New dog, old cat; training question.

[928ram]

How do those of you that have multiple pets deal with the issue of the dog eating the cat's food?

I know from past experience that she'll train to know that the cat's is out of bounds, but at this point the poor kitty's gonna starve to death.

Can't raise the food, because the dog's tall.

Can't raise the food really high because the cat will pick up bad habits.

Right now the cat's is in the master bath, because the dog doesn't show interest in that end of the house, but that needs to stop ASAP.

Any tricks to speed up the proccess?

[fastpat]

We keep the cat's food in our laundry room which has a toddler gate in the doorway to stop dog entry. We keep the cat's litter box in there too, since the dog's think the kitty droppings are something akin to almond rocca.

Also, we only put out two table spoons of dry food per day for two cats. then, in the morning and in the evening when we feed the dogs, the cats get their main meal. That way, everyone gets something at the same time.

[svandamme]

lol , our cat used to have dibs on the food before either of our dogs

and i'm not talking chihuahua's either , a full grown labrador , and a big berner sennen hund...

[juanbenae]

my cat licks my dog's milkbones if he don't get on them right away. dog has never shown much intrest in the crunchy cat food though. the cat shats in the neighbor's yard, so mcqueen eating them has not been a problem either. barricade the food so only the cat can get to it?

[Moneyguy1]

Sometimes I wonder, given the problems some folks have with pets and how they now advertise these Odor and stain eliminating products, why bother?

Please note..I am not against animals. I have done work for Animal Control and Humane Society groups. Maybe it is my age (kids long gone with families of their own) but life without pets allows us to go when we want without the associated guilt or responsibility of making sure that Rover and Fluffy are taken care of in our absence.

[jrdavid68]

Originally posted by fastpat
We keep the cat's food in our laundry room which has a toddler gate in the doorway to stop dog entry. We keep the cat's litter box in there too, since the dog's think the kitty droppings are something akin to almond rocca.

This pretty much describes how we do it too.

[pwd72s]

Cat food is much higher protein than dog food...do what you can, because I've heard that a cat food diet isn't good for dogs...

[fastpat]

Originally posted by pwd72s
Cat food is much higher protein than dog food...do what you can, because I've heard that a cat food diet isn't good for dogs...

You're correct. A steady diet of cat food will cause kidney damage to dogs.

[928ram]

Unfortunatly, there's really no place to isolate the cat's food in our open floorplan without becoming a major PITA for the humans.

Pat, metering food carefully seems to be a workable solution; thanks for that. I know it sound silly, but I've got this attitude that the cat was here 1st so he shouldn't be put out by the new arrival.

The dog is a retired racer; so you can imagine how far a little of the wrong food will go to upset their relatively small diets. This has been a bigger concern than the cat being "put out". The dog is extremely bright and I'm sure will catch on to what's wrong, I just don't want her getting sick learning. She already know's it's wrong, but is quite the sneak and continues to try. Cat food must taste a whole lot better than dog food because I've never owned a dog who din't try to grab some now and again.

[928ram]

Sometimes I wonder, given the problems some folks have with pets and how they now advertise these Odor and stain eliminating products, why bother?

Scary thing is; people who can't even train a pet not to piss or crap in the house, freely squeezy out pups of their own. I'm confident that a stranger would never know that we were pet owners by spots or smell if they entered out home.

Please note..I am not against animals. I have done work for Animal Control and Humane Society groups. Maybe it is my age (kids long gone with families of their own) but life without pets allows us to go when we want without the associated guilt or responsibility of making sure that Rover and Fluffy are taken care of in our absence.

I know exactly what you mean, and have avoided getting a puppy for basically the same reasons; I have to admit that I was blindsided when the wife and daughter settled on a retired greyhound because I had no arguement against and she'll fit into our lifestyle seamlessly.