# Afraid of his food bowl



## Matti (Jan 28, 2013)

This is a bitof a long shot, but anyway...

My Tom is a 14 month old with Endrocine Pancreatic Insufficiency (EPI) and IBD. He's on various medications in tablet form which he is fine with taking. He's also on Hills Z/D wet and Purina HA dry (both hydrolyzed protein diets), as he has to have wet food with his enzymes for EPI (the Lypex enzymes have to be sprinkled onto wet food before he eats). Anyway, he's having issues recently since he seems to have completely gone off the Z/D wet to the point where he's actually scared of the food bowl- he wont eat out of his bowl (and ive changed his bowl numerous times just in case) and will only eat off the floor- this includes just giving him the dry food, which he loves- he just will not eat out of his bowl.

I am now at the point where i have to handfeed him piece by piece off the floor to get him to eat, and its stressful for both of us. Does anyone know of any way I can get him eating out of the bowl? I'm considering getting a novel protein food and trying him on that to see if that will help with the eating, but my other concern is the fact he's scared of his food bowl 

Any help/suggestions will be great!


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## Cookieandme (Dec 29, 2011)

How deep is the bowl ? If he will eat off the floor, have you tried flat plates. I use side plates for my two. 

I originally had bowls when I first got Cookie then she had mouth problems and was diagnosed with gingivitis, the vet recommended flat plates and to elevate the plate, I use a book


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## Satori (Apr 7, 2013)

Same here. Flat square dinner plates. You should try it. It might just be different enough for him to like.


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## wicket (Aug 22, 2012)

Mine dont like bowls either - I use these

Great deals on cat and dog accessories at zooplus: Savic Whisker Feeding Bowl for Persian and British shorthaired cats

was using our side plates but when the hubby noticed he threw a hissy fit


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## Matti (Jan 28, 2013)

So he's had deep bowls and shallow plate-like bowls, which is what he has a the moment. I'll try raising them, but on the few occasions he will eat out of the bowl, he pulls the food out, drops it on the floor and then eats it, so I'm not sure elevating is the problem....


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## LittlePancakeTheExotic (Jun 17, 2013)

Pankee never eats out of bowls and actually doesn't like plates either. I'm bad and hand feed him in the morning before work and when I get home to be sure he's eating enough calories, for the rest of the time he gets a flat plate and actually can eat (just clearly chooses not to?!). I was away this weekend in Denmark and the bf reported that he barely ate the whole time I was gone. He does genuinely struggle with bowls though and prefers, as yours does, to drag all the meat on to the floor, which is gross but what to do ...


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## xMarishax (Sep 4, 2013)

I'm sorry I cant help much, but our Bella has the Savic plate and really likes it. She suddenly took a dislike to a double bowled cat bowl, wouldrun away when we fed her and I bought that.

Have you tried elevating the area in front of the bowls? Say, put a few books on the floor right in front of the plate, and then a pet food matt or towel on top? That way, when he picks it out and spits it on the floor, its not actually going on the floor (a bit like a set of stairs?) and is still a little elvated so he might start feeling comfortable with the experience again? 
Or maybe put a little snail trail of some dry food on the way up to his bowl, then a small handful in his bowl/plate everyday to see if he changes the way he thinks about the bowl?

I know it's a completely different situation, and I really do hope that someone here with more experience and knowledge can give you a helping hand.


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## Jesthar (May 16, 2011)

Both my cats will occasionally pull food out their bowl and noto the floor - Charlie mainly with raw food and always by her bowl on the mat, but Lori has been known to carry lumps of wet food from the kitchen all the way to the lounge rug to eat, the little madam! 

I take it you've tried just leaving the food down for 12/24 hours with no intervention and seeing if he gets hungry enough to eat?

If he confines his floor based eating to one area and won't use a plate or bowl of any description, it might be worth simply getting a plastic pet food mat and putting his food down on that. At least that way it wouldn't get all over the floor and it would be easy to wash.


