So after about 8 months I'm almost at a good place with my cats

BlochWave

as in I think we've worked out all the kinks of our relationship. The shy cat likes being pet rough, the extroverted cat likes being pet gently, they produce the occasional hairball which I clean, I had to buy velcro strips to keep them out of the cabinets, and in return I get...well hair everywhere. But it encourages me to vacuum more than the once or so a decade I would otherwise, so I guess that works

But for the LIFE of me I can't figure out how to stop them(him really, I know which one does it)from spilling their food

I got them to stop tipping over the water dish every day by finally buying one of those untippable bowls that are kinda inset in a frame, and now they don't have to bend over as much so yay

I got the same thing for their food, and it deters him only a little. When I first got him I tried everything. He liked to jump up high so I put his food up high on a shelf, but he had no problem dropping the food from up high! I tried like 4 different types of bowls(also to correct the water problem which I was successful at)As far as I can tell he picks it out of the bowl and drops it on the ground, like every other or third piece or so, and never goes back to it

I can't really think of a bowl design that would inhibit this, and I'm not home often enough, especially when they're eating, to just squirt him every time. Should I just deal with it? It's not too bad, but I'd like to put their food in the kitchen but then they'd get it beneath everything

Speaking of which, any advice on litter box placement? The design of my first apartment(1BR) was pretty simple and I had nowhere to put it except by the TV in a corner of the living area. At least it was covered, but it was kinda gross

Soooo now I'm in a 2BR, sadly mostly so I could have the second BR to put their boxes and food and stuff(don't tell anyone! The increase in living room size is worth it though, it wasn't much more expensive)

The laundry room is accessed through the bathroom so that doesn't work, and I don't let them in my bedroom when I'm not there(as if I'd put it in there)

Again, I guess it might be something I need to just deal with, but maybe someone knows some tricks

Additional thought: The second bedroom has a long shallow closest with a sliding glass door running along the length of one wall, which I thought would be a good idea except the water heater's in there, and I'd rather they not get their curious paws on that

Erandus

If the cat is actually picking the food up out of the bowl and dropping it, there's really nothing you can do. You might try feeding the cat less so it is more inclined to eat everything presented to it, and not play with half of it and ignore it. Put a rubber mat under the food bowl so at least the food doesn't go far once it does hit the floor. Something with a bit of a lip on it would help keep everything in one place. Aside from that, you'll simply have to make sweeping the kitchen part of the ritual of vacuuming hair elsewhere.

EDIT: Also, even if you caught the cat doing the thing with the food, squirting him while he's in the midst of a meal isn't a real great idea. As far as he knows, he's just eating. Dropping the hammer during dinner might make him skittish about being fed or eating that particular food.

Perhaps try changing food? Maybe the food you buy has different flavored bits and he's picking out the ones he doesn't like.

Wherever you do put the litter, put some sort of air freshening device nearby. I wouldn't put a litter box in the laundry room either. The stench can taint your clothing and they may be tempted to use the clean/dirty baskets of laundry that may be hanging around as an alternate box. Spare BR is about the best place, given that we have no idea what your apartment is laid out like.

Also, you may not be aware, but there's some sort of forum rule where cat/dog threads require pictures of the animals in question.

BlochWave

Well the floor plan is as simple as can be, there's a big long rectangle that = living room + dining area, a hallway with the small kitchen on one side, the door to the unused bedroom on the other, and the door to my bedroom at the end, no nooks, crannies, or other silly words

Hmm... the more I think of it that bedroom closet would be nice. Is the water heater as big of a problem as I think it is? I assume it would get rather warm, and has things like pipes and hoses I'd rather they not jack with

But oh man, there are two sliding doors that open from both ends so I could put the litter boxes in there back to back in the middle and it'd be as quaint as hell

Edit: Pics forthcoming upon my return from work later

Erandus

A few minutes with some large chunks of cardboard and some duct tape can neatly block off easy access to the water heater.

BlochWave

H/A forum: Helping idiots see the obvious since 19..something

Deathwing

I can't really think of a bowl design that would inhibit this, and I'm not home often enough, especially when they're eating, to just squirt him every time. Should I just deal with it? It's not too bad, but I'd like to put their food in the kitchen but then they'd get it beneath everything

It sounds like, if they're flipping the food out of the bowl, that maybe he's just trying to play with it? Do you have many toys or other little rolling/rattling things he can mess with? Never really had this problem with our cats, so I don't really have many other ideas

Knocking things onto the floor on the other hand - CD's, (full) drink glasses (2 keyboards killed so far), figurines, keys, pens, etc.....All gets smacked off various flat surfaces in the name of kitteh science research :P

As someone posted while I was typing this, it could also be possible that he just doesn't like the flavor of some of the pieces - is it some kind of mix?

Speaking of which, any advice on litter box placement? The design of my first apartment(1BR) was pretty simple and I had nowhere to put it except by the TV in a corner of the living area. At least it was covered, but it was kinda gross

Covered is definately the way to go. One of the little Glade Plug-In air fresheners in the room somewhere will help. Also, using one of the baking soda litters works very well - don't skimp on it, and scoop it every couple days or so at the most. We tried using some of the baking soda cat litter freshener that you just sprinkle on top also, but they absolutely hated it for some reason and refused to use that box for a couple days.

At the moment, we have one box in a corner of our den, with one of the folding shoji screens partially enclosing, and another in the back corner of our walk-in closet in the bedroom. Despite what you might expect, we don't really have any trouble with any smell getting on the clothes hanging inside.

