HELP! Howie won’t eat unless I’m around

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Howiesmom

Howiesmom

Member Since 2020
Somehow Howie has developed a bad habit of not eating unless I’m right there. He’s had an auto feeder for a long time and had no problems eating out of it (3 mini meals each cycle) until recently. I used to watch him go running when he heard the feeder move to the next opening, so I know he could hear it. Now I come home from work and he hasn’t eaten anything all day since breakfast. But as soon as I am right there, he starts eating. This is not good as sometimes I don’t get home until close to PM shot time and he shouldn’t be eating. I’ve been still able to work from home a little, but he won’t even eat unless I’m in the kitchen (almost as if he needs a reminder). At night time, I give him a +3 mini meal (on his plate) and do a test before going to bed. But I’ve stopped even putting food in his feeder for his other 2 overnight mini meals as it’s just a waste and his food is expensive. I have a different flavor of food on order but I’m not sure if that is going to break this habit. I’m not sure what to do as I know he should have food throughout the day to help his pancreas (as opposed to just his 2 main meals) and these mini meals are part of his caloric intake for the day. Any thoughts, advice or experiences you can share? Thanks!
 
Can you try putting some special treats on top of just the autofeeder meals? Have you tried leaving food out and just letting him graze? You only need to worry about him eating close to preshot if his numbers are low and the food might be inflating his numbers above what might be otherwise too low to shoot. The "no food two hours before preshot" is a suggestion for new people, before they know how much of a food bump their cat gets from their meals.

Some cats can be social eaters. I fostered a shelter kitty who got hepatic lipidosis (fatty liver) during a strike that closed the shelter so he didn't have people around except the manager briefly, and stopped eating. :( Got any neighbours who can stop in during the day and just be there for him?
 
Wendy&Neko said:
Can you try putting some special treats on top of just the autofeeder meals? Have you tried leaving food out and just letting him graze? You only need to worry about him eating close to preshot if his numbers are low and the food might be inflating his numbers above what might be otherwise too low to shoot. The "no food two hours before preshot" is a suggestion for new people, before they know how much of a food bump their cat gets from their meals.

Some cats can be social eaters. I fostered a shelter kitty who got hepatic lipidosis (fatty liver) during a strike that closed the shelter so he didn't have people around except the manager briefly, and stopped eating. :( Got any neighbours who can stop in during the day and just be there for him?
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I haven’t tried putting treats on the food but certainly can try. I’ve also been contemplating just leaving the cover off as I know he hates eating with it (have the Cat Mate feeder with deeper bowls). That would allowing grazing and not necessarily keep him on a timeline of eating. I did try some small bowls in the feeder, but they were too small. With no teeth, he really has an interesting time eating. Unfortunately I don’t have anyone who can stop in. My work is slower in the summer, so I may just have to start coming home at lunch until I get this back under control.

Have you ever used a cat water fountain? Any ideas/advice in trying to get him using it?
 
JaxBenji said:
I used cat mate (and pet safe....I was an auto feeder fan and, luckily, so was Jax) - these are the bowls that worked for me (and fairly affordable) - link to Amazon.
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Thanks! I had ones similar to those and he didn’t like them but I just found some new ones at Walmart today that fit and are a bit bigger so they don’t slide around in the tray so much. Paws crossed!
 
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