The Litter Box Ep. 1- Food & Mealtime Routines
Meow. Meow? Mrrow. YOW! Anyone owned by a cat is surely familiar with the little rituals that precede a meal. Some rub ankles until you get sick of them being in the way and feed them, others demand immediate satisfaction as soon as they hear the can open, and still others wait patiently while you fix their victuals and then charge the bowl as soon as you put it down.
My own little house goblin has trained me to set a morning alarm on my phone, which announces when breakfast will be served. She’ll sit on the arm of my recliner until the alarm goes off, at which point she’ll loudly proclaim her desire for noms and dart off to the kitchen where her food is served. As I open the can to empty it into the bowl, she’ll stop meowing and stretch at me. Finally, she’ll tell me to put the food down already! as I walk over to the placemat where she’s fed.
Feeding cats can be a surprisingly complex endeavor. Cats tend to be picky eaters in the first place (though I’ve noticed that strays and outdoor-only cats such as the ones I grew up with on farms are a lot less picky,) and they usually have the luxury of humans that are willing to satisfy their tastes.
They can also be utterly weird in what they like. When I was a kid, my three cats would split up leftover spaghetti on a plate: one would eat the noodles, one would eat the meat and sauce, and the last would eat the vegetables. Note that this almost certainly wasn’t good for their health – tomatoes, garlic, and onions can all be toxic to cats in even relatively small quantities. Oh, the things we didn’t know without the internet back in the 80’s…
If you’ve got a picky eater, it’s worthwhile to try a few different types of food – but as a rule, you need to try it for a week or so at a time. As we all know, most cats aren’t fond of change, and their food is no exception. Give them a bit to get used to it, and they’ll eventually come around. Of course, it’s possible they don’t… at which point you try another food, and another, and another, until you finally hit on something they appreciate, the little ingrates. Trust me though, it’s worth it so you don’t have to keep cleaning up barf because their stomachs were upset.
Of course, some cats are slightly less discerning, and will seemingly eat anything (wires, trash bag handles, rubber bands, bugs, pretty much anything you don’t want them to.) They’ll also eat every morsel of food you make available to them, and some that you don’t if they can get to it. Savvy cat servants will note that this has much the same result as the above – lots of barf.
There are a couple of options for the always-hungry kitty in your life. Feeding at set times of day is always an option, if you’ve got a schedule stable enough to do so. Automatic feeders can be a bit pricy, but are also a valid option if you feed dry food part- or full-time. Puzzle feeders (of which there are many) are also an option to slow down a fast-feeding feline. For a kitty that scarfs food, you want to try and control two things – the speed at which the cat eats and the amount the cat has available to eat at any given time.
What little rituals does your own cat have for feeding time? What weird snacks do they like? What have you done to attempt to regain your dinnertime autonomy from your feline overlord? Send your tips to thelitterbox@chicagolandanimalrescue.org!
