I’ve gotten this question twice: “How the heck does Newt get to eat her food with all the dogs in the house?” I figured I’d share what works for our multi-species household, though this is just what works for us and these unique little snowflakes.
I suspect that this question comes, in part, because many people leave their cat’s food out and let them pick at it throughout the day. With the dogs, though, that’s impossible.
Now, I’ve only been a cat lady for a short while, but I’ve gotten the distinct impression that cats like routine (insert sarcastic eye roll here) and don’t appreciate changes. The routine we established has served us very well. Unless we don’t get up on time. Then we’re in big, BIG trouble, according to Miss Newt. Breakfast is at 7:00 sharp. If we’re not up, she starts chewing on our heads. She will literally grab mouthfuls of my hair and pull. It’s not a nice way to wake up.
Anyway, she gets half a can of wet food plus a couple vitamins in the morning while the boys eat their breakfast. She insists on being fed at the same time as them – at first we weren’t totally in sync, and she would dive into their bowls and gobble up dog food. She gets her bowl on the kitchen counter. She hops up and chows down while the boys eat their breakfast on their bowls on the kitchen rug. She gets the other half of the can, and we repeat the whole routine, at dinnertime. This works for us because our kitchen has this little side counter that we don’t use for cooking, so it’s become her dining room. She’s totally accustomed to getting her bowl in that spot. And that’s where she waits – and meows – starting around 4:15, even though we don’t feed them until 5.
The other thing we’ve been doing is filling one of the little PetSafe Egg-Cersizer toys with a bit of dry kibble for her and leaving it in the dining room. We have a gate up at that door because the whole room is windows and right on the sidewalk, so the gate keeps the boys from barking their faces off at passers-by all the livelong day.
We only put about 1/3 of a cup in the toy, but it takes her about two days to finish. It’s a wobbly food puzzle that you can set different levels of difficulty. Ours is set to about the medium level, which we can’t change because one of the dogs (EMMETT) got his head through the cat door and snagged the toy – teeth marks prevent the top from turning anymore. Sigh. Anyway, she chips away at it over a couple days – usually batting it around and eating only a few kibbles at a time. We know it’s empty when she starts dashing frantically between us and the gate and us and the gate and us and the gate… until we get up and refill it.
So, there you have it! That’s how we feed the cat in a house full of dogs!
I’d love to know what works for other multi-species households! Having dogs + cats certainly adds a layer of challenge, doesn’t it? You have to think one step ahead (though somehow they always outsmart me). How do you manage feeding a whole herd?
Cat food bowl on one side of a cat door, dogs on the other. The same for litter boxes.
For a long while, Emmett just bashed his way through the baby gates we had set up. We now have two more industrial-strength gates, but the routine was already established! 🙂
Samantha gets fed on the kitchen counter, at least twice day, sometimes more. Older cats seem to want to eat more often! We put a set amount of dry food in her bowl in the morning and she can nibble on it when we give it to her, until it’s gone. Conrad gets closed in the bathroom with his food….the elderly guy is too wobbly to be safe on the counter. He’s thin so he can eat all he wants. They both get canned food with vitamins right before or about the same time as the dogs in the evening.
We’ve always had at least one cat that is an over eater so we’ve never been able to “free feed” them like a lot of people do anyway.
Yes! OK, so many people told us just to free feed her, that cats should self-regulate. Well, that’s impossible with three dogs!! Your solution sounds absolutely perfect for your situation! Dear sweet Conrad. I bet he’s enjoying his buffet! 🙂
When our daughter’s cat stayed with us, he was fed in the guest room and his litter box was there as well. We put a gate across the door to keep unwanted munchers out.
Although one day Sampson did manage to push the gate with his big mug and eat some cat food. 🙂
Sooo, that’s a problem we had early on!! I won’t call out Emmett specifically 😉 but he totally bashed his way through a number of baby gates to get at Newt’s litter box! UGH!
Haha!
Our cats get fed in the upstairs bathroom – a room strictly off limits to the dogs, I don’t even allow a toenail in! The litter box is hidden behind the shower curtain in the tub, and the dogs stay out of it.
We feed the dogs downstairs. 🙂
We do a similar thing with the litter box – it’s in a little cabinet “commode” in the corner of our bathroom, and the dogs are NOT allowed in!!
We have 2 cats and 1 dog. TC (cat) is now 14 and we have always fed him in the morning when we also fed Raven . This has seemed to woke out.). If Tc didn’t finish his food I’d take it away and I’d give TC a small feeding in the afternoon.. Sophie is our new addition and she lives in my daughter’s room where she can eat and sleep undisturbed by a fluffy white monster (Raven is an American Eskimo)
Awww! I think Newt things of these guys as monsters, too! 😉
There is no way I would let my cat eat on the counter as we have very little counter space, the cat is not allowed on counters/dining table under any circumstance (personal preference), and that would get hair everywhere! What we have found to work is we have an XL dog kennel (48″ long) set up as a kitty “condo.” There are three levels: bottom level (right half) is where the cat litter is, second level (left half) is where her scratching post is, and top level (right half again) is where we keep her food and water. The boys are trained to NOT enter the kennel. Every once in a while they do, but as soon as we say no they hurry on out. It’s actually a really nice set-up as the cat LOVES her kennel. I also sewed together a cute little kennel cover for $30 to make it fit into the room more. Plus, on the very top of the kennel is my “office” for schoolwork where I store my books, printer, etc and the cat has a bed on top right next to the window. I really like the idea of the toy you have, but I have no clue if my cat would actually play with it! She is an older cat who loves to nap and get pet.
This is really helpful with the dog always messing with the cat’s food. It’s true though about cats liking routine; mine gets me up at 6am every morning if there isn’t food in his bowl!