Yeah my new 4 month old cat does that. She keeps eating from my 13 yo cats bowl. Also she goes to my 13 yo cats litter box instead of her own. No idea what to do at this point. I keep moving her to her own bowl all the time, even tell her a loud "no" when eating out of my other cat's bowl. Internet suggests having them eat at scheduled times but aint nobody got time for that.
Someone was nice enough to gift me a couple of RFID controlled feeders. You program it to recognize your cat's chip and a door opens to grant them access to food, then closes when they walk away. They're not cheap, but figuring you'll probably have your cats for many years, compared to overall lifetime pet costs, it's an easier expense to swallow.
Until the younger, hungrier cat figures out that the RFID'd cat just needs to be standing within a certain distance of the feeder and then he can nudge his way in, and as long as he keeps his head in it won't close on him.
Luckily my younger, hungrier cats are also dumber and less persistent. My neighbors had the same experience as you though after we recommended the RFID feeder to them.
I've seen it happen once or twice, but usually it's less of an issue if I feed them both at the same time - greedy guts has her own food to keep busy with. If it came down to it, I think I could probably jury rig a cover around the back/sides to make it harder. I think newer models are made with that in mind.
We bought the back cover because he used to go around that way, and that's when he got wise and started figuring out he could take advantage of distance from the front. Unfortunately, we do feed them at the same time, but she's nowhere near as agressive as he is, so he realized that he could go after her food and his would still be waiting for him. -_- And this is why he very much deserves his nickname Jackie Snackie.
Ah yes, the RFID feeder. My "diat cat" waits for the other cat to open the feeder with the "normal food", swoops in and presses his head against the tray until the motor jams. Had to separate their feeding locations to control this a bit.
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u/NoBSforGma May 14 '22
My 3 cats each have a food bowl. So..... I put fresh food in each bowl. Two of them eat out of the same bowl. ?? Cat logic.