So back in February I posted about the asshole that is Shadow.
Since then we managed to convince Trouble that the automated feeder isn’t evil, and she’s back to eating kibble out of it.
Shadow appeared to have mostly resigned himself to the fact that he wasn’t going to be able to get at that kibble, at least not most of the time (when the batteries die he gets some, but he hasn’t quite figured out the connection yet).
I thought we had this covered.
Then I had to buy a new bag of dog kibble.
Yes, my dogs are mostly raw fed, but we do keep a bag of kibble in the house for them, partially as a backup food source, partially because Arty burns calories at a rate that has to be seen to be believed and letting him supplement with kibble was easier than trying to stuff him on raw. His kibble ball holds not quite a cup of kibble and then we put another cup of kibble in the raised dog bowl.
Other than Trouble showing puppy Apollo who was boss, by eating his kibble infront of him, we’ve never had any of the cats so much as look twice at the dog kibble.
The bag we finished was Acana, the new bag was Fromm. The cats are fed Fromm, its a decent brand and I can get it local without worrying about shipping, or minimum orders, or the like.
Within 24hrs of putting out the first cup of Fromm kibble Shadow was stealing kibble out of both the kibble ball and the dog bowl.
He’s big enough that he doesn’t even really have to work at it.
Arg.
Went back to the local store, picked up a bag of something different, figuring that maybe the Fromm dog kibble was enough like their cat kibble to be tempting him.
Nope.
He’s now eating a completely different brand and shape kibble too.
To the point where he’s not even eating all of his (previously beloved) cat kibble ration!
*sigh* I guess the next step is to order a bag of Acana again and see if he still eats it…..
Poor Shadow, he is wasting away so badly from your denial of his access to Trouble’s food 🙂 Cats will certainly find a way to get around our wishes and keep us guessing – part of their mystery and allure.
I’ve had a cat or two that would occasionally eat dog food, but they usually didn’t stay at it for long (couple of weeks at a time maybe). I never figured out any connection with time of year or health indicators, but figured there was some sort of deficiency they were compensating for at the time.
I’m worried that he’s not going to get enough taurine actually, dog food isn’t supplemented the way cat food is, and cats NEED taurine. Ugh. He’s been going at it for about a month now……
Looks like you’re going to end up with a fat and sassy cat. That is somewhat self limiting, because eventually he’ll get so fat he won’t be able to walk.
Is there any place in the house he is afraid to go? The bathtub worked for keeping Ember from eating Tigger’s food, but I can’t think of a place to put your dogs’ food that would be undesirable for a cat, short of putting the dog food in the middle of a moat. And then you would have to deal with wet dog footprints on everything.
The good news is the he’s definitely not as thrilled with the Acana, so thats something. He’s still eating a little though.
I’m not sure where I’d put it, generally if the dogs can access it so do the cats. I saw your bathtub post though and thought that genius. Wouldn’t work here though, even if my situation were reversed!
I was looking at other automated bowls, but I can’t find ANY that are designed for a reasonable sized dog! They’re all tiny!