We’ve been in the new place for a little over a month now, and the routines are already in need of some tweaking.
I changed the feeding routine for the cats because we have a couple that could stand to lose a few pounds. Instead of a free-feeder, they’re fed twice a day like the dogs are.
How’s that going? Not so good.
I do see some positive difference with Little Girl, but I think Malachi has actually gained weight.
And forget sleeping. Those cats are relentless in waking me up, even on a weekend day, to feed them. I’ve considered changing the routine so they don’t eat first thing when I get up, but I don’t see how I can arrange the into the schedule just yet.
The other problem I have here is the dogs getting into the cats’ food and the litter boxes. I don’t have much counter space here, so the cats are fed on the floor. I may just leave the dogs on the porch while the cats eat. As for the litter boxes, well I think I’ve finally got that problem (mostly) solved.
Changing routines around here isn’t easy. I have to accommodate my work schedule and the needs of all household members, INCLUDING me.
How do you handle changes in the routine? Is it easy-peasy for you, or can it be a struggle as it is for me?
Dogpaddling Through Life 
Oh Rumpy I’m afraid I can’t really help you… We have no routine…My food is available all the time, my humans work shifts and we travel lots so our routine is that there’s no routine! hehe! =^.^=
Sounds like a great life!
We have to feed the girls (cats) twice a day..no free range food here! I feed three of the girls in the main bathroom and Dinnermintz in the kitchen as she cannot have their food due to her special urinary diet..not even special kibble for her…no dry food ever..the boys(doggies) fed twice day also ..the problem with the boys litterbox diving we have solved by placing the litter trays in the bathtub of the main bathroom..they can’t get into it and the cats have ‘room for error’ since it can be easily scrubbed..but boy meal times is like feeding time at the zoo!!! And on a great note Rumpy..21.000 Victorians sent in submissions against the new breeding and rearinfg codes!! paws crossed this is the beginning of the end in Victoria for these Dog Factories!! Have a great day hugs Fozziemum x
One downside of having such a large furry family is that I simply must have multiple litter boxes, and they most be at various locations around the house. So I must figure out where to put them that are strategic, where they won’t ruin carpet and where I can keep the dogs from accessing.
Dang..at least we have the option of an ensuite..no chance I can get a bath now in the other bathroom as it is tray central in there .hahaha..do they have covered litter trays like here..almost like cat carriers? Doggie diving in trays is so bad so many people don’t understand the bacterial probs that it can cause for dogs..our two were rotters for it..not helped by the fact that we use chicken layer pellet feed for litter..got the idea from the shelter I vol’d at where using litter was prohibitively expensive..the layer pellets are great and really economical for large cat families not to mention enviro friendly..but the smell of wheat plus the cat ‘Treats’ left in the tray drove the boys wild with desire 😉 if I can think of anything will let you know..:)
I’m sure you’ll figure it out, it’ll just take some time. I have the same routine everyday, only thing is it means that I expect my breakfast and morning walk at the same time at weekends too. Mummy does not appreciate me ‘reminding’ her first thing saturday morning but I wouldn’t want her to forget. I’m sure she’d feel just awful if she did!
Yeah, that early riser call on Saturday is NOT appreciated!
Changes are tough on everyone……I think the only difference is humans have the ability to recognize changes are necessary and to make them work – animals want what they want when they want it! HAHAHAHAHA
Pam
Yeah, I know. I’m an animal too and I want what I want when I want it as well.
Our problem has always been that one cat will eat another cat’s food so a feeding schedule does not work so well, even though it is better than leaving food out all day. What I have been doing is feeding them raw food mixed with canned food when I get up in the morning and again when I come home for work. I then give them a little dry food before leaving for work and before going to bed. I give them just enough dry food so that the bowl is empty a few hours before it is feeding time again.
How are your cats doing on a raw diet?
They are doing well but it is not really a raw food diet. I mix one 1-once raw patty with a small can of cat food twice a day (for two cats). It is the only way I can get them to eat it. I then supplement that with grain-free Blue Wilderness dry food. I would like to feed them more and stop the dry food but my wife resists that idea.
I’m transitioning to a grain-free food with the cats here, and they’re not into it. So adding to other food may be the norm here too. Thanks!
I used to work early in the morning so I was up around 4:30 and would just feed our cats so I wouldn’t forget but it always came around to bite me when I wanted to sleep in. It took months for them to forget that. I just recently changed where our cats are fed, only by a few feet but it took a lot of coaxing to convince one of them it was okay (that and my husband not putting their food back in the old spot). We fed them on the kitchen floor but it was always in the way so I bought a plastic shelf and put it in a closet off the kitchen, hidden by curtains. The litter is on the bottom and the food on a shelf and a baby gate at the kitchen door stops the dog.
Good luck with the new routines!
Sounds like you found a plan that works for you!
We have to feed out cats twice a day because Bert is on a special diet and because he eats all the food Mom puts down and was fat. Kitties eat in the morning when Mom gets up. She goes to her computer and puts Bert’s bowl on the floor by her desk and Sophie eats on Mom’s desk. This prevents stealing by any pet and she can make sure food is eaten. Sophie likes to wake up Mom early but as it stays dark longer she also waits longer to wake Mom up. Our experience is that if the cats eat dinner later, like 7 or 8 pm, they don’t wake her for breakfast. Have you tried that?
no, but I think I will. Or maybe a treat before bedtime.
