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Originally Posted by Gemme
Yes. I live where I work and have box trucks and semi trucks rolling through here daily not to mention the field next door with coyotes and mean critters. AND...the shelters around here don't like to adopt out cats to outside homes.
Oh, no. Loki is no gentleman when it comes to food. He's a bully AND he's twice the size of Gracie. Initially, she took it every time and just walked away. Now, if she's really, really hungry, she's going to finish her food, dammit. lol I'm proud of her that she stands up to him when it matters to her. She also will chase the Hell out of him, to the point that he's crying for me. Not sure if it's because she's whooping his butt or that she's making him exercise so much, though.
They get a mix of wet and dry and when I put the wet food down, I have to start with Loki so he's distracted and Gracie can get a start on her food. He inhales it, so he's done in 1-2 minutes. Seriously. I timed it. She eats like a fucking lady....dainty but messy. I sometimes stick around to verbally chastise Loki when he starts to push in on her personal space as she continues to eat or I'll go sit on the sofa and pat my lap when he starts wandering around so I can get my hands on him for pets while she finishes.
Then I go into the kitchen and check the bowls. 9 times out of 10, Loki's is clean as a whistle. I'll call Gracie over if she has anything left and she'll eat a few more bites and then she's done. Loki gets the leftovers but only when I put the dish on his side of the kitchen. There are rules, but he still pushes the line because he's got a major fixation with food. Dry food too but not nearly as bad as with wet.
He was fine when I got him. He even left food in the bowl. One for his homies, we would say. But then we went to the Reunion and had someone come in and feed him and give him some love. Two things happened. One, she overfed him and there was one day that she didn't show. We knew about it ahead of time and she left him extra food the day before and came in early after but even the local boarders would not have come in on Sunday so chose to have him stay in the house he was most comfortable in. That messed him up. It screwed up his expectations for food and now I think he has a fear of no food.
This was before I got Gracie. I feel that if they were both here, she would have kept him entertained and basically told him to get over himself.
I don't know how to fix this. I free feed dry food and I know he eats more than he should out of both of their bowls but if I take it up when I'm not there, will it make his food anxiety worse? I feel that he would focus on food even more. As it is, any time I walk in the kitchen, he clearly thinks it's food time, even if he's just eaten.
My baby boy has problems. He's so big now, I call him Bubba just as much as I call him Loki.
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Oh, dont like the sound of coyotes versus Kitties at all. Very different where I am, every other home seems to have a cat and its pretty quiet so you cant walk down a road without being greeted by someones cat. I have fairly new neighbours with 4 cats but they moved from a built up area and she has kept her cats as `indoors cats` still, my big boy goes calling for them to play out and sits on the lawn in hope !
Poor Loki, it does sound like the missed day is etched on his memory. Lets hope as time goes by he will get it in his head that meals will be regular as the norm. My two were both rescues at 6 months and had been left in a house with no food for days on end the shelter told me. My boy used to beg a lot and swiped a paw at food being waved about by the children more than once but eventually that stopped.
I wonder if you could leave him with a timed feeder for his dry food when you are not there, regulate and portion control it for him.
Cats eh ! Gotta love em !