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## Matti (Jan 28, 2013)

Jesthar said:


> Both my cats will occasionally pull food out their bowl and noto the floor - Charlie mainly with raw food and always by her bowl on the mat, but Lori has been known to carry lumps of wet food from the kitchen all the way to the lounge rug to eat, the little madam!
> 
> I take it you've tried just leaving the food down for 12/24 hours with no intervention and seeing if he gets hungry enough to eat?
> 
> If he confines his floor based eating to one area and won't use a plate or bowl of any description, it might be worth simply getting a plastic pet food mat and putting his food down on that. At least that way it wouldn't get all over the floor and it would be easy to wash.


I have a mat- he wont go near it, nor will he eat if food is down all day. He will eat off the floor anywhere (luckily I have wooden floors) so its not confined, but as I mentioned before, I have to handfeed off the floor after eating about two pieces of food! A snail trail of kibble doesn't work either, he eats the trail and runs away from the bowl (btw, Savic bowl is one of the ones I have at the moment!)

I suspect it is the wet food he hates so badly that he won't go near the bowl (even if it only holds the dry food) so I think a change of food is what is required... glad to see I'm not the only one with bad bowl habits/hand feeding habits though, I thought I was just being weak and giving in too easily.


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## Forester (Dec 2, 2012)

I'm afraid that I don't have any suggestions to help you but I wanted you to know that you are not alone. I went through exactly the same with my late Eric during the last few months of his life.

He had dental problems for a while as well as kidney disease . I found that changing the dish did not actually make any difference with him. He just needed coaxing to eat. The dish aversion started when he broke a canine tooth and must have associated eating with pain but continued after the dental problems were resolved. I would probably spent 10 minutes of every hour , day and night , whilst I was home trying to coax him to eat ,a small piece of food at a time. 

Its mentally as well as physically exhausting. I would get up numerous times in the night , so rarely got any amount of sleep at a time. 

I really hope that you find a solution to this. I've been there and feel for you. Take care of yourself as well as your cat. He depends on you.


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## Matti (Jan 28, 2013)

Forester said:


> I'm afraid that I don't have any suggestions to help you but I wanted you to know that you are not alone. I went through exactly the same with my late Eric during the last few months of his life.
> 
> He had dental problems for a while as well as kidney disease . I found that changing the dish did not actually make any difference with him. He just needed coaxing to eat. The dish aversion started when he broke a canine tooth and must have associated eating with pain but continued after the dental problems were resolved. I would probably spent 10 minutes of every hour , day and night , whilst I was home trying to coax him to eat ,a small piece of food at a time.
> 
> ...


I'm sorry to hear about Eric, and it's good to know I'm not alone- I spend an hour twice a day trying to coax Tom to eat (although you'd never know it to look at him since he's so bright and lively most of the time), but of course I would never stop if it meant him getting even more ill.


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## Cookieandme (Dec 29, 2011)

Jesthar said:


> I take it you've tried just leaving the food down for 12/24 hours with no intervention and seeing if he gets hungry enough to eat?


That might work for dry food but wet food left down for a length of time will dry out and he definitely won't eat it.


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## chillminx (Nov 22, 2010)

Matti, it does sound to me from what you say that this fear of the bowl is because he doesn't like the Hills Z/D. Can't say I blame him as it looks 
horrible and I never managed to get any of my cats with food intolerances to eat it more than once.

Sounds like he is blaming the bowl/plate for the food being nasty! (Just as cats blame the litter tray if they have a UTI).

I'd suggest trying him on Royal Canin Sensitivity Control. All the cats I've had with food allergies have been able to tolerate this well and furthermore they have all liked it a lot too.

Sensitivity Control S/O Chicken - Pouch - Royal Canin

Otherwise you could try Ropocat Sensitive, which are single protein foods. Their novel protein is venison.

All Products | The Happy Kitty Company


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