Hmm... the more I think of it that bedroom closet would be nice. Is the water heater as big of a problem as I think it is? I assume it would get rather warm, and has things like pipes and hoses I'd rather they not jack with

Yeah, I would tend to think this is probably a bad idea - for safety issues and extra heat/moisture possibly affecting bacteria growth on stuff sitting in the box. The unused bedroom sounds like a much better location, as long as you can leave the door open 24/7.

BlochWave

Ooo, a shoji would be a super classy solution, but is that something I could install in an apartment? Can you get them like..free standing somehow?

I'd like that unused bedroom to be potentially usuable, and it drives me crazy having the boxes in plain sight, even if they're covered and I can't smell anything(the sound of them using them and covering up their poo drives me even crazier!), I'm so not a germaphobe, I guess I'm a ...litteraphobe?

Deathwing

Ooo, a shoji would be a super classy solution, but is that something I could install in an apartment? Can you get them like..free standing somehow?

Yep. I honestly forget where we bought ours (was a few years ago), but it's basically like the one on this page, the 3-way folding one.

LoveIsUnity

Another simple solution for litterbox placement, which may or may not work for you, is in a closet. I know this sounds really bizarre, but my folks were forced to put our cat's litterbox in their linen closet because they have a dog that liked to mess with our cat. The placement has worked out really well for them. Just, obviously, make sure you don't close the door to the closet as you will be want to do for the first week or two.

Improvolone

If you have any kind of entrance way, maybe consider putting the box there. We've got our immediatly to the right of you as you entre our front door, but having it in the foyer really keeps it out of all living space. I personally wouldn't want to run the risk of turning any of the rooms into the cats rooms.

FF

Some cats are just slobs when it comes to eating. One of my moms cats eats so....enthusiastically, he'll manage to shove half his food out of the bowl. Her solution was to put his food in a bowl on the floor, on top of a cheap, plastic cookie sheet. Kept the mess easy to clean up at least.

Psychotic One

I think some pets just develop wierd habits. I had a long hair Dauchshound that loved to line up her food like pellets in pac man and work her way down the line. It could just be something the cat does and maybe a mat or something you can wash easily would be a good thing to put down so when he does do it clean up will be easier.

grim123

yeah one of my cats does the same thing she'll scoop out a mouthful drop it on the floor and then eat it leaving crumbs everywhere.
As for your litter problem have you tried toilet training them? thats what I ended up doing all you have to do is remember to flush after their done

Pheezer

BlochWave wrote: »

H/A forum: Helping idiots see the obvious since 19..something

I'd like to point out that this post

This one right here

This tricked two H/A mods into throwing an infraction

TWO.

It is not a proud day in moderating. I guess it might be if you're not Thanatos or pheezer, but man, if you are? Time to go make potato chips.

falsedef

Pheezer wrote: »

BlochWave wrote: »

H/A forum: Helping idiots see the obvious since 19..something

I'd like to point out that this post

This one right here

This tricked two H/A mods into throwing an infraction

I didn't even realize that was the OP til you said something

Unknown

This content has been removed.

Pheezer

all you forumers look alike to me

Tube

this is what I have to deal with

these retards

every day

Medopine

Not to alarm you or anything, but my cat did that eat some food, leave some food outside the bowl for a while. Turned out his stomach was full of rubber hair ties and he actually couldn't EAT that much food, so he was chewing and spitting it out (and also throwing up a lot which was the big reason I took him in for xrays).

What is your feeding schedule/amount? My cats eat twice a day, 1/4 cup each of dry food. They are on a bit of a diet. They never leave anything uneaten :P

Pheezer

Okay but anyhow

I used to have a cat that would insist on trying to scoop food up with her paw and eat it from her paw.

This lead to a lot of food finding its way to the floor.

She was not interested in food that was not in her dish.

Nothing was wrong with her, she was happy and healthy and about as normal as cats ever are. So don't get too worried. If kitty is actually consuming a good amount of the food and isn't puking horrendously and isn't terribly underweight, kitty is probably just fine.

Shark_MegaByte

Does that water heater make noise when it's in operation? Hiss, hum, pipes popping, etc? Because if it's going while you're taking a shower, and the cats are nervous about the noise, and you have the litterbox in there near it.... they may choose an "alternative evacuation site." Might wanna keep an eye on that for a while, have a trial period or something.

Sometimes cats are uncomfortable with strong air fresheners and other scents, too. It helps if you want to combat litterbox odor to concentrate the scents higher up near human nose level as opposed to cat nose level.

grim123

do this no more litter problems

BlochWave

Sorry about my seemingly ripe for the modding post, I see what happened there >_>

My dumb ass just sent Thanatos another private message after Pheezer modded me being all baww I got modded again before I realized it was already undone so now I look like a whiny bitch

This day rocks

oh btw

Mephistopheles

well, if it really is a huge problem, you could always have a few set feeding times during the day, instead of leaving food out all day. That would probably get them on a regular poop cycle as well. My uncle (who is a weird man) feeds his cat 5/8ths of a can of food twice a day.

While we're on the subject of weird pet feeding habits, one of my friends had a corgi who could only eat his food off the floor, but it could not be hard floors. They put a mat under his bowl because he would carry his pieces of food over to the carpet (in another room), set it down, pick it back up and eat it. Then he'd go get another piece and repeat. Once he got the mat though, he would lay a few pieces out and leave the green ones. pretty awesome.

One of my cats plays fetch. Whenever someone has a piece of foil from candy or something, we wad it up and throw it. She brings it back, drops it at your feet/on your lap and sits and waits till you throw it again. She will literally guilt you into playing, as she just looks from it, to you, to it. And she has by now stashed away tons of these little things all over the house.

Oh, and your cats look awesome. Are they both 8 mo old?