An opinionated feline in Edmonton, Canada who lived with a retired cat behaviourist, Greyce provided behavioral advice to cats in need until her death in July 2014. Because her entries are useful even today, the blog remains posted.

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Share and Share Alike

Hey Greyce, Getta load of this! My Mom, Cinny (a lovely tortoise shell) and moi (a black beauty) live together in a good home. We are fed the same food but on separate plates near one another. We each take one plate and then about halfway through the meal, we switch.

We were