Not eating?

[hntsignif]

My 8 year old female has finally gotten to the point that I can bring her out without her attacking the boys. (I posted earlier about her attacking anything that moved when we brought home the new boy)

After a week of having her out with everyone and continuing to feed her separatly, I have started feeding them together again. Each kid gets their own bowl and the bowls get picked up when everyone is done. (Otherwise the new boy overeats, he is getting chubby).

The problem is that my female ("Frankie" short for Franchesca) refuses to eat with the boys. If I leave the food down for later then my new chubby boy ("Sabby" short for Sebastian) will eat it.

Should I try giving her something "extra" like a bit of soft food that the boys don't get? She did eat once when she was very hungry (skipped 3 feedings) but only enough to take the edge off and then walked away. She has skipped another two feeding since eating a little.

Any ideas?

[Mona]

SOunds as though she feels intimidated by the others.

By all means give her the wet good, and try feeding her isolated by herself, she needs nutrition and too many skipped meals can lead to liver disease and dehydration, esp in an older cat.

Of course, you should also have her checked over if she has not had a physical recently, to make sure she is not ill or has another physical problem.

Good luck!! Mona, Honeybun and Chloe

I have to separate my two cats or the kitten will eat my older ones food and vice versa.

[Susan and the girls]

Would it really hurt things to put her bowl on the other side of the room? I mean, is there a new law that says they have to eat together?

The reason I say that is that my girls all have their own bowls in different parts of the room - well, sort of. Belle's spot is next to the fridge, across the room from the other bowls. Daisy and Scarlett have bowls next to each other, but they know whose bowl is whose (well, usually).

I've found that sometimes it's best to cater to the cats for their own health and happiness. It sounds like it may be stressing Frankie out to have to eat so near to the boys that she's only recently come to know and love. It may be best to let her have her own spot, her own bowl, and her own time to eat. She has to eat, and if she's not eating, it's only hurting her.

Keep us posted!

[hntsignif]

It worked!

I Put down the boys bowls and put hers on the other side of the island. That didn't work so I picked up her bowl and went upstairs to the room we had her separated in. She followed me right up and started eating as soon as I put the bowl down.

I will give her a couple more weeks to get used to the boys before trying to feed them together again.

Thanks for the advice!

[Tina B and crew]

yay!! Glad when things work out. I have to feed one of my cats seperate from the others or at least up on a chair because she gets intimidated by them. Our oldest cat Frodo use to scarf down her food so fast when we fed her close to Gizmo that she would vomit afterward. Since feeding them so they can't see each other her "scarf and barf" behavior has improved immensely!