How often you feed your cats each day depends on your schedule. In many cases, it works best to feed your cats once in the morning before you leave and once again in the evening when you return. Provide food puzzles if you have a cat(s) that is used to grazing instead of eating at meal times. This will help them transition to timed meals. Putting a small amount of kibble in one of these puzzles won’t replace a whole meal but it may satiate a cat enough until meal time comes around.
It may be that your presence calms your cats while they eat because they know that they will be protected from other cats trying to get their food when you are around. This will allow them to focus on their food more than on defensiveness. If you see a cat trying to eat another cat’s food, physically separate them. It’s important that you do this so the more submissive cat doesn’t get taken advantage of.
Setting specific meal times and taking away food when meal time is over requires a gradual training process that may take some time for your cats to adjust to. If your cat meows repeatedly at you for food when it is not meal time, just remember that you are working to make a peaceful household and your cat will not starve if it has to wait an hour for food.
The pheromone sprays used for calming cats mimic the pheromones given off by mother cats to calm their kittens.
Make sure that the food bowls are as identical as possible. You do not want to create competition for a food dish that is easier to eat out of or is slightly bigger. [5] X Trustworthy Source American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Leading organization dedicated to the prevention of animal cruelty Go to source Don’t forget to place a water bowl near each food bowl. In most cases, when you first set out multiple food dishes the cats will naturally gravitate to one of their own. Once they have basically picked their bowls, make them stick to them to establish their territories.
Placing your cat’s bowl even a foot away from the wall should allow it to sit in any place around the bowl that it feels is best.
Giving all your cats space from other cats will allow them to better focus on their food instead of turf wars or food competition. It is ideal if your cats cannot see each other during meal time. This add tremendously to your cat’s ability to focus on food instead of the other cats.
It may be that one of your cats eats different food and your other cats eat the same food. If this is the case, only the cat with different food needs to be isolated during meal time. Cats that are eating different food need to be kept separate until all cats in the household are done eating. The will remove the temptation to sneak a bite from the bowl of the last cat eating.
For example, if you have 2 cats, you could try adding a third feeding dish. If you add an additional feeding dish, make sure you put a water dish nearby.
There can be power dynamics between cats that they need to sort out themselves. When cats are initially establishing whose dish is whose, there may be some switching up that occurs.
If you have two cats that repeatedly fight over food dishes, these cats should be fed in different rooms.
If you have a very small home, this can be difficult to achieve. Keeping cats that don’t get along separated works better if you have a large house or at least several rooms that can be closed off. You can also try feeding aggressive cats in cat carriers. That way they won’t be able to run around and harass your other cats when they’re finished eating. [8] X Research source While it is true that some cats may have conflict at first and then learn to get along, that is not always the case. If you have tried to get your cats to get along and nothing seems to work, it may be time to give them separate territories in your home. [9] X Trustworthy Source American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Leading organization dedicated to the prevention of animal cruelty Go to source
