Dry food messy eaters solution?

[Janeway]

At least one of my cats is a messy eater and the other two may have picked up the habit. They make a terrible mess around the dry food bowl. I think what happens is they take the kibble out, crunch it and what flies out of their mouths is forgotten. And it flies all around. I sometime find it down the hall and even in bed, which tells me they are stepping on them too and it gets stuck between their toes, like litter. I keep a place mat underneath, but that is good for just the food that lands there. Since I walk around barefoot most of the time, on mostly hardwood floors, I'm constantly stepping on these little bits. I've tried keeping a broom near the bowl, but I would have to sweep everytime someone has a snack.

Well, I'm running out of patience and wondered if anyone had this problem and if they found a way to solve the problem. I'm considering switching them to an all wet cat food diet, which they would LOVE, but that would mean I would have to give up the convenience of free feeding. They already get wet food for breakfast, so I guess it would just mean one or two other feedings? How many would be suggested? How much? I'd love to hear from others who feed only wet.

[Medusa]

Try using a mat that you can buy at any pet food store. I don't know the name of it but it's plastic and sort of looks like tall grass. When the food drops, it gets caught in the mat. Then all you need to do is shake it out once a day. I have two of them. There's also something called a Catit placemat. It catches the food that they crumble, too. I'm w/you; the crunching of dry food under my shoes on hardwood floor makes my hair stand on end, that and cat litter. Try these products, though, before you switch to all wet food. They need both wet and dry. Good luck.

[Freedom]

This is what works for me (I have a few messy eaters):

1. use multiple dishes and put in VERY LITTLE food per dish. So, I have to put food out 3 times per day, at least it is cleaned up in between me putting it down. Yes, they DO go back and eat up all the crumbs if there aren't any larger pieces about.

2. Set the dishes on a boot tray (can get those for about $4 at a DIY hardware store). Catches most of the crumbs.

I liked Medusa's idea as will, will have to look into that.

[Pinot's Mom]

Are the dishes raised? Pinot does the same thing (which is very common); she's one of many kitties that does not like to chew, so the food is essentially crunched once and swallowed. Initially, her food was ground level. Now, it's on a pet store mat, with raised sides, and her dishes are in a "rack" that raises them an inch or two. These "rack" dishes are available at pet stores, and it also resolved the problem of her sending her dish flying around the floor. Give it a try!

[Janeway]

Thank you so much Medusa, Pinot's Mom and Freedom! I think I'll try first raising the bowl and then putting only a little food out at a time and cleaning up right after. Makes sense all around. Up until now I've just heaped the bowl full, which I have to say is because I worry what might happen to me if I couldn't come home. So it's a new day!

Kinsey, my little 8 year old rescue, is probably mainly responsible. She'll take a bite, move just a little away from the bowl and give a little head shake as she crunches. That's probably what causes the bits to fly around. Who knows how she came to do that. It almost seems like maybe a reversion to "shake it until it dies" or something else from the wild, though I know she was never in the "wild" but probably had a lot of competition for food.

So, I'll continue with wet food for breakfast. It's Christmas, birthdays, happy happy happy, the total highlight of their day. And then the dry food in multiple bowls in a very small amount and leave it out for now. I'll see how that goes. Glad to hear that they will eat the little bits if that's all that's left.

And if all that fails, I'll try the "grass" mats.

Fingers crossed!

[Medusa]

Up until now I've just heaped the bowl full, which I have to say is because I worry what might happen to me if I couldn't come home.

This made me chuckle. I thought "At last, someone who thinks as I do!" As I've grown older, I worry that I might die in my sleep and my cats will starve to death. I do hope that one of the suggestions works for you and if not, the grass mats work fine. You can find them in the litterbox aisle. They're to be placed outside the box to keep litter from tracking but I think that they're a little tough on paws so I place them under food dishes instead. Good luck and keep us posted.

[Freedom]

Kinsey, my little 8 year old rescue, is probably mainly responsible. She'll take a bite, move just a little away from the bowl and give a little head shake as she crunches.

My Chestnut has this habit: take a HUGE scoop of food, move back away from the bowl, now funnel it all out until you have just ONE piece in your mouth. Crunch once, drop one bit, swallow the other bit and go back for another scoop; after all, can't expect a spoiled cat to eat food off the floor!

