How Do I Separate Greyhound From The Cat's Food? Please Help?

[Guest allison]

Hello! Allison here, big fan of the site, first time posting.

 

Moving to a new place soon. There is a cat living there. Whenever me and my greyhound Luna visit the new place, she and the cat get along, but there is one problem---Luna wants to eat the cat's food. Even when it was placed on a table, Luna stood up to get to it when we were in the other room. This can't happen when we live together, as Luna will probably eat herself to death on the cat food.

 

info:

-Cat is fed in a continously self-refilling bowl; we don't want to change that, cat is used to it, may not eat without it.

-Luna does not normal counter surf, but if there was a constant bowl out on counter-level or higher she may be curious enough to learn counter-surfing.

-Owner of the apt. i'm moving in to would prefer we not cut any cat-door holes in doors.

-Cat is a "social eater" and does not want to eat inside a caged area or anything.

-We would like both the cat and dog to have full range of the house, not crated or confined, otherwise they will be pretty sad not to be around where the people are.

 

Ideas?

Are we just too picky?

 

Has anyone constructed a contraption to keep the two separate?

 

One million thanks to the person with the answer.

 

Sincerely,

Allison and Luna-dog

[JAJ2010]

Top of the fridge? Top of the clothes dryer? Right now I have the cat feeders on a plastic shelving unit in the dining room. You also might want to address the dog jumping up and getting the food while it's on a table/counter. That would be a HUGE NONO in my house. I was just saying last night how much I love that I can put my chinese food on the coffee table in the living room and go OUTSIDE to water the flowers and have no one touch my food. Yes both dogs were in the living room also.

[Guest allison]

Ah-ha, thank you. Good point that she shouldn't be counter surfing anyways. ..I should train that behavior out with a spray bottle perhaps.

 

Currently, Luna sniffs things sitting on the table or counter, but is hesitant to take food. She would though, if it was easily-reachable and I wasn't around.

 

Thanks for those suggestions! Keep 'em coming!

[JAJ2010]

You could use a squirt bottle or VOG. Since she doesn't really go for the food you wouldn't have to set her up with a scary can of pennies tied to a bagel or anything

[Guest ethan]

My daughter puts the cat food on the dryer or washer.

[FiveRoooooers]

Can you baby gate a pantry or laundry room or bathroom even, and put the cat food in there? Raise the gate a couple of inches off the floor so that the cat can slink underneath it, but obviously not high enough that Luna can get her head under it. I've successfully used this set-up when I lived with cats and greyhounds.

[NeylasMom]

I really feel the cat should have a place to call their own, with food and litter box safely away from the dog and as a safe place to escape if needed. I use my guest room/office for this purpose and keep it gated at all times with a baby gate that has both a door for me and a cat door that is kept open. Here's the one I have so you can see what I'm talking about: Pet Gate.

 

It's pressure mounted so no need to drill into the walls or anything, the door easily swings open for me to go in and out, and the cat is able to go in and out at all times while the dog obviously cannot. Cat door can be closed as needed, like right now I have a new foster so sometimes when she's getting free time and I would prefer not to monitor her and the cat, the cat is "closed" into his room. Since it's just a gate, he doesn't feel trapped or segregated and is comfortable in there for a few hours at a time instead of what I used to have to do, which was close the doors and cut him off completely.

 

ETA: Found a photo of Cisco using it right after I installed it:

Edited June 26, 2012 by NeylasMom

[Guest allison]

WOW. Great insight, everybody! Really appreciative of this great community here. I will take some of these ideas and talk with my new roommate! So very much appreciated.

grey-love,

allison & luna

[NeylasMom]

You could use a squirt bottle or VOG. Since she doesn't really go for the food you wouldn't have to set her up with a scary can of pennies tied to a bagel or anything

Or you could teach a "leave it" cue and reward her when she leaves the food alone.

[Guest Wasserbuffel]

When I fed my cats kibble, I put it in an old chinchilla cage with a cat entrance cut into one of the narrow ends.

[GeorgeofNE]

I have a breakfast bar in my kitchen that is too tall even for a Greyhound to casually sniff. Yes, I imagine he COULD get it if he really tried, but my dog never has.

