I remember when my daughter first started feeding herself--what a mess. By the time she was finished eating spaghetti, the floor looked like it was covered in red shag. But honestly, she had nothing on my cat. Meeko lifts the food from her bowl, and eats from the floor. Sometimes, she even carries food into the family room--sort of like T.V. dinner for cats.
Although I'm sure Meeko gets a big kick out of watching me clean it up, I figured there must be other reasons for her behaviour. I've checked the Internet, and this is what I came up with:
Cats don't like their whiskers to touch the sides of a bowl.
I'll start giving her food in a larger dish, and report back. In my search for answers to this and other deep questions, I discovered that there's lots of weird and wonderful things about cats:
A cat doesn't meow at another cat.
I know this was true of my cat, Chowder. She saved that sound just for me--at 4:00 in the morning, when she was hungry and I was sleeping. I feel very special.
25% of cat owners blow dry their cat after a bath.
As amazed as I am by this fact, I'm more amazed that people even attempt giving their cat a bath. I tried this once, and discovered it would be far safer to fling myself into a pack of hungry lions.
A cat that bites you after you have rubbed his stomach, is probably biting out of pleasure, not anger.
This is good news--my cat must be deliriously happy.
To determine if your cat's collar fits properly, make sure you can slip two fingers under the collar, between the collar and your cat's neck.
I have a confession to make: I always check the collars of other people's cats. If I feel they're too tight, I loosen them when no one is looking. I feel a bit like a guardian angel, though if I was caught in the act, I'm sure the owners wouldn't agree.
6 comments:
You know, I don't like my whiskers to touch the sides of my bowl, either. But I'm with you... I am constantly amazed, based on the number of pictures I've seen on the intarwebs, by the number of people that wash their cats. I thought that's what cats' tongues were for. <shrug>
I thought that's what cats' tongues were for.
Hey, maybe if I used my tongue to bathe the cat, I would've been all right.
Wow, you made me miss my cats.
Funny about the whisker/bowl thing.
Funny also that we don't think to trim the whiskers, no?
In my hunt for an answer to the food-outside-the-bowl-thing, I discovered that cats use their whiskers as sensors.
You know, Lisa, you should get another cat. Or two. :)
I do the exact same thing -- I check the collars of dogs and cats if they look too tight! (glad to know I'm not alone in the vigilante collar-loosening) My younger cat always shakes her head as soon as she first dunks her head in her food bowl. She sprays food all over the place. But she won't eat off the floor, so I have to pick it up and put it back in the bowl.
glad to know I'm not alone in the vigilante collar-loosening
Me too--not only does it mean there's more pet collar sleuths out there, but it also means I'm not alone with my odd, little quirks.
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