Moving the food bowls - HUNGER STRIKE!

I've been feeding the cats in the bathroom, but it creates a big mess
on the floor which is pretty annoying. Nothing like stepping on a nice
sharp piece of dried cat food in bare feet. Or stepping in wet food
for that matter.

So, partly because my mom is coming to stay for a week, I needed to
find some way to make things neater. The whole bathroom is around 5'
by 10', so not a lot of room to work with, but the back of the room is
the tub and that is almost never used. So a few weeks ago I cut some
plywood, stained it a nice red cedar color, and used two pieces to
cover the tub. One covers most of it, the other just covers the part
by the faucet so I can fairly easily lift it up and stick a bucket in
it to get water or fill the humidifier (that will be needed in a few
months).

The Plan: Move the cat food bowls onto the covered tub. Sheer
brilliance! Knowing that cats tend to be a bit resistant to change, I
started putting the dry food on the tub while continuing to feed the
wet on the floor. I started putting a few Temptations up there as
well.

The big day was Saturday. The food bowls went on the tub. HUNGER
STRIKE! Why it is so hard to jump onto the tub to eat I have no idea.
Naturally Scooter, the explorer, was first to hop up and start eating.
Nipsy had to be picked up and placed on the tub. Marlo just stood in
the hall watching. It is now three days later. This morning Scooter
hesitated, then jumped up and started eating. Nipsy gave me a look of
death, gingerly placed his paws on the tub cover and jumped up and
started eating. Marlo is clearly getting there some other time of the
day.

So the big move appears to have worked. The floor stays clean, the
plywood cover is pretty easy to sweep, and the cats are not starving
to death. Mom should be happy.

"dgk" wrote in message
...
I've been feeding the cats in the bathroom, but it creates a big mess
on the floor which is pretty annoying. Nothing like stepping on a nice
sharp piece of dried cat food in bare feet. Or stepping in wet food
for that matter.

So, partly because my mom is coming to stay for a week, I needed to
find some way to make things neater. The whole bathroom is around 5'
by 10', so not a lot of room to work with, but the back of the room is
the tub and that is almost never used. So a few weeks ago I cut some
plywood, stained it a nice red cedar color, and used two pieces to
cover the tub. One covers most of it, the other just covers the part
by the faucet so I can fairly easily lift it up and stick a bucket in
it to get water or fill the humidifier (that will be needed in a few
months).

The Plan: Move the cat food bowls onto the covered tub. Sheer
brilliance! Knowing that cats tend to be a bit resistant to change, I
started putting the dry food on the tub while continuing to feed the
wet on the floor. I started putting a few Temptations up there as
well.

The big day was Saturday. The food bowls went on the tub. HUNGER
STRIKE! Why it is so hard to jump onto the tub to eat I have no idea.
Naturally Scooter, the explorer, was first to hop up and start eating.
Nipsy had to be picked up and placed on the tub. Marlo just stood in
the hall watching. It is now three days later. This morning Scooter
hesitated, then jumped up and started eating. Nipsy gave me a look of
death, gingerly placed his paws on the tub cover and jumped up and
started eating. Marlo is clearly getting there some other time of the
day.

So the big move appears to have worked. The floor stays clean, the
plywood cover is pretty easy to sweep, and the cats are not starving
to death. Mom should be happy.

Great story!

On 9/10/2013 4:05 PM, Judith Latham wrote:
In article ,
dgk wrote:
I've been feeding the cats in the bathroom, but it creates a big mess
on the floor which is pretty annoying. Nothing like stepping on a nice
sharp piece of dried cat food in bare feet. Or stepping in wet food
for that matter.

So, partly because my mom is coming to stay for a week, I needed to
find some way to make things neater. The whole bathroom is around 5'
by 10', so not a lot of room to work with, but the back of the room is
the tub and that is almost never used. So a few weeks ago I cut some
plywood, stained it a nice red cedar color, and used two pieces to
cover the tub. One covers most of it, the other just covers the part
(snippage)

The Plan: Move the cat food bowls onto the covered tub. Sheer
brilliance! Knowing that cats tend to be a bit resistant to change, I
started putting the dry food on the tub while continuing to feed the
wet on the floor. I started putting a few Temptations up there as
well.

The big day was Saturday. The food bowls went on the tub. HUNGER
STRIKE! Why it is so hard to jump onto the tub to eat I have no idea.

He already said it - most cats don't like change.

So the big move appears to have worked. The floor stays clean, the
plywood cover is pretty easy to sweep, and the cats are not starving
to death. Mom should be happy.

Nice one!

It'll only take a few more days and they'll object if you move their bowls
back.


Judith

That is undoubtedly true! Then again, maybe he won't change the
arrangement after his mother leaves since he doesn't like stepping on
cat food.

Persia's litterbox is in the (master) bathroom. That section of the
bathroom is separate from the basin/sink area, containing only the
toilet, the tub/shower combo and a linen closet for towels and personal
care items. (The closet is where I store Persia's kibble & bag of kitty
litter.) It's a fairly large space, and the *only* place in this house
where I could possibly put her litterbox. The litterbox sits atop a
rug/bath mat. I take the mat outside and shake it out regularly,
vaccuum the mat and also the tile floor. (I don't much like stepping
barefoot on kitty litter, just as dgk doesn't like stepping on cat
food.) Despite this, cat litter invariably gets onto the tile floor.

Once, when my middle brother was visiting he complained about the cat
litter in the bathroom. He wasn't even staying with me. Fortunately,
there is a second full bathroom which I consider to be the "guest"
bathroom. When he complained about it I asked why he insisted on
traipsing through my bedroom to use the facilities rather than use the
other one. He shut up. LOL

Jill