Another aspect in cat dynamics I wasn't used to was the feeding time mayhem. All of my previous cats got along famously during meal times. I served them their meals out of two large dog bowls as a matter of fact. They either politely ate together or one ate while the other waited. But never this.....
The first time I fed Shadow and the new cat (who I temporally named Darwin) together was a failure with a capitol F. Shadow growled and hissed at Darwin, keeping him away while aforementioned tried to quickly snarf down every bite. Well, Shadow would have done so if I had not taken the bowl away.
I wound up dividing the food up into two bowls. I also had to stand watch with a fly swatter in hand. Why? Because Shadow would finish his food, growl and go after Darwin's food. Darwin being a timid cat would run away leaving everything for Shadow and go hungry.
So starting over, I divided the food into two separate dishes and watched as they ate. When Shadow finished his, he automatically went after Darwin's food, but I was ready! I tapped him on the nose with the fly swatter and shouted "No!". It took several tries but Shadow backed off. However, I had to stay and watch Darwin eat his food, because if I didn't Shadow would pounce on him.
I went back to the cat expert site and found out that in cases where there is meal time aggression they suggest you separate and feed your cats in different rooms. I have no room to do that in my small domicile, so I'm going to teach them meal time etiquette.
The very next day I went to K-Mart and bought two smaller bowls, and retired the dog dishes.
Wonderful, I'm now a Feline Lunch Room Monitor ........
Dawn Skyy
