue if these things were not occurring beforehand.

If she is older, the yowling can be related to insecurity that many cats experience as they age. Any other recent changes that might explain that behavior? I presume if she went through dental work, she had a thorough check up including blood work, and nothing out of the ordinary was seen?

 

[rubysmama]

I'm also wondering how old Morgan is. And also if any of this behaviour existed before the dental surgery, or if it all started after.

 

[gilmargl]

I don't think this is necessarily a health problem. Moving food to the dining room or wherever you eat, is nothing to worry about! Cats prefer to eat near their owners and like to share their food. It is particularly noticeable when they are given chicken or something they know their humans enjoy, too. I have given up trying to feed my cats in the kitchen - it saves a lot of mess if I feed them near the dining room table.

Making a mess around the cat dish may possibly be due to difficulties getting food into her mouth owing to missing teeth or to an unfortunately shaped jaw (pedigree?). I have one cat (BLH) where this is also an issue. She has a huge mouth compared with my moggies and, using her tongue, manages to scoop a lot of her food out of the dish, before reexamining it and picking it up to eat.

I'm not so sure about the yowling - though it could be just to let you know that she doesn't want to be left alone - not even when there's food in her dish - or especially when there's food in her dish and she'd like company while she's eating.

 

[Furballsmom]

I was thinking the same thing as gilmargl . Several members have discussed their cats eating from the carpet, and at least one currently has a kitty that he's training to be able to eat without his presence -- she needed him there every time or she wouldn't eat.

so I don't think it's her teeth bothering her.

It still would be worth having her mouth checked just to definitively eliminate that. Things can crop up rather quickly sometimes.

 

[Robyn5678]

• she also on-and-off drags food off her plate to eat it next to her plate instead, for no discernible reason?

my cat does this. If he’s eating wet, he will pull it off the plate and either throw it on the floor or eat off his paw. If he’s eating dry, he pulls one out of the bowl and eat it off the floor.

he will also stand with his front paws in the bowl to eat off the far side of the plate

he’s a hot mess

 

[silent meowlook]

For the yowling, has the thyroid been checked? The other stuff is cat stuff. She feels safer eating with you. Feels she has to protect her food so she carts her bites away so not to be robbed of her food.

 

[sootypaw]

Hi. How old is Morrigan?

I'm also wondering how old Morgan is. And also if any of this behaviour existed before the dental surgery, or if it all started after.

We don't know her exact age (she was a stray kitten that our partner found that me and my boyfriend have housed due to conflicts with a cat their roommate has), but she's up there! Somewhere in the 12-13 year old range is the best we can guess.

Making a mess around the cat dish may possibly be due to difficulties getting food into her mouth owing to missing teeth or to an unfortunately shaped jaw (pedigree?).

She was doing both the yowling (while eating, and at doors while we sleep / are away), dragging food around, and eating off to the side of her plate (doesn't matter the size of it, she does it to large and small plates both) all before her dentist stuff as well. We had originally thought that her yowling was because of her bad teeth, which is why we tried to get her teeth taken care of as soon as the vet had another opening after her spay.

I presume if she went through dental work, she had a thorough check up including blood work, and nothing out of the ordinary was seen?

For the yowling, has the thyroid been checked?

Yup! She's had a normal check-up when we first got her, as well as when she was spayed (around half a year after we took her in?), and before she had her dentist stuff done a few months ago (pulling a handful of her teeth that were going bad from age) and as far as I remember, everything has looked normal! She doesn't have any major health issues or concerns that have alerted our vet.

Thank you all for the responses! This is the first time I've properly "owned" a cat (the previous three I've had were more my parents' that they looked after, and they were all, of course, wildly different in personality) so it's nice to know that sometimes cats are just odd like this lol

(have a free picture of her being flopped out while she naps)

 

[sootypaw]

It still would be worth having her mouth checked just to definitively eliminate that. Things can crop up rather quickly sometimes.

