Earlier this year, we adopted Loki to keep our Bast company after Ferrix died last year.
Bast and Ferrix both were fed on schedule, several times per day. Ferrix sometimes left some food for later, but Bast is a vacuum so we would take the leftovers away to be given later when he came asking.
Loki, however, is a grazer - he’ll eat some and come back multiple times over the course of the day. Thus we got a chip feeder, so we didn’t have to take it away all the time.
Bast soon figured out that he could eat from the side when Loki was eating as well, so we added a side barrier. This worked well for a while, but mister smarty-pants has now figured out that it takes a few seconds for the lid to close after Loki wanders off, and that if he sticks his head in fast enough, the lid will bounce off his thick skull, back off and stay open… At first it happened very occasionally - presumably he doesn’t like being hit by the lid - but it’s happening more frequently, indicating that he’s learned that tolerating a bump on the head means more food.
Does anyone have similar experiences and knows of ways to stop that behavior? We’ve considered trying to move Loki to scheduled feeding as well, but we’re not willing to start until he’s off the kitten feed, because the volume is notably bigger than regular food.
Attaching a picture of both for reference 🙂
My chip feeders have setting to increase sensitivity and speed. It worked for a while until the dog found a love for cat food. The best solution I found was to put it on a narrow windowsill at the max sensitive speeds so the cat had to move and time passed before anyone else could snipe it.
It’s already at the shortest interval, and the side plate makes for a kind of tunnel, but the bastard is fast when there’s food to be had 😁
Will consider another location for the feeder, but I’m not sure it’s going to be easy to find.
Make it a long tunnel so only one cat can fit in it at a time; that’s why I use a ledge. Defeat them with physics! X)
I don’t believe cats care about physics, but that might be a good plan if it doesn’t bother Loki too much. We’ll see.
Or add a pet door to the end of the feeding cubby. RFID tag that only works with Loki’s collar.
Not sure if you wfh or not, but our vet suggested squirting with water (not very effective) or sudden loud noises (very effective) during the bad behavior you want to curb. Something like a small can with some coins in it since cats don’t like those sounds.
The issues with this is that your have to be consistent and catch them in the act (hence me asking if you wfh). Cats won’t associate you scolding them after the fact and think you are mean. Also, if your other kitty likes to stay nearby, they may get skittish and associate ending their eating time with the bad noise.
Perhaps you could put the chipped feeder in a separate room (laundry room maybe?) and train your lil piggie that they are not allowed in there at all? Might be easier to do.
Hopefully others offer better suggestions. The sound thing worked when I wanted our kitty to stay downstairs since she was getting old and couldn’t make it to her litter box in time if she was upstairs, but that didn’t come with the difficulty of having another cat present.
Cat tax
Lovely old lady!
He’s well aware that he’s not supposed to and that he gets removed if we see he’s stalking, but he’s smart enough to do it when he knows we’re not home. Black monster 🙂
