smart kittens...

[yumyum6970]

My 8 month old himmie/siamese mix kitten will lay down on her belly to eat her food, what is bad or should I say wierd she will dip the food out of the bowl with her paw just like we eat with our hands sometimes. What makes me so upset is that I have to clean the floor all the time because she makes a mess. I tell my husband she has probably seen us eat at the table and has picked it up from us. Maybe I should send a video to America's Funniest Home Videos.

[NoahsMommy]

That is just too cute!! Do you have a picture of her?

Welcome to Pettalk!

[Karen]

I reccomend a plastic "placemat" or two like the ones they sell for children, so that it would be easier to clean up after her. I often see TV shows with wild animals that take part of the "kill" away from the rest of the crwod to eat it on their own - maybe this is her version of that instinct! :)

By the way, I bet she's adorable. When I was a teenager I babysat for a family that raised Himalayans, so I know just how cute they can be! :)

[TheAntiPam]

My blind cat, Winston, does strange things while he is eating - and makes a mess too! He will take two or three nuggets of the dry food into his mouth, then back away from the bowl. When he is back about 2 big steps, he puts his head far down between his paws, so the top of his head is almost resting on the floor. Then he starts to crunch his food. Of course, with all this maneuvering, he manages to drop half the food.

Sometimes, if he backs up into something, he still tries to get his head down, and his back end rises up and flips him right over. Then he loses all his food, and has to go back for more. Of course, he never eats the stuff he just dropped :confused: :confused:

I don't know if he does this because he's got strange wiring in his little brain, or because he's a cat! :eek:

[tuxluvr]

Ritz only started doing this in the past 3 months (she is now about 18 months old)...we refer to it as "picknicking" ... taking pieces of kibble to a new location and chomping away. She is pretty good about licking up the crumbs.

The water dish is another matter....we finally 'nailed' it to a piece of plywood because she would pick it up with her teeth and flip it over, then play around in the resulting puddle.

[yorkster]

Tuxluver :D :D :D .....does that sound familiar! My almost year old M .Coon practily takes a bath in his water dish!
His name is Wylie (aka 'the waterboy'), and he does the food thing too- eats with his paw, and also likes to put his food into his water (now THAT is a mess!)
We have tried a really heavy dish, placemats, plastic cafeteria tray, and finally putting his water dish into a deep plastic dishpan. Nothing has worked- maybe we will give the nailing it to a board thing.
:rolleyes:
I am hoping he will outgrow it.........

[tuxluvr]

Yorkster, here is the "home made kitty proof" water dish...perhaps a new patent here? The first time she used the "altered" dish, she stood on the board and tried again to flip the bowl with her teeth...13 pound kitty standing on board somewhat limits the mobility of said dish :) (note, the nails are non-corroding kind...no danger to lil Ritz)

http://wsphotofews.excite.com/039/oh/F9/3p/wX64020.jpg


Funny, she never tried to do this to the food dish, only the water

[ December 30, 2001: Message edited by: tuxluvr ]

[tuxluvr]

Oh, my, I just realized her food dish in the picture is EMPTY.....better hurry and feed her majesty :) :) :) :D :D

[sasvermont]

My two cats (and the previous cat) love to drink their water in the bedroom, from a glass. I can put the identical glass next to their food in the kitchen and they will not touch it. They like it AWAY from their food. You guys may try moving their water. Maybe its just an Abyssinan cat thing.... I don't know.

:rolleyes:

[ December 29, 2001: Message edited by: SasVermont ]

[Pam]

tuxluvr, you do have a great invention there! It looks like you have nails on three of the sides so I guess that's how you slide the bowl out to wash it. Very clever!! Andy washes his feet in his water bowl (much to Trevor's dismay I'm sure) but neither of my cats have ever actually tried to move their water bowl. On the other hand, my Bella (standard poodle) would occasionally try to pick it up and walk around with it so I got a heavy ceramic bowl. It is pretty large because she drinks a lot and Andy is thrilled because now he thinks I have given him a larger bowl for bathing. :rolleyes:

[tuxluvr]

Pam, the water dish gets a thorough steam and scrub every other day--Ritz likes to give her fake fur mice a bath in there...the water can get a little "fuzzy" if you know what I mean...I just pick up the whole board and turn it upside down over the sink to use the spray attachment, then scrub.

..

[ December 30, 2001: Message edited by: tuxluvr ]

[Ila]

Wow !! I know cats think their human most of the time but yours is really playing the part. Too Funny!!

[yorkster]

That is a great idea, Tuxluver! It just might work........and it would certainly add to the decor of my spare bedroom!
:D :D :D

[tuxluvr]

Yorkster, no flip overs since the minor water dish construction project about a year ago....after about a week, she quit trying to pick it up with her teeth. :eek:

[yumyum6970]

No, I don't have a photo of her doing this but I need to get one and scan it for yall.
Yesturday she got in way serious trouble with the neighbors because they left their back door open. Of course yum yum walks in and breaks their pot with that holds onion plants in it.


Originally posted by yumyum6970:
<STRONG>My 8 month old himmie/siamese mix kitten will lay down on her belly to eat her food, what is bad or should I say wierd she will dip the food out of the bowl with her paw just like we eat with our hands sometimes. What makes me so upset is that I have to clean the floor all the time because she makes a mess. I tell my husband she has probably seen us eat at the table and has picked it up from us. Maybe I should send a video to America's Funniest Home Videos.</STRONG>

[wayne0214]

Try eating your meals like a cat, and maybe she will adopt that example! :D

.........wayne

[BigCharles]

Originally posted by TheAntiPam:
<STRONG>My blind cat, Winston, does strange things while he is eating - and makes a mess too! ...

