How Can I Train My Dog To Stop Eating Cat Food?
Filed under Care & Training Q&As
Ok, so here’s the deal. My puppy is a havanese, 8 months old, and I just recently bought a savannah kitten. I hate it when she eats the cat’s wet food because she, as many of you know, has a beard and all of that nasty crap gets in it. Then she will come lick my face and it’s disgusting. I have a crate and always punish her when I see her eating it, but it doesn’t help.
I can’t stick with dry cat food because I have an 11 year old cat that was just found to have a hyper thyroid. She had ulcers on her tongue and it hurts her mouth to crunch on dry food.
I have tried everything, even putting the cat food on the counters, but then I caught my cat jumping on them when she was hungry! I also tried putting a gate where I keep their food, but then the cats wouldn’t jump over it.
I am soooo tired of cleaning her damn beard because she is defiant and won’t let me. I also bathe her once a week too, but it isn’t enough. (My vet recommended to bathe her this often.) Jimmy, my savannah is already a HUGE almost 5 month old kitten, so I cannot do what some people have suggested and cut a hole in something hollow that only he can fit into because she can fit in it too.
Please help me, she is in her crate right now because she ate the cat food I hid in the laundry room on top of the litter box!
Thanks Dx
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Very simple.
1. Make the cat food dish INACCESSIBLE to the dog.
2. Do not use the crate as punishment. BIG mistake!!!
Just put the food up high where the cats can get to it and the dog can’t.
You will not train the dog to leave it alone.
Hey Dx Don’t get so woud up over this I certainly would not scold the poor soul for eating what he likes As long as everyone is getting enough food all is ok
no its like candy to them. that is what my vet told me.
As many have said (and from experience) I had to find a location in the house to put the cat food so the dogs couldn’t reach it, that has worked out fine for me and costs much less on cat food since the dog isn’t eating it any more…. cats are usally pretty agile – how in shape is your 11 yr old if you put the food up high? ..another solution some people do is put the food in a room (usually laundry room or a room not used so often and put a cat door that the cat can fit through and not the dog.. ). My 3rd suggestion which would be the hardest is to feed the cat in another room and when the cat is finished eating pick up the bowl..hard because some cats like to nibble through out the day..
Good Luck!
when shes eating it Snap at her like with ur fingers. or tap her on the butt and tell her no… this might help or a dog shocker collar when she starts eating the food shock her and pretty soon she wont eat it she’ll think it does it to her, and keep the food in different rooms so she don’t get scared of her own food. Good luck hope this helps you. xD
You’re probably not going to be able to “train” the behavior out of her. It’s tasty food, it’s available, she’s going to eat it.
Crate your dog when it’s the cat’s time to eat. If she doesn’t want to eat her food right then, well, tough beans. Put the food away, let your dog out, and feed your kitty again later.
All you have to do is take control of the situation. Control your cat’s feeding time as well. She’ll eat when she’s hungry, you can monitor her diet, and you can prevent the dog from eating the food.