 

It's easy enough to get a baby gate that either comes with a cat sized hole in it, or you can cut one if you get the kind of gate with mesh in the main gate area. Or you can mount a baby gate up off the floor about six inchs so the cat can easily get under it, but the dog cannot.

[Guest SoulsMom]

I really feel the cat should have a place to call their own, with food and litter box safely away from the dog and as a safe place to escape if needed. I use my guest room/office for this purpose and keep it gated at all times with a baby gate that has both a door for me and a cat door that is kept open. Here's the one I have so you can see what I'm talking about: Pet Gate.

 

It's pressure mounted so no need to drill into the walls or anything, the door easily swings open for me to go in and out, and the cat is able to go in and out at all times while the dog obviously cannot. Cat door can be closed as needed, like right now I have a new foster so sometimes when she's getting free time and I would prefer not to monitor her and the cat, the cat is "closed" into his room. Since it's just a gate, he doesn't feel trapped or segregated and is comfortable in there for a few hours at a time instead of what I used to have to do, which was close the doors and cut him off completely.

 

ETA: Found a photo of Cisco using it right after I installed it:

 

That is so cool!!

[Guest BlueCrab]

I might also suggest buying a large rubber-maid type bin with a lid, cut a small round cat size hole in the side; lift top off to replenish cat food, put lid back on and - voila! - you have a cat-accessible feeder that the dog cannot get into.

[AZGreyGirl]

Good ideas on here. When I added Olivia to the household, I didn't want to teach the cat that it's okay to jump up onto counters/high places to eat, so we use the babygate method, combined with a kitchen table/chair "obstacle course" for the cat to feel totally safe. A whole section of the kitchen/ cat eating area is unreachable by the dog, because where the baby gate won't reach, the table and chairs do. The cat loves hanging out there in her little "furniture-leg jungle."

[OwnedBySummer]

Back when I had a cat, DH made a rectangular platform and tiled the top with those inexpensive peel and stick tiles. The rectangle was made to fit in a corner of our mudroom and was the maximum size we could squeeze in. So now, since it was in the corner, two sides are enclosed by the house walls. For the other two sides, he simply made a pretty wood picket fence and attached it to the sides of the platform. The litter box went at one end and her food went at the other. The cat loved it! And the dogs couldn't get at anything, be it cat food or those delicious warm "snacks" in the litter box.

Edited June 26, 2012 by OwnedBySummer

[Guest Liz_in_PA]

Good ideas on here. When I added Olivia to the household, I didn't want to teach the cat that it's okay to jump up onto counters/high places to eat, so we use the babygate method, combined with a kitchen table/chair "obstacle course" for the cat to feel totally safe. A whole section of the kitchen/ cat eating area is unreachable by the dog, because where the baby gate won't reach, the table and chairs do. The cat loves hanging out there in her little "furniture-leg jungle."

 

We do this too. Now, do you have suggestions to keep the cats out of the dogs' food? It's up on cat litter buckets, so at least the cats get a core workout when they stretch up to eat

[Guest allison]

Back when I had a cat, DH made a rectangular platform and tiled the top with those inexpensive peel and stick tiles. The rectangle was made to fit in a corner of our mudroom and was the maximum size we could squeeze in. So now, since it was in the corner, two sides are enclosed by the house walls. For the other two sides, he simply made a pretty wood picket fence and attached it to the sides of the platform. The litter box went at one end and her food went at the other. The cat loved it! And the dogs couldn't get at anything, be it cat food or those delicious warm "snacks" in the litter box.

 

 

Hmm....very intriguing idea! I knew the litter box situation might have been a problem, but not as much as the food. Good to think about the "warm snacks", yes, ha!

 

This is so very neat! Thanks so much for the suggestion and link!

 

 

I really feel the cat should have a place to call their own, with food and litter box safely away from the dog and as a safe place to escape if needed. I use my guest room/office for this purpose and keep it gated at all times with a baby gate that has both a door for me and a cat door that is kept open. Here's the one I have so you can see what I'm talking about: Pet Gate.

