tricollie4me
11-20-2005, 09:17 AM
My little daughter, age 2, likes to help with feeding the cats. However, due to Levi's enormous interest in food (he circles the bins, jumps on top of them and if he can, he jumps inside! We always shoo him off, but he's ever hopeful I'll just let him free feed 15 lbs of Royal Canin, I guess...lol), he gets all three cats circling and hopping and excited about mealtime! Twice now, my daughter has been too close to Bonnie during these few minutes of chaos and gotten scratches on her nose and cheek that have drawn blood. I would love for mealtime to be peaceful, but it appears that feeding the fur-kids mimics the same circus as when I feed all my people-kids!
I truly don't want to ban my daughter from helping feed the cats -- she isn't always part of feeding time, but when she's interested/available to help, I think it's a positive activity. What I need to do is eliminate the potential for the kinds of scratches that draw blood :( I've taken to trimming all the cats nails more regularly, and I'm wondering if using Soft Paws on Bonnie for a while will help keep my daughter safe while we figure out if there's a better routine to feed the pets. Right now, I prepare all their food dishes in the small half-bath because that's where Bonnie and Bijou (our collie) eat and where we keep the food bins. I then bring Levi & Charity's food downstairs to their little meal station, where Levi circles and dances his way to "his spot." Perhaps with the combination of closer nail trimming, trying out Soft Paws on Bonnie, and giving everyone more room to move during prep time, things will improve?
Anyone use Soft Paws for reasons other than scratching furniture (none of the cats do this, which is awesome! They love their scratching posts and use them often)...
Thanks for reading, I didn't mean to write a book, lol! I could just use a little encouragement :)
I truly don't want to ban my daughter from helping feed the cats -- she isn't always part of feeding time, but when she's interested/available to help, I think it's a positive activity. What I need to do is eliminate the potential for the kinds of scratches that draw blood :( I've taken to trimming all the cats nails more regularly, and I'm wondering if using Soft Paws on Bonnie for a while will help keep my daughter safe while we figure out if there's a better routine to feed the pets. Right now, I prepare all their food dishes in the small half-bath because that's where Bonnie and Bijou (our collie) eat and where we keep the food bins. I then bring Levi & Charity's food downstairs to their little meal station, where Levi circles and dances his way to "his spot." Perhaps with the combination of closer nail trimming, trying out Soft Paws on Bonnie, and giving everyone more room to move during prep time, things will improve?
Anyone use Soft Paws for reasons other than scratching furniture (none of the cats do this, which is awesome! They love their scratching posts and use them often)...
Thanks for reading, I didn't mean to write a book, lol! I could just use a little encouragement :)