He is the main reason I put small amounts out, around here - ensures his scoops are small!

[Janeway]

Medusa, you read between the lines and understood my meaning! Yes, there are at least two of us with this fear. It's doubtful that there would be prolonged starvation, but this is the real reason for a large ever-full bowl and three bowls of water. I've stopped short of leaving a dripping tap (which they would love!), but I've noticed that the furnace and AC when they're running drip condensation into a drain which I took the cover off (can't remember why) and the condensation drips into the well around the pipe that the water goes down when the well overflows, so there's always water as long as there is heat and AC. I think this fear comes from hearing all those sad stories of the little old lady who dies and no one notices and her cats start do what animals do when there is no other food around. See, I can't even say it! Or someone goes to the hospital suddenly or worse and no one thinks about the pets. Or, I can't believe anyone would ever do this, and there is a special place in hell for them, the pets are left behind when the owners move out.

I may have to use the grass mats. I know it must be unpleasant to their little toes, and they'll jump over if they can or I'd have them around the litter boxes. Hate the way they track the litter too.

[Medusa]

Medusa, you read between the lines and understood my meaning! Yes, there are at least two of us with this fear. It's doubtful that there would be prolonged starvation, but this is the real reason for a large ever-full bowl and three bowls of water. I've stopped short of leaving a dripping tap (which they would love!), but I've noticed that the furnace and AC when they're running drip condensation into a drain which I took the cover off (can't remember why) and the condensation drips into the well around the pipe that the water goes down when the well overflows, so there's always water as long as there is heat and AC. I think this fear comes from hearing all those sad stories of the little old lady who dies and no one notices and her cats start do what animals do when there is no other food around. See, I can't even say it! Or someone goes to the hospital suddenly or worse and no one thinks about the pets. Or, I can't believe anyone would ever do this, and there is a special place in hell for them, the pets are left behind when the owners move out.

I may have to use the grass mats. I know it must be unpleasant to their little toes, and they'll jump over if they can or I'd have them around the litter boxes. Hate the way they track the litter too.

Have you thought of a cat fountain? I have a couple of them going plus their water dishes and they love them. As for the grass mats, that just may be my fear that it hurts their paw pads. I imagine that they wouldn't sell if that was the case. I have noticed that they stand on them while they're eating and drinking so it may not be uncomfortable at all. It's just me.

[Janeway]

I know they will avoid it if possible, but I guess if they have to stand on it to eat, they will. Not exactly the same thing, but I have one of those mats (original purpose being a door mat) where I will step on it before I hit the basement steps, but they have plenty of different routes around it so they avoid it.

So far no starving, whining cats with about a 1/2 cup of food in their main (now smaller) bowl. And they still are leaving some in the bowl. Funny thing, I put the almost empty, filled with mostly little bits now, large bowl on the counter before deciding what to do with it and I noticed Kinsey (only) eating out of it and leaving the bits around it. For one thing, it's much easier to clean up the bits. Two water bowls are already on the counter and now I think I'll try subtracting one water bowl and leaving a food bowl on the counter.

Yes, I tried the fountain, but being lazy got tired of the maintenance. I'm still using the base as a water bowl. I put Brita filtered water in that one and tap water in the others, just in case they have a preference. It's just easier to wash the bowl than to deal with the cleaning and filter care of the fountain.

[Janeway]

Well, good news of a sort. I put the food bowl (replaced one of the water dishes) on the counter and put about a cup a day in it, though I've never found it empty, though lots of bits left over. I've seen them all eat from it, so they know where it is. There's still a bit of a mess, but it actually seems to be less. And it's easy to clean up, being at counter height. And I really don't think anyone is starving, because they'd let me know. Still get their wet food in the morning. There will probably be a bonus to this because the two males have been getting fat and it will be interesting to see if they slim down a bit.

[Medusa]

Hey, whatever works for you, as long as you don't mind them on your countertops. That's a no cat zone here. Not that they obey, mind you, but I like to at least pretend that I'm the boss.

[pomtzu]

My son's cat's food dish is on top of the washing machine - only to keep my dogs from eating the cat food, since the kitties are free fed dry food, and have a once a day small meal of wet food. The cats are still young and spry enough that they have no problem jumping up that far to get the food.