 

It's pressure mounted so no need to drill into the walls or anything, the door easily swings open for me to go in and out, and the cat is able to go in and out at all times while the dog obviously cannot. Cat door can be closed as needed, like right now I have a new foster so sometimes when she's getting free time and I would prefer not to monitor her and the cat, the cat is "closed" into his room. Since it's just a gate, he doesn't feel trapped or segregated and is comfortable in there for a few hours at a time instead of what I used to have to do, which was close the doors and cut him off completely.

 

ETA: Found a photo of Cisco using it right after I installed it:

[OwnedBySummer]

I forgot to mention... the pickets were spaced far enough apart for the cat to squeeze through but too close together for a dog head. And high enough so curious dogs couldn't reach over and snack.

[Guest maidmarcia]

I put my cat's food high up where Licorice can't get at. That's the only solution I've come to so far

[Guest indigojen]

That is a very cool pet gate, but if you don't want to spend the money, you can always do what we did - buy a cheap baby gate and cut a hole in for the cat. It worked perfectly.

[Guest allison]

BIG thanks to everyone who replied!!! We are looing into solutions now, and will keep you all posted with what we tried and what worked! Thanks a million.

[Guest BassoonMo]

I really feel the cat should have a place to call their own, with food and litter box safely away from the dog and as a safe place to escape if needed.

 

 

I agree that it's important for the cat to have a place to go to be alone that the dogs can't get too. Our dogs can at times be overly friendly or want to play with the cat when she wants to be left alone. We have also had a problem with them not only wanting to eat her food, but wanting to eat stuff out of her litter box. For that reason, we put both her litter box and her food in the downstairs bathroom and put a large, heavy jar of pennies in front of the door so it can be left propped open enough that the cat can go in and out but the dogs can't. The cat knows that the bathroom is "her space" and she loves to go in there and play in the tub. The dogs know that they aren't allowed, although they do occasionally try...

[GeorgeofNE]

Good ideas on here. When I added Olivia to the household, I didn't want to teach the cat that it's okay to jump up onto counters/high places to eat, so we use the babygate method, combined with a kitchen table/chair "obstacle course" for the cat to feel totally safe. A whole section of the kitchen/ cat eating area is unreachable by the dog, because where the baby gate won't reach, the table and chairs do. The cat loves hanging out there in her little "furniture-leg jungle."

 

The words "teach" and "cat" are cracking me up--but my cat is actually a Tasmanian Devil in a cat suit. The idea of teaching him anything is just so..foreign!

[JAJ2010]

Good ideas on here. When I added Olivia to the household, I didn't want to teach the cat that it's okay to jump up onto counters/high places to eat, so we use the babygate method, combined with a kitchen table/chair "obstacle course" for the cat to feel totally safe. A whole section of the kitchen/ cat eating area is unreachable by the dog, because where the baby gate won't reach, the table and chairs do. The cat loves hanging out there in her little "furniture-leg jungle."

 

The words "teach" and "cat" are cracking me up--but my cat is actually a Tasmanian Devil in a cat suit. The idea of teaching him anything is just so..foreign!

 

I had the same reaction to reading that! The cats are destined to have zero manners.... They aren't allowed in the counters but that sure doesn't mean they stay off!

[AZGreyGirl]

Good ideas on here. When I added Olivia to the household, I didn't want to teach the cat that it's okay to jump up onto counters/high places to eat, so we use the babygate method, combined with a kitchen table/chair "obstacle course" for the cat to feel totally safe. A whole section of the kitchen/ cat eating area is unreachable by the dog, because where the baby gate won't reach, the table and chairs do. The cat loves hanging out there in her little "furniture-leg jungle."

 

The words "teach" and "cat" are cracking me up--but my cat is actually a Tasmanian Devil in a cat suit. The idea of teaching him anything is just so..foreign!

 

I had the same reaction to reading that! The cats are destined to have zero manners.... They aren't allowed in the counters but that sure doesn't mean they stay off!

 

Okay, okay...I see the error of my ways. Let me rephrase:" I didn't want to let the cat think I was okay with her jumping onto counters, etc...to eat or for any other reason. She knows what I don't want her to do but does it anyway, looks at me to see if I see her being naughty, and continues with the behavior with a snooty attitude." I stand corrected.