My cat, chewing, and the lack there of

maverickpixel

so we have this cat... libby. shes an interesting cat. she can be sweet, very talkative... but completely obsessed with food. Its constantly on her mind, when you get up she makes a move to the food bowl, watches you to see if your going into the pantry to reach her said food. then when it comes time to feed her she sprints infront of your legs, because falling to her food bowl is much faster than bending down.

thats not so bad.... the bad part is that im pretty sure shes not even chewing anymore. normally with dry food you hear some good healthy crunching, but now it sounds mostly like saying "Hup" then closing your mouth really fast after the last syllable

go ahead... try it.


ill wait.


see thats not how healthy eating should sound


what can i do about this problem

MichaelLC

How often do you feed her?

Do you only fill the bowl at certain times, or do you let her graze? Cats in general are better about not wolfing down all the food right away like dogs, but individuals can be exceptions of course.

Could try keeping the bowl filled and see if she calms down. Otherwise I guess taker her to a vet and see if she has any digestive issues, though I think you and your carpet would know with a cat.

underdonk

Feed her canned food?

Improvolone

If you raise the bowl so that she has to stand up to eat it should slow her down considerably. A friend had to do this with her cat who would vomit after eating too fast.

Quid

Yeah, you can try just keeping the bowl filled since most cats won't over eat. They're not like dogs and will usually just eat til full then go take a nap.

Should your cat be like ours, however, the only way we got around him over eating was to switch to wet food and then leave him a half cup of dry food to eat throughout the day. He's still obsessed with dinner and breakfast time now that he's figured out when those times are, but he's also lost weight and doesn't freak out when he can see the bottom of his dry food dish.

FightTest

Some cats just don't chew. Of the last six cats my parents have had that I've been old enough to remember only two of them chewed their food. They were also the two with the best teeth.

Reznik

Your cat sounds exactly like my cat.

We ration her food for the day into a smaller container that we feed her out of as she bugs us to eat. She wolfs it all down pretty fast anyway.

You could try sticking a golf ball or similar object into the cat's food bowl, so then they have to eat around it and it will slow them down.

Or you could switch to wet stuff, which in our case seems a lot better for our cat. She still eats fast, but she doesn't whine for more as much and she never pukes. Just be sure you get some good quality stuff.