Conference misery::feline_v1

    I have no advice for your problem with Chauncey.  Yet, I have a
    similair problem with Elmo, who is brand new in the house.  He won't
    eat unless me or Larry is watching him.  It's a real pain since
    Elmo is just a kitten, and likes to eat a hundred times a day.
    Elmo also won't eat if Portia or Osar are in the same room.  I'm
    just gonna wait until Elmo is a bit older, then I'm going to let
    him eat on his own or starve.  Since he is so little now, I'll give
    in.  I jsut wish he'd eat faster.
    
    
    
   

    I'd try sitting with Chauncey, too.  I'd put down a bowl of the
    most wonder food in the world (his opinion...maybe tuna, or baby
    food) and encourage him.  He's really a creature of habit, eh?
    
    Whatever goes on in those pea-sized brains???
    
    Good luck!
    Mary

    Personally, stairs give me the willies.  Maybe Chaunce is afraid
    he'll get distracted and bump bump thumpity thump thump will happen.
    Can you put the food dishes some place else?  What about up on
    the counter in the kitchen?
    
    Holly thinks the best way to eat is to have me petting her and telling
    her she's beautiful at the same time.  I think this is some throw-
    back to nursing.  p.s.  she only gets this treatment occasionally
    and she is not skinny, starving cat scenes at breakfast time to
    the contrary.
    

    RE:  1st two replies:
    --------------------
    I don't think watching him eat will do it.  Last night, I carried
    him down to the landing and set him in front of the dish, petting
    and talking softly to him.  He bolted back up the stairs to the
    front door to be let out.  I reluctantly gave in and brought his
    dish upstairs and set it on the kitchen floor.  He chowed down the
    whole bowl and seemed very satisfied to have gotten his way.
    
    RE:  -1:
    -------
    Actually, the food is located right at the bottom of the first set
    of stairs against the wall.  The next set of stairs is well away
    from the food; there is absolutely no way he could fall.  I used
    to feed them there when we moved in (before we carpeted the stairway,
    landing included) and he was fine.  Now, all of a sudden, he refuses
    to eat there!
    
    Do you think the carpeting could have anything to do with it?  Or
    is my brat cat just being stubborn?
    

    Is the carpeting synthetic, with that strange smell synthetic
    carpeting has?
    

    Roberta,
    
    I've a feeling Chauncey is being subborn because he is not getting
    his own way.  Georgie can be extremely stubborn at times for no
    real reason.  Also, one of my parents' cats, Purdy will only eat
    off the lid of the catfood tin, unless she thinks the other two
    have something better on their dishes and then she will want to
    steal that!
    
    Hope Chauncey gets out of his mood soon...!
    
    Karen

    You are right, Karen, he IS stubborn.  He will readily go downstairs
    to eat the dry food; however, he INSISTS on eating his moist meals
    in the kitchen ONLY.
    
    So, I half-compromised with him.  He can eat the moist in the kitchen,
    but any leftovers - and there are always leftovers - go downstairs
    with the rest of the food.  I always find the food eaten later on
    so I know he goes down there to finish up.
    
    Besides, when we get the 3rd cat soon, Chauncey will be livid and
    probably refuse to eat anything at all!!!
    
    He really is a *very* strong-willed, stubborn, pampered little brat!
    
    BUT - I love him anyway.
    
    /Roberta
    

    See how well trained us humans are???
    
    Sandi (Lightning's, DejaVu's & Thunder's mom)
    
    

    we're back.  verne, shirl, and carla jeanne, and of course...
    problems...
    which seems to be the same here.  i have also recently tried
    to move their food dish and came up with the same response. scratching
    the floor, and putting their nose in the air, and proceeding
    to the nearest exit they can find.  the only thing that is different
    with them is the reason why their bowls were moved.
    you see, we have two (2) dogs and i guess they are on a diet
    (chubba's believe me) and seein' how they are not getting as much
    food as they are used to; they have become quite fond of my kitties
    food.  this poses a great problem especially because shirley always
    saves 1/2 of her food for later.  i used to have to take the bowl
    away from verne but now he just eats his and leaves when he is
    finished.  but poor shirl goes back to eat and never has any food
    left.  i felt so bad about it i put their bowls out in the porch.
    they didn't like that at all.  
    have you found a solution yet....
    thanks in advance
    cj
    

    re; .9
    
    This may not be for everyone, but I feed my two right up on the
    kitchen counter.  The dogs won't be able to reach it and since most
    cats like high places this location seems to work well.  We started
    doing this when our cats decided to play hockey all over the kitchen
    floor with their dry food.  Raising it to the counter seemed to
    quell their athletic tendencies in this area!
    
    Jeanne, Cali and Sam
    
    
    P.S. with a nice placemat and fancy feeding dish it doesn't look
    all that bad!
    
    

    We used to feed on the counter tops too, but now have found another
    solution.  We cut a cat-size hole in the door to the basement. 
    Then we screened off the basement, at the bottom of the stairs so
    they can't get into anything down there.  Now we put the food on
    the top stair where it's warm and the dogs can't get it, and the 
    litter boxes at the bottom where we don't have to look at (or smell) 
    them.  Works great!
    
    Karen, Tristan and Tenzing.

    Roberta,  I have been trying to send you mail all week and can't
    get through.  Has your node changed again?  I was using FSHQA!::RWAXMAN
    and got a message saying "remote node not known".  I wanted to ask
    you about the cat beds.  I will be sewing this weekend.  Are you
    still interested?
    Jo

    that FSHQA! was a typo.  I really meant FSHQA1.
    (also tried FSHQA2 since I have seen you use it here.  Got same
    message back)
    I also tried your old node.
    Jo
    

        
        The problem  is  that  JULIET's  node database is pretty old -
        dates back to  June.    Sending  mail  to  your system manager
        asking him/her to update  the  database might help, or you can
        use the numeric equivalent of the name, 39063.
        
        Sandy
        
        

    in the interim, another thing that you could do is to "poor man route"
    through a node that knows about that FSHQA1. Since the this notes
    file did correctly record the node name, you could route it through
    VAXWRK. The syntax would be
    
    		To:	VAXWRK::FSHQA1::RWAXMAN
    
    Deb

    Did anyone try Roberta's DTN, which is 268-3592 ?
    
    

    It's a good idea but I work a switchboard and can't get a call in
    edgewise!
    
    Jo
    
    

    Boy - didn't realize I was so popular :-).
    
    We have been having problems with the new nodes ever since they
    were created!  JoAnn and I have finally touched base now, thanks
    to Deb.
    
    And......
    
    Chauncey is starting to eat downstairs.  I'm slowly weaning him
    off of the kitchen.  I finally decided not to give in to his
    stubbornness and he is finally beginning to learn not to be so
    stubborn.
    
    RE:  .9
    
    When I lived at home, we used to feed the cats on the countertops
    too, since the dogs loved to eat their food.  This didn't sit very
    well with guests, but we never cared!