Friday, November 01, 2024

Sibling Rivalry

One of the first problems I have had with the cats was that Butch, the larger cat, is larger for a reason:  He eats a voracious amount.  I had bought some cute little cat dishes, one for each of them, with a skid-free free bottom.  Unfortunately, he thought both bowls were for him.  He would eat whole mouthfuls from his dish... until I put down a full dish for Unique.  Then he'd run over, stick his big head in the bowl, pushing her out.  If she went to his bowl, he followed her there.  Meanwhile, most of the food spilled out on the floor in the porch.  Those cat dishes were skid-free, but not turnover-free.  Besides, they don't hold enough food for Butch.  

Here you see the skid-free bottom:

I have a set of five dishes I bought at Costco.  They hold a pint and have straight up sides, as well as some weight to them.  They all came with plastic lids, and I use them a lot for leftovers.  I decided to see if they would work for the cats.

That dish works great.  However, there's no use giving the cats two of them, because they think they have to eat in the same bowl.  However, Unique can now hold her own when they eat, and she gives as good as she gets.  I put another of my bowls there for their water.  I may at some point have to give them each their own bowl, who knows.  I certainly didn't know when I bought those pretty bowls that I'd wind up giving them to cats.


9 comments:

  1. Anonymous12:27 PM

    Hi Donna, sounds like Sunny and Butchie. Sunny being the biggest will try to out-eat Butchie.
    It's been that way since day one and they are 6 now. Butchie will stand his own but I still have to keep an eye on them. Love, Sunny and Butchie's mom.

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  2. Anonymous1:46 PM

    I don’t have cats, but J and I each have a Chihuahua. Chica is 20 and Monkey is about 14 (she’s the food hound). Chica’s dish in my room. Just watched their routine this morning: Monkey eats in the kitchen then races to Chica’s bowl to look for snacks. When all is said and done, they are both licking the empty bowl, a bit of the tile floor and sometimes the baseboards. I love watching them. Blessings, Penny

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    Replies
    1. What would we do without pets?

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  3. Years ago when we had two kittens we had the same problem with feeding. Ultimately we ended up offering food in two separate rooms, closing the door between them, and taking up the food between meals.

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  4. Anonymous4:43 PM

    I miss my dog, but haven’t got another. I’m not very a good housekeeper so I’d rather have an outside dog. Because of my bird feeding hobby cats are out. I love Astrid’s new cat Charlie. He’s a hunter.

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    Replies
    1. I would much rather have another inside/outside cat like Blue was, but either the grandsons dogs would kill them or coyotes would.

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  5. I've never had more than one cat but my daughter who has says that one is always more dominant. Hope you can figure out a method. The two room one could work.

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  6. LOL. The mind of cats is a twisty thing...

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