YES, cats can be merciless when they want to eat. NOW is often not soon enough. 😀
My fat cats can eat whenever they want. And they do, generally. I risk rugs peed on and more barf that usual to clean up if I dare change the routine.
Oh yeah. Cats can be so vindictive!
Changes in routine are hard! Right now we are busy packing for our move but Boomer and Dottie have the same routine. Next week all of that will change since we have to stay in a pet friendly hotel for 2 weeks while we’re waiting to get into our rental house so it’s going to be an interesting experience…
Oh, I hear ya. When I moved it was a real crazy time around here. Here’s hoping for a relatively smooth transition!
Thanks… so far so good!
Good luck with routine training … just when you get it organised Daylight Saving will finish … runs off giggling
Oh NO!!!!!
Beautiful pictures my friend. As to helping you with the routine change, I’m actually at a lost of words. I’m a pig and I *have* to have a strict routine. It’s part of my structure. And don’t worry about ‘remembering’ the routine. I will definitely let you know when it’s time for my feeding 🙂 Just ask mom. She says that I have a great set of lungs on this little body -snorts. XOXO – Bacon
We have some sticklers for routine around here too!
I agree with you! Changine the routine here is not easy, either….our mom also has to feed our cats the first thing in the morning….or they start meowing for food….when we had only one kitty, it was fine….Shiro could wait, but now there are four kitties, so if one starts begging for food, the other cats do the same…
I remember Malachi used to be so skinny, so I feel veryrelieved to see him gaining his weight, probably it might be not good for his health though….
I’m glad to hear Bubba doing a little better! 🙂
FOUR cats? Who is the latest addition Kevin?
Yes! Four now! The latest kitty is “Hime” which means princess in Japanese, who we think maybe “Tora” (third adopted) ‘s sisfur or mother because we remembered Hime and Tora hang out together sometimes when Tora was feral. Hime very resembles Tora and our vet says that their frames are very similar…
Since we adopted Tora, Hime hang around our yard almost everyday meowing as if she had missed Tora….
so we decided to take her in as our cat! 🙂
Awwwwww….. That’s so heartwarming!
“Change bad. Same good,” so says the cat Natasha.
And June Buggie, and Bubba, and Hissy, and….. every cat in the Universe, I think!
We have routine for both cats and dogs and they aren’t happy when things have to change
I feel ya! So I’ve been finding your comments in the spam folder? What’s up with that? Any idea?
still same problems with wordpress… reported it but all I am getting is “we are working on it”
Thank you for fishing me out of spam 😉
I struggled at first, especially with my schedule changing from working 3 to midnight then noon to 1030 and then 1030 to 930. But thankfully everyone is average weight so there’s not restrictions on when they can eat. I tried that when I had two cats, and my cat Buggy was not going to tolerate it. He gulped down his food, puked and then whined for some more. So to help with his gulping problem, I left the food out. I don’t give them that much, so they get to munch when they are hungry. I have had to adjust giving medications to my girl kitty Miss Bitty.
OK, that’s two comments about free-feeding as a better alternative. I’m definitely going to try it again, but with a weight-control food.
I use the Iams weight control and hairball formula.
Iams in the midst of a recall….. I’ll pass on P&G right now.
Yeah I checked the bag I bought, its okay.
Rumpy, you got the right routine! Woooowooooooo, Ku
Changes are not easy for Easy. Currently we have to sleep in the guest room – but he always runs into our unfinished bedroom first at night :o)
Out of curiosity, are the dogs eating the feces? It’s pretty common for dogs to consider cat poop mixed with litter their little “toblerone break”. If so, there is this powder you can buy from the Vet that is completely safe and food-based, but makes the cat/dog poop taste like the end of the world. Also, not sure if this helps, but for my cat boxes, I had to adapt a bit. I have one cat who is 35+ pounds (adopted that way-I’m trying!) so I make their boxes out of tupperware totes-those storage thingies. I love it because it has a removable roof that is on TOP so it doesn’t get covered in poop ( I wonder how many times I have used this word in this post). If you were to cut out the “door hole” a few inches higher, the cats could still get it, but the dogs might not want to put their heads through it?
As for the evening kitty-crazies, if anyone can find a cure for this-I’m in!!
Oh, also, where the cats are concerned, there is a product called “Feliway” that helps a lot. It is a pheremone released in cats when they are relaxed and content and it works really well for spraying, moving, change, etc. It is so popular, I recently learned that it even comes in those wall plug-ins. Humans There is also “Rescue remedy” which is just an herbal concoction that many animal rescue facilities swear by, though I have never tried it personally.
