Expert: Norman Auspitz - 11/23/2009

Question
Hi Karen,
I have three separate questions for you.
The first is about something interesting my cat does and I was wondering if you could tell me why he does it. After he is done eating (this generally only happens after he eats his wet food) he starts kind of cleaning around his food dish, like pawing dirt from the floor onto his food. Then after a while he began to do that then add to it by cleaning, touch his tag on his collar, cleaning, pawing his tag. It is really quite interesting and I just wanted to see if you could tell me why he does it.
My second question is, I just got a new kitten and he eats different food from my other cat. My other cat eats food for urinary track health. But the kitten always wants to eat his food. I know an answer could be putting them in separate rooms while I feed them but maybe there is something else I could do? Also, what is the best food to buy a kitten from a store like PetCo or PetSmart. he is on science diet now and some friskeys wet food. I don't have much money for expensive food, and I already have to buy expensive food for my cat with the urinary track infection.
Third question is, my boy cat, Sunny, year and 1/2, neutered, continuously bites my and my fiance's feet at night time and we can get him to stop. Do you have any suggestions for that?
Thanks so much.
-Karen

Answer
Karen,

(1)  In the wild cats do tend to try bury their food when they have eaten their fill. The other behaviors are an adaptation of the first behavior for reasons none of us ever seem to understand.  Cats will engage in obsessive/compulsive behavior and we poor humans understand the cat versions of these syndromes less than the human versions!!!!!

(2)  We use a variety of dry foods.  We avoid foods with wheat, corn, or soy, especially with the glutens of these grains. You can try Eagle Pack Pro Holistic or By Natures Natural.  We have also heard that Call of the Wild is excellent, but have not tried that.  Mixing with the Friskies wet is an excellent idea and is good for the kitten. An all dry food diet is not the best for cats.  As to separating them to eat, there is no way around that.  The kitten credo is: "If I see it, it is mine! If you have it, it is mine! Everything is mine!", so the rushing to eat your own and gobble down everyone else's is natural!!!!!

(3)  Is Sunny declawed?  Cats do tend to play that way, but you can try putting something on your feet he does not like the taste, e.g. strong citrus, onion, bitter apple, to name a few.  Any strong pungent odor they really hate should do the trick.

Best regards... Norm.