I don't know if he does this because he's got strange wiring in his little brain, or because he's a cat! :eek:</STRONG>

Poor baby. It could be because he is blind. Lamoni will pick up kibbles and crunch. Some drop near the bowl. We are trying to get him to keep his head over the bowl, even got a bigger one.

Winston is taking his bit out of the bowl and putting his head down to keep track of what he has between his paws. I see the outside cats at ThunderingBull's farm do this when they cook an extra chicken for the cats. They pull off a hunk and hold it between their paws.

Please take the following as humor and remember that my wife is blind. Have you had any trouble finding him a white cane? We coud get him on the list for a guide dog. How about a subscription to "Cat Fancy" in braille?

Like I said, poor baby. Being a blind human is tough enough. Give him an extra hug from Cindy, Fifi, Lamoni, and me.

[wayne0214]

I'm finding that after the other cats watching my tabby "water cat" (Aquarius) play in the communal water bowl, now, Snow Cat, Mackerella, and Bear all come in with their front legs all wet. That is the oddest thing I've seen a cat do, while drinking water. Aquarius places his entire front leg into the water and sloshes it around, splashing water all over the floor. When he is outside, drinking from either 5 gal. or a 20 gal. container, he does the same thing. It makes no difference how cold it is outside, he still drinks in that manner.

....wayne

[TheAntiPam]

Thanks, BigCharles and crew! Winston wanted a seeing-eye mouse, but found the cord connecting it to the computer limited his mobility some! :D

If kitties did have a braille version of "Cat Fancy", they could only read it once, because their claws would re-write the bumps & punches in the paper! :cool:

I know Winston has lots of kitty instincts, because he regularly saves me from the invasion of the evil dirty socks. He'll pounce and chomp and shake them, and try to tow them around the room.

No matter what the silly (or messy) behavior, we still love them cats!

[tuxluvr]

The talk of blindness made me think of the use of a finger inside a cup to know when liquid had reached a certain level.


Ritz does this right after I fill her water dish - she gently paws the surface of the water to disturb it, I assume so she can tell how far down to put her face....and always laps from the corner of the dish, never the center.

Also has to lick the paw clean before moving on...

[yorkster]

Originally posted by wayne0214:
<STRONG>I'm finding that after the other cats watching my tabby "water cat" (Aquarius) play in the communal water bowl, now, Snow Cat, Mackerella, and Bear all come in with their front legs all wet. That is the oddest thing I've seen a cat do, while drinking water. Aquarius places his entire front leg into the water and sloshes it around, splashing water all over the floor. When he is outside, drinking from either 5 gal. or a 20 gal. container, he does the same thing. It makes no difference how cold it is outside, he still drinks in that manner.

....wayne</STRONG>


Wayne-
My 1 yr. old M. Coon (on Dec. 29th), does this also- pratically takes a bath in his water dish! It's kind of a pain because I have to constantly be wiping-up water off the floor & carpet. Sometimes he even dumps the whole thing.
He is a beautiful cat: white and orange fluff, but always looks scraggely & messy because his whole front and bottom side are wet so much of the time, that his fur gets all frizzy/kinky looking.
He also gets REALLY matted from it. Normally M. Coons don't mat up too much, but Wylie is a different story.....

[wayne0214]

yorkster, OK, I just wanted to compare notes, as this is unusual behavior for me to watch. Aquarius did this when he was a 2 lb. kitten. Yet, this behavior seems to be contageous with some of the others as well. They will dump the water bowl when it is almost dry, so any water spilled will be minimal. But just the same it is another mess for me to clean up. Thanks for the replies all.

...........wayne

[yumyum6970]

No she (Yum Yum) is not blind..she is in perfect health. I think she has just seen us do it that way and has picked up the habit.
Yesturday, we found her laying on our 350 count kingsize bedsheets right at the head of the bed like she belonged there or something. :cool:

[libracats]

Vienna and Chat always scoop their food out of the bowl onto the floor before eating it. This always leaves some food(which happens to be ball shaped) for Chloe to play with. Chloe will spend hours sometimes just playing in the kitchen with the balls of food or her water dish. This I had to change because she kept tipping it over and spilling the water. I use a big double sided dish now but its light and she still pushes it around the kitchen, but it wont tip over ;) Deja likes to "test" the water before she drinks it and will also scratch at the side of the water dish (like when they try to cover up their food, but this is her water??)Then speaking of water, theres Pippi who will sit by the kitchen sink till you turn on the water for her to drink, and Paris and Chloe who prefer the bathroom sink but like to play with the water as it drips all over them in the sink. :D :D :D

[RainbowAndHobbesMom]

Yum, That sound EXACTLY like my kitten, Rainbow! She also makes a mess, but i did put a placemat underneath for easy cleaning! It works very well.... As for the other, Hobbes, HE likes the water dish! :D

[wayne0214]

Yorkster, what is the "strong" about?:confused:

..............wayne

[Kandi~Kakes]

whenever i give my cat cans of food she takes a big bite drops it all on the floor n eats it there. its so cute but messy we had to get her a place mat to make it easier 2 clean up. n one time she didn't like where we put her bowl so she put her paw in it n draged it back a few feet

[AmberLee]

Greetings, Kandi-Kakes,

Is your cat named Kandi-Kakes? How old is he/she? Welcome to Pet Talk. Hope you'll enjoy it here!