Oops, forgot to add this one! She did have her mouth checked as recently as the end of last month, when she went in for her rabies shot, and the vet said that everything was looking fine in regards to her health + teeth. She was doing all of the listed behavior even before her dentist stuff and nothing has drastically changed in regard to her temperament (other than her having stopped her habit of slapping me and my boyfriend on the legs nearly every time we walk past her -- having her spayed and teeth situation fixed has made her far more amiable).

 

[rubysmama]

Awww... what a cutie pie. Thank you for giving her a home, when she needed it.

Since her behaviour started before the dental, it probably isn't related to that, unless it started due to pain she had in her mouth. But it also could be related to her getting older.

Here's a TCS article that might be helpful: What To Expect As Your Cat Ages – TheCatSite Articles

 

[silent meowlook]

She is adorable. Have the thyroid checked. It is not routinely checked on blood work at many vets.

 

[sootypaw]

Awww... what a cutie pie. Thank you for giving her a home, when she needed it.

Since her behaviour started before the dental, it probably isn't related to that, unless it started due to pain she had in her mouth. But it also could be related to her getting older.

Here's a TCS article that might be helpful: What To Expect As Your Cat Ages – TheCatSite Articles

Thank you so much for the link! I'd have to ask our partner how long they've noticed the yowling (if she ever did it to them, even, because I'm genuinely not sure -- Morrigan gained a handful of quirks when she moved in with us that she didn't have before, and after getting spayed and her teeth work done).

(Our vet did say that her back legs are starting to lose a bit of their muscle, but it's just from aging and not enough yet to be a cause for concern, along with her slowly-creeping arthritis, but those were the only two things that really stood out about her health overall.)

She is adorable. Have the thyroid checked. It is not routinely checked on blood work at many vets.

I'll get a call to the vet and see if they ran any tests for her thyroid during any of her previous visits! (My memory isn't the greatest, so I don't remember the scope of the previous bloodworks done, all I remember is she's overall had a clean bill of health from the vet for general concerns.)

 

[silent meowlook]

The thyroid can change in 6 months or less. My cat displayed classic hyperthyroid traits. Yowling, hungry, muscle loss, for about a year or so before it was diagnosed in the blood work by sending out a T4.

 

[sootypaw]

The thyroid can change in 6 months or less. My cat displayed classic hyperthyroid traits. Yowling, hungry, muscle loss, for about a year or so before it was diagnosed in the blood work by sending out a T4.

I'll check with the vet! (I think she got extensive blood work done before her spay cus some of her results were wonky in regards to her liver, but that was... nearly a year now? If I remember correctly.)

 

[Caspers Human]

... So our cat, Morrigan, does odd things...

When a cat puts its head down to look at the food bowl while it eats, it puts itself in a vulnerable position.
It can't see behind and its vision to the sides is limited. This is especially true if the human puts the food bowl right next to the wall.

Cats don't like it when they can't see what's coming up behind them.

In fact, if you watch groups of cats eating together, you might notice that some of them eat while some of them hang around the perimeter. Some of the cats will eat then, when they're done, others will move in and the first ones will take up a position at the perimeter. They are standing guard for each other while the eat.

I suggest that your cat's odd behavior is rooted in feeling vulnerable while she eats.

When she pulls food out of her dish, there could be a couple of reasons:
Many cats don't like it when their whiskers rub on the sides of their food bowls.
She could be pulling food off the plate so that she can be in a better position to look out for potential danger/predators.
Putting her food on a shallow plate, instead of a deep bowl, might help this behavior. Moving her dish to another location where she feels less vulnerable might help, too.

She might be yowling because she wants you to come watch her back while she eats.

Carrying food around might also be because she wants to be near you so you can stand guard.

I think you might want to look around to see if there is a better spot to put her food bowl.

Maybe she just feels afraid to eat in her current location because she doesn't feel safe.