How Can I Keep My Cat From Eating My Other Cat’s Food?

There’s many reasons you might need to keep your cats from eating out of each other’s bowls. Allergies, medical issues, weight gain, prescription food. But this is a situation that can be even tougher to manage if one of your cats has decided that he/she will eat whatever they please and that sharing only works in their favor. Cats have just as many issues with living together as humans do!

When one cat is consistently eating another cat’s food it usually means two things:

1) The over-eater is a speed eater. Bolting it down in the blink of an eye.

2) The under-eater is a slow eater. A grazer. The kind of cat who wants to pick at its food for an hour or two, leisurely and luxuriously grazing over the meal – like someone who is unemployed and sleeps 20 hours a day is wont to do.

And it can also sometimes mean that 3) one of your cats is a little bit of a bully.

Combining those three things means the under-eater loses every time, and you really have no choice but to step in. Free feeding isn’t an option if you’re dealing with a cat who is eating food meant for other cats,  so scheduled meal times are going to be necessary.

Try feeding your cats in separate places. Obviously the moocher is going to figure out that there is food to be had in a second location, so you’ll need to be able to monitor the dish, or block the greedy cat’s access to it. This method has its problems. You probably don’t have two hours to guard the slow-eater’s dish every time you serve your cats a meal. A closed door is effective, but when you have to leave the house, you probably don’t want one of your cats closed up in a room by itself all day.

Try and come up with a creative solution that works for your situation.

Here’s some ideas to get you started:

• Is there anywhere in your home that the greedy cat can’t get to and the under-eater can? (A small opening? A high shelf?)
• Would it be possible with your schedule to feed your cats several small servings (small enough for the under-eater to finish in one go) instead?
• Is there anything that might motivate your under-eater to eat faster? A food they particularly like?

Good luck!