7 month old kitten keeps knocking his food over on purpose...any ideas why and how to stop

[hulahoopsilove]

not sure why but he has a dual feeding dish - Royal canin biscuits one side water in the other compartment. This week he's started to knock this causing his water to spill out everywhere and on his biscuits making them all soggy.

He's definitely doing it on purpose.

His bowl was on a mat which I removed to see if this stops him but it hasnt

He's playing with his water, he might prefer a water fountain

Maybe he's trying to move his biscuits to eat them? Try separate dishes or put the food on a saucer.

Our boy cat will not eat dry food out of a dish, we have to put them on the placemat then he happily eat them. If we put them in the dish he just looks at you 'why would you do that' and stalks off.

Wet food we put in the dish, he gets a big mouthful, lifts it out the dish onto the placemat then eats it.

Fat old cat eats normally out of cat dishes, but neither cat drinks the fresh water out of their dish - they drink the dogs water in the kitchen.

Cats are awkward

Yes our cats knock their food off the plate onto the floor where they then eat it. I refuse to start putting it on the floor though so just let them get on with it. Put the water somewhere different.

Perhaps he likes wet biscuits, or is trying to get you to feed him wet food.
We had a kitted that would do this and he loved playing with the water fountain. So finny to watch him trying to fish out a tiny speck of dirt, only to dump loads more in with his dirty paw.

ummm not sure its the wanting to eat drink off the floor, I think hes probably bored and its a fun game. Im going to get separate dishes today I think and try that soooooo annoying!

He sounds a little bored and playing with his food. Maybe try him on a food foraging toy or two for his kibble and some wet food as a chaser ?

Has he been neutered yet?

yes been neutered but is increasing looking outside and wanting to go out. We want to keep him in as long as possible, he is very inquisitive and follows our son everywhere so Im afraid he will following him out on the street when he's playing etc..

How do people entertain indoor cats? Im thinking of getting one of the cat station with different levels...

Our boy cat played football and jenga, he had a thing for strings...he wasn't the snuggly cuddly type but loved to be lifted up to tap the light pulls and would carry on for as long as we'd let him. Tied some ribbons to door handles. He wasn't interested in cat stations. The whole house was his cat station. He also pushed things off widowsills or furniture. (The glass of water and huge vase of flowers are particularly memorable.) So we put some ping pong balls on windowsills and he'd scoot all over chasing those.

If he's out he'll be hunting insects too much to follow your ds. I'd let mine out by 7 months and he was noticeably happier afterwards.

Maybe have a read of \link{http://www.apbc.org.uk/system/files/private/advice_sheet_15_-_environmental_enrichments_games_for_cats.pdf\this} ?

It sounds as if letting him outside is coming your way, though and I'd be tempted to do that in as reasonably controlled a way as possible before it becomes a 'thing' for him. (If you have a DS who goes outside, the door is going to be left ajar one day and he'll get out - and my own instinct is that if he's just bursting with desire to go out, he might roam further with the excitement than if it was just ordinary.)

Is going out liable to be problematic? It's nerve-wracking of course but there you go. It's a pity that he's coming up to going out in summer with the good weather, smells, things a-doing outside as compared to cold and boring winter.

We have food and water totally separate, right at opposite ends of kitchen, apparently they don't like it together

One of mine plays with her water, she gets out, she gets played with loads, she stil does it...I think she just likes it.

It's because he wants to see the water move. A friend has a cat like this - they are often not big fans of drinking still water, they prefer moving water because it is less likely to be disease carrying. My friend's cat pushes the water bowl around so that it moves and she feels better about drinking it. Of course this means the water spills everywhere.

Separate bowls for food and water and keep them a little apart, or get a water fountain.

I've always had separate water and food bowls. I can't be bothered with double bowls and, besides, they're usually plastic whereas my boys like china bowls. (Which are also easier to clean and cheaper to buy.)

One of my cats used to drown his toys when he was a kitten. We'd find soggy toy mice in the water bowl several times a day.

Seniorboy and his predecessors take/have taken their little soft toys and dipped them in their wet food bowl before chewing the life out of them. (I assume it's hunting, killing and eating etc.) Luckily, they wash and dry well.

Little curled up balls of foil are good. The foil from a kit kat is the perfect amount.

The drinking fountain sounds odd but a lot of cats drink from running taps rather than their bowls. You can buy them in normal (big) pet shops now. My old cat used to only drink rainwater from outside, never from a bowl. I think they can be a bit funny about it.

my cats will only drink water out of china bowls. and they like it to be fresh.

Have solved the problem! Bought soemthing similar to this and he loves it no more knocking over as they are little off the ground and the stand is heavy! Although I did catch him dipping his paw into the water bowl lat night!

my 2 year old cat, will not drink from a bowl at all, during the day he sits by the tap and meows till you turn the tap on and he has a drink, and a play at night he has his water fountain, but doses not touch it during the day, such fickle fluff ball they are :)

Ha, hula, you out smarted him! :D

Typo, some cats just can't get the staff, sadly.