OMG, so sorry, I keep thinking of more things…I have to free feed our cats-there is just no way around it. We feed a weight control diet and I try to give my 19 year old senior food on her own. In the clinic, and on my own, I have really witnessed how free feeding can actually be much more effective for weight loss (not in my own cat, of course). It seems that if you take the “novelty” away from eating and provide a low-calorie food regularly they don’t binge at food time and generally eat less over the course of the day. For working individuals, sometimes it is the only way. If you think free-feeding might work, then I’m wondering if there would be something you could fashion around the cat dishes, or have them placed in a cat post or something so that the dogs can’t get to it?
I guess I’m picturing something similar to the cat boxes, but possibly up a bit higher.
Well, you’ve given me lots of food for thought. Maybe free-feeding with a weight-control food might be best after all. Thanks!
Just brainstorming, but I wish you the best!
Kitties are fed first thing in the morning and again in the evening. The same goes for the dogs and hens. We can’t free feed, and honestly I think Jack would turn into a butterball if we did. He’s spent all night attempting to open the cat food box. I’ve caught him IN the box several times when he got lucky and the latch wasn’t secured well.
The dogs LOVE cat food, and if I left it out, they’d gorge on it every chance they got.
None of the critters mind a shift in schedule by an hour or so, but they know that once someone is up they get fed, and when humans come back, more food!
I have the same problem with my dogs. Cat food is like crack to them. DeDe will sniff the floor looking for crumbs long after she’s licked them all up.
Cody has never been “free-fed” because he has always been too chubby. As for feeding, maybe what I do would work for you? I have a babygate up in the kitchen, meaning that Dakota is NOT allowed in the kitchen at all. That is where I feed Cody. I keep his litter in a cabinet in my bathroom and there is a babygate in the hallway so that Dakota cannot get to that either. Would that work for you?
I can’t make the kitchen off-limits because of the layout of the house, but I am going to make some areas off-limits, even if only at feeding time. Thanks!
My cat does not like change at all. When I visit family, I take him with me and he stays under the bed and will only come out for food and bathroom. Everyone wants to see him but he wants no part of that.
Because I am such a picky eater and never eat everything up, I get fed when I ask for it! It works for me!! 😉
You got your human right where you want her, don’t ya baby?
Change is the WORST. We like things to stay the same. Unless there is some new kind of tuna we’ve never had before, that would be an ok change I guess…
We don’t much care for food changes. Well, DeDe don’t. She’d eat anything you put in front of her. But the rest of us are very picky. I actually get sick if there’s a sudden change to my diet.
At our house, the peeps have to change THEIR routines to suit us. We outnumber them, you see. Six to one!
Purrs,
Nissy
Good luck with that. You put our kids on a diet and they get very grumpy. Very.
We don’t like our routine changed at all!
Glad to hear everyone is settling in. I’m sure you being their constant companion is the most important thing. I thought the cats might be weird when we moved into the condo. They acted like, ‘whatever’ ha. I’m afraid my routine is totally dictated by the Diva’s. My hubby gets up for work at 5:00am, therefore, I am summoned from slumber to feed them. Once there little tummies are satisfied, they go back to sleep. Thanks a bunch right? Now I’m wide awake.
I don’t think any pet likes their routine changed,bunnies are worse they get moody with change,but luckily not with Speedy,he is a breeze.good luck with sorting the routines and start as you mean to go on they will get it in the end,xx Rachel
Malachi and Archie are sure like twins. We are trying everything to help Archie loose weight at the moment but he will not play arghhhhh
Sounds familiar!
I have it al little easier because I have only a dog. The morning routine is flexible because he gets his breakfast after his walk which varies in length. Dinner is at 6. There are times he wants his dinner early and begins to bother me by whining, hitting my leg and jumping up on me. It’s a struggle but I usually manage to distract him by giving him a food toy or puzzle until 6.
Uh oh! Not BJ too!!!!!
We struggle with routine changes here. The cats hate any change and make their feelings known!
My routines are SO ingrained, Mom wouldn’t DARE try to change them!
Love and licks,
Cupcake
I hope we’re not feeding our cats too much, but they are big cats. 16 and 19 pounds, I believe, (We think our girl cat might be part Maine Coon.) We’re trying to cut back on what we feed them – 1/2 cup dry food and 1/2 small can of wet food in the morning. This is combined for both of them. We give them the same portions in the evening. It’s the lower calorie one.
your ‘new’ routine of napping and eating sounds very much like your old routine, Rumpy 😉
Changing routines is never easy, especially for pets. Now we have a new kitten we have to feed it separately from Barnaby the cat because the kitten acts like a little tiger and puts Barnaby off his food. Poor Barnaby! Good luck with your routine change. I hope they all settle down soon!
When we still had our beloved dogs we fed them first thing in the morning and in the evening, but they also had dry kibble outside they could get to throughout the day. They never finished the bowl, it was an adult weight-management food. They were both older, neither were overweight but it was a decent strategy to keep them from the cat food.
My kitties, who are also both older are still free fed. Their bowl is upstairs in my office along with one of their water bowls.
As to litter boxes, both are upstairs. Both are self cleaning and both have tents over them. It was the only way I found to keep the dogs out.
Dear Rumpy Dog, us canine kids get fed twice a day. If don’t eat in 30 minutes, mom takes it up. As for the cats, those spoiled punks eat all day. Their food is on the counter. Best, Sabrina and Bordeaux.