Placing bowls in the corner of a room so they have their back to everything could leave them feeling anxious and uncomfortable. Instead, place them out in the open where they have a circular line-of-sight. This is especially important if you have any other pets in the house. Keep away from litter trays.
Choose a Calm, Quiet Location
A calm, quiet space, such as a spare bathroom, spare bedroom, or a hallway, will help keep cats relaxed, so they can eat in peace. Because of its proximity to the pantry, sink, and trash, the kitchen is a common location for cat bowls.
Cats are biologically programmed not to drink water which is near their food or near their toileting area - this is thought to be their instinctive avoidance of contaminating their water with potential sources of bacteria.
An elevated cat bowl will allow gravity to move the food she's eating downward from her mouth and directly into her stomach. Now her esophagus no longer has to move that same food upward towards her stomach as it must when she's hunched over her food bowl on the floor.
By raising the height of the cat's food bowls, the chances of indigestion are also reduced. This encourages your cat to enjoy their food as well as makes their lives more comfortable. Elevated food bowls and water bowls also encourage them to eat and drink properly and stay healthy.
Raise your cat's dish
Cats tend to crouch when they eat because it brings them closer to the ground, where their food is usually located in the wild (and often at home). But it's actually easier for your cat to eat when the dish she's eating off of is slightly elevated, and therefore closer to her mouth.
Keep in mind that cats are natural “crouch” eaters; they do not like to eat in a standing position. The ideal height for a raised feeder is the cat's knee height (approximately 4” to 6”); this eliminates the need to lift up the head while eating or drinking. Avoid the use of deep bowls in elevated feeders.
As a cat's sensitive whiskers rub against the sides of a deep bowl, they begin to hurt. Cats prefer bowls with a wide, shallow design that allow their whiskers to remain above the bowl while they eat and drink. Look for bowls designed specifically for cats (most dog bowls are too deep) and that prevent whisker fatigue.
Ingrid King, a veterinarian and author, writes, “Whiskers are extremely sensitive, and when a food bowl is too narrow and too deep, a cat is forced to put her face all the way into the bowl to reach her food. This causes her whiskers to bump against the side of the bowl, which causes discomfort.
Your cat may not want to drink from its water bowl because of how still the water in it looks. Not only do cats have poor depth perception which makes it difficult for them to see where the water in the water bowl actually starts, they are also instinctively wary of still water.
In most cases, experts say giving your pets hard water probably won't cause any problems. The minerals in hard water (calcium, magnesium, and iron) shouldn't lead to any health issues. However, some veterinarians do advise against giving cats and dogs untreated tap water, and that's not because of the minerals.
Slapping at the water dish is a way for cats to get their water moving a bit, which makes them feel more comfortable about drinking it. If your cat bats at the water in her bowl before getting a drink and likes to climb on the counter to drink water out of the tap when you turn it on, this might be the reason.
If you have more than one cat, it may be best to change the cat litter more often, every 2-3 weeks. If you use a non-clumping litter and have only one cat, changing the litter twice per week is a good guideline. If you have more than one cat, every other day may work better.
Stay Away From the Litter Box
It's best to keep a considerable distance between the litter box and our food. Not only is it unsanitary, but our wild cat instincts tell us to use the bathroom away from our nest so that predators don't pick up on our scents. Eating near our litter box goes against this very instinct.
It is not recommended to keep the bowl filled and allow grazing. A break in eating habits can be a warning sign of illness. When cats eat on a regular schedule, that habit becomes strong. It is easy to see at a glance if all the food from a meal is consumed.
Age Makes a Difference
"From age six months to maturity, most cats will do well when fed two times a day." Once the cat becomes an adult, at about one year, feeding once or twice a day is appropriate in most cases. Senior cats, age seven and above, should maintain the same feeding regimen.
If your cat is flipping their food bowl, it might be due to their instinctual, predatory behavior. Some cats like to play with their food like it's prey because that's what they'd do in the wild. While your domestic cat likely doesn't behave like a wild feline, they still have instincts that determine their behavior.
The second reason cats tend to leave some food behind in their bowl is that their whiskers are simply too sensitive to be burrowing through a narrow bowl of food. Cats' whiskers are rich in nerves and sensory cells making it rather painful to have them continuously rub against the wall of a bowl.
It might be because metal bowls are shiny and your cat see some reflection when he tries to drink and gets spooked. It also might be because of the shiny metal bowl and the clear (colorless water), he is unable to determine if there is water/where the water is. The latter became a problem when my dog got older.
The Best Option: Pet Platters!
Dogs and cats instinctively navigate their food better on a flat surface and it's more natural to be able to pick and choose what they want to eat first.
In Summary, Stainless Steel is the Best Type of Cat Bowl
After researching the pros and cons of plastic versus ceramic versus stainless steel cat bowls, stainless steel is the clear winner.
If your cats solely eat wet or dry food (and not both), you'll need 1 bowl per cat. But, if your cats eat a combination of wet and dry food, the number of bowls you need depends on the answers to these two questions: Does each cat like a mix of wet and dry food in the same bowl?
Although having cats share a bowl is often easier, saves space, and creates fewer dirty dishes, there are so many reasons cats need their own bowls! Eating separate is instinctively how cats eat most comfortably. Plus, separate bowls reduce stress and promote peace when cats aren't competing with each other for food.
Let's explore this medical condition. Cat whisker fatigue – also called whisker stress – is a term veterinarians use to describe the sensory overload cats feel when their sensitive whiskers repeatedly touch a surface, according to an article by Oklahoma State University Veterinary Medical Hospital.
You can safely leave dry cat food out for several days and it won't spoil, but it's best to throw out leftovers and wash the dish on a daily basis, to keep Fluffy's food at its freshest. Keep in mind that dry food will grow stale within a day and may not be as appealing to your cat once this happens.