As I have written before, I am a blue-gray cat and I live with two others: a Siamese named Lily and a calico female named PurrBuddy. The latter cat is the youngest and the biggest troublemaker. Let me describe the trouble:
PurrBuddy and I have to share a food bowl. I am the older cat so I have the privilege of eating first , as any civilized cat knows. Purrbuddy has now accepted this fact on one amusing condition: she reaches into the food bowl, knocks out a paw full of kibbles onto the floor and then, she can eat when I do. This, of course, makes a mess since she does not find all the kibbles, some of them roll under the cabinet and the bowl's edge. When they roll behind the bowl, she uses her face to scoot the bowl to catch them. At that time, I have to reposition myself in order to eat. Sometimes, the food bowl is a few feet from where it started.
When PurrBuddy is done eating, she cries until she is let out. Recently, she has learned to jump at the doorknob making big thuds against the door. If PurrBuddy is allowed to eat on her own, the crying is worst and she does not eat any food.
Lily gets her bowl in the kitchen, while the two of us have to go into the bathroom with the door shut. If the door was open, PurrBuddy would run from our food over to Lily's and eat it, pushing poor Lily out of the way. In fact, once she is let out of the bathroom, she runs directly to Lily's bowl and inspects it, often licking the last bit out of the bottom. She has this same behavior whether or not she started out in the bathroom with me or by herself.
Lily has bad teeth and has to have her food in an easily chewable state, usually smushy. She is usually given the first opportunity to eat when we are offered meat. When meat is served, we are given a large community bowl. PurrBuddy is put into the bathroom or another room until we have eaten our fair share, then she can join us. If she is not put somewhere else, she would shove until she got all the meat. I suspect that she may think meat has been served when she is put in the bathroom, that is why she runs over to the Lily's kitchen bowl.
The naughty behavior does not stop with the food bowl. PurrBuddy has developed a nasty habit of attacking Lily, who howls loudly. Although she mostly just bites Lily's head without removing any fur, this behavior is not desirable. Experts say that as long as the attacker is not growling or hissing before the attack, then this is not a sign of an aggressive attack. This behavior and its resolution is the main reason for this blog.
Cait has been putting PurrBuddy in room by herself when she is caught. Another recommended method is dropping a towel on the attacking cat to get his attention and walk away. (Walking away from a naughty cat is a good tactic because when cats have had enough of another they walk away showing their backsides to the offending cat.) Also, treating this cat to more attention and allowing him to have the food first sometimes stops the lead cat in the household from picking on the others.
PurrBuddy is not the top cat in the household and only targets Lily, so Cait suspects the behavior comes from jealousy of the extra attention Lily gets. Lily tends to seek out laps to sit upon, so PurrBuddy must see that she gets extra affection and knows she gets the meat food bowl first. Cait has decided to give PurrBuddy more treats, spend more time petting and playing with her.
Hopefully sometime soon, PurrBuddy will stop her attacks on Lily and peace will reign in the house.
PurrBuddy likes to growl when picked up by one person, the Cat Bather. We'll call this person the Cat Bather, because that is what he does best. Cait promises you this person is completely foolish at everything else, but that is another story. Fortunately, PurrBuddy doesn't do anything about it right way and the behavior is ignored, but it is very naughty.
So long for now and best wishes to all.
- Words belong to me, Blittie the Blue Kitty
- Clip Art obtained on Microsoft Office Online Images and colored to look like me.
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