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25 July 2010

Ask Mecha: New cat eats weirdly. Is this normal for a cat?→[More:] I got a new cat from the shelter. A four-year old neutered male left abandoned in his carrier in an empty apartment. (Stupid people.) Anyway, he's been home for a few days and seems pretty well-adjusted. BUT. He has a weird way of eating his expensive organic kibble. He seems to lick or pick one of the pellets up, drop it on the floor and then pick it up again to eat. I don't hear much chewing (if any) and if it isn't obvious, it is a pretty messy style of eating. I just worried that he is not eating enough this way, pellet by pellet. I have shown him some wet food, and though initially interested, he doesn't eat much of that either. Anyone seen a cat that ate that way? So weirdly inefficient!

post by: typewriter at: 22:39 | 20 comments

One pellet at a time is normal. I had a cat that would pick it out with her paw and plop it in her mouth. She seemed to feel putting her face in the bowl was not lady like. She drank water from her paw too.

posted by arse_hat 25 July | 22:57

Always refer back to rule #1 when dealing with cats -

Rule #1:CATS ARE WEIRD.

Moo Shu (cat I got in January) does not deal with dishes AT ALL. Dry food - grabs a bite, puts it on the floor, eats it. Wet food - grabs a clump with his paw, drops it wherever, eats it. SUPER MESSY, oddly hilarious.

posted by fluffy battle kitten 25 July | 23:11

In terms of strange cat behavior (almost a redundancy in itself), that mode of eating is fairly tame.

posted by Ardiril 26 July | 00:22

Yeah, this is pretty standard, I think. Al, the Best Cat Ever, won't eat kibble from a bowl; he rakes it onto the floor before nomming pellet by pellet.

posted by BitterOldPunk 26 July | 01:28

Bonkers.

posted by typewriter 26 July | 06:16

Yeah, Rule #1 is a good one, always reliable. I've seen this behavior in other cats and occasionally in my present #1 cat, who likes to do it with the wet food rather than kibble, oddly. His main weirdness, though, is that he will not drink from a water dish - only from running water in the sink, or a glass that we've filled and left in the sink for him.

Rule #1.

posted by Miko 26 July | 07:49

I'm pretty sure amro has mentioned her cat Smooshie eating dry food with his paw, too. I'd never heard of this before then.

posted by BoringPostcards 26 July | 07:59

Trilby quite often pulls chunks of his wet food out of his bowl and onto the tile floor, then eats them from there. I'd say your cat's behaviour is within the realm of normal. Cats just have their own little idiosyncrasies. It's only time to worry when the cat isn't eating at all.

posted by Orange Swan 26 July | 08:05

Yep, not so odd. Our late cat Boo Radley would scoop wet food with his paw and then lick it off, rather than eating directly from the bowl. My mother's cat has her trained such that he will only drink water running from the kitchen faucet. And BOP, didn't you guys used to have a cat who would eat only if someone was watching him?

posted by fogovonslack 26 July | 08:34

Despite the fact that this type of behavior is common, he could be having tooth pain. Or gum pain, throat pain, jaw pain, etc. Unless you're sure he got a thorough checkup at the shelter, I'd take him to the vet to be sure. Start keeping an eye on his weight.

posted by serena 26 July | 09:09

Miko, our cat has the same water weirdness too. Has to be freshly drawn water, in a cup. Never a bowl. Freak.

posted by toastedbeagle 26 July | 11:05

Bailey fills her mouth with Science Food - she can fit about 8 or 10 pieces at a time - then she runs (never waddles, she always runs when she does this) into the living room, drops the food (often into one of my shoes if I've left any lying around) and then eats it. Hence I am always treading on bits of Science Food that's either on the floor or lurking in a shoe.

So, nthing what everyone else has said. Cats are weird.

posted by Senyar 26 July | 11:42

Ah ha ha! His behaviour seems pretty normal all things considered!

My cat is going to go in to the vet for a complete checkup so I will look into his teeth just in case. He has lost a bit of weight since he got here, but he was/still overweight/coming from a month in a shelter cage. He eats pretty consistently and all his other 'functions' are pretty regular and normal too, so hopefully it is just his weirdness! Other cats in my life just ate normally out of a bowl. Though I knew a cat that wouldn't eat if it could see the bottom of the bowl.

posted by typewriter 26 July | 12:26

BoPo is correct! My cat Smooshie, like all cats, is weird. Here is a video of him eating.

posted by amro 26 July | 13:19

Nthing that cats are weird. Three of our four cats get wet food only. Each has their own approach to the wet food, including one that does as Trilby does and carts chunks of her wet food away from her bowl, sometimes to drop it on our carpet. That same cat also gets dry food whenever she wants, and likes to drop the pellets next to her dish. Two other cats use their paws to reach balky bits of food in their bowls or in the cat food cans. The fourth cat always eats from the left side of the bowl to the right.

Also, nthing that cats tend to drop food when their teeth hurt, so it is good you are checking on your new kitties' teeth.

posted by bearwife 26 July | 13:28

It looks like Smooshie has Science Food too.

posted by Senyar 26 July | 14:14

He may have back when I filmed that a couple of years ago... Now he eats Royal Canin hypoallergenic food that's 35 bucks for a 6 pound bag but keeps him relatively healthy. He's lucky I love him.

posted by amro 26 July | 15:42

"Is this normal for a cat" - cats have no normal! They are weeeeeeeird creatures.

posted by ThePinkSuperhero 26 July | 15:56

BOP, didn't you guys used to have a cat who would eat only if someone was watching him?

Ah yes. That was Jack. He Who Was Not To Be Fucked With. What a foul-tempered brute that cat was. And he wanted to not only be gazed upon while eating, he wanted to be petted, too. That was the cat that tried to take your friend's ears off...

posted by BitterOldPunk 26 July | 16:39

I had a cat who ate like that (also, when eating spaghetti he would grab a strand, pull it out on the floor, growl and shake his head like mad to KILL IT first, then eat it)

The solution: put the kibbles bowl on a tray or one of those flat plastic things you keep kids plates on. I do this anywaynow because me new cat chews with his mouth open and spills everywhere.

I think the take-off-plate thing stems from when they were fed several cats in one bowl or they used to stealing food off someone else plate. "I'll just take this here.. and go over here to eat it"

posted by dabitch 27 July | 09:45

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