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How does one train a dog to not eat the cat's food?
Our puppy is 9 months old and we're just starting to give him the run of the house while we're home. At this rate, the poor cat is going to starve to death. We can't seem to get the dog to realize that her food is off limits to him. While I could move her food onto the counter, I really don't want my cat, who walks in her litter box, walking around on my counters. She's trained not to go on the kitchen counters anyway.
The puppy always has food out so it's not that he's hungry. He just seems to like her food.
a common problem with folks who own both dogs and cats. We feed our cats on the bathroom counter. I know some who have trained their dogs not to eat cat food but they are very determined and diligent. For now you will have to isolate puppy when you feed the cat. Cat should be fed wet food and only what he can eat at one time anyway (maybe you are already doing that).
Our problem is keeping the cats out of the dogs' kibble. Not healthy for either kind of pet. So we have the kids "wrangle" up the cats when it is time to feed the dogs. We give the dogs 15 minutes to eat and after that it is picked up and the cats let out of the bedroom. You will find a way.
So what are you doing to keep the dog out of the litter box for those tasty treats????
a common problem with folks who own both dogs and cats. We feed our cats on the bathroom counter. I know some who have trained their dogs not to eat cat food but they are very determined and diligent. For now you will have to isolate puppy when you feed the cat. Cat should be fed wet food and only what he can eat at one time anyway (maybe you are already doing that).
Our problem is keeping the cats out of the dogs' kibble. Not healthy for either kind of pet. So we have the kids "wrangle" up the cats when it is time to feed the dogs. We give the dogs 15 minutes to eat and after that it is picked up and the cats let out of the bedroom. You will find a way.
So what are you doing to keep the dog out of the litter box for those tasty treats????
My problem is the cat's food must be left out. She's hyperthyroid and it is very important that she can eat whenever she needs to (literally any time we can get her to eat.) I've been through this before, with a cat, and once they lose weight you can't put it back on. Every ounce of weight we can keep on her is that much longer we get to keep her healthy.
The cat has no interest in the dog's food. She's a bit indignant that he eats hers though.
This is only an issue when we're home because the dog is penned when we leave the house. We'd like to let him roam the house when we're home but we have to figure out how to keep the cat from going on a diet every time we let him out. She can't afford to lose any weight.
My problem is the cat's food must be left out. She's hyperthyroid and it is very important that she can eat whenever she needs to (literally any time we can get her to eat.) I've been through this before, with a cat, and once they lose weight you can't put it back on. Every ounce of weight we can keep on her is that much longer we get to keep her healthy.
The cat has no interest in the dog's food. She's a bit indignant that he eats hers though.
This is only an issue when we're home because the dog is penned when we leave the house. We'd like to let him roam the house when we're home but we have to figure out how to keep the cat from going on a diet every time we let him out. She can't afford to lose any weight.
We have two kitties and a female pit bull who have only crossed paths a couple of times. We keep the kitties out all the time at one end of the house and the pit stays out in the front portion of the house. I was more worried that if they ever got playing that the pit would unintentionally hurt the kitties..she plays rough. As for the food, because we have a pretty good sized house, the kitties have their own room with toys, a big old chair, an old bench to scratch, their litter boxes and we feed them in this room. Between the living room and our kitchen area is a folding door..odd looking to be there but very necessary. Our Pit Bull, Alice, eats in the dining room on her own mat then romps through the kitchen, dining room, master bedroom and on good days she suns herself out on the deck and plays in a big fenced in yard. All our pets have it pretty good. If you can and have the room...choose a special room for your kitty to eat in then pick certain times when they can be together and play. As animals age, sometimes you have to make certain exceptions for them..just a huge part of being a pet owner. Good Luck with this.
We've always had a dedicated cat room with a baby gate, for food, litter box, and just when the cats feel like being by themselves and resting without dogs deciding to try and play (would be extra important with a puppy!) We also cut a cat sized opening in the basement door, since one of my cats doesn't like the others and that gives her more choices to get away from everyone. As a thought though, my youngest cat was kind of skinny and I was trying to get him a little extra food for awhile. I was putting some on top of a tall china cabinet my older cats couldn't even get to. If you don't have a room you can make the cat's room (although I think a relaxation room is best for cats living with dogs) I bet you could find a place the lab can't reach if you really look around the house.
Pammyd, I bet if you let your dog spend supervised time with the kitties, you'd find your dog learns very quickly to interact with them, and could be buddies with those that allow it! Whatever works best for you, though!
We had to put a babygate up. Our yorkiepoo would not stay out of the cats litter box and food. The dog (Penny) will stay out if the litter box now but just can't seem to stay out of the cat food. Penny is a great dog and is VERY Very smart but she just cannot stay out of the darn cat food. And its my understanding that cat food is really bad for dogs. So babygate was our solution.
My problem is the cat's food must be left out. She's hyperthyroid and it is very important that she can eat whenever she needs to (literally any time we can get her to eat.) I've been through this before, with a cat, and once they lose weight you can't put it back on. Every ounce of weight we can keep on her is that much longer we get to keep her healthy.
The cat has no interest in the dog's food. She's a bit indignant that he eats hers though.
This is only an issue when we're home because the dog is penned when we leave the house. We'd like to let him roam the house when we're home but we have to figure out how to keep the cat from going on a diet every time we let him out. She can't afford to lose any weight.
Oscar went from 17 lbs to 9 and then back up to 15 and he is healthy now by only feeding him wet rx royal canin rabbit cause he had IBD. So it is possible to regain health after illness. Lots of folks have your and my problem and there are a myriad solutions. In our previous house we fed the cats on top of the clothes dryer.
We just put the cats' food in a place where the dogs can't reach. We also teach our dogs the "leave it" command so they know to get away if we catch them sniffing around the food, or anything else we don't want them to eat.
If you don't want to deal with baby gates or putting the food up, you can try one of those top-entry cat litterboxes and stick the food inside that. The majority of dogs cannot get into those boxes because they are too deep.
We didn't do anything about it. You've got to fend for yourself in our household.
If they didn't want the dog eating their food, they would have eaten faster or hissed at her.
It never hurt the cats. They lived very long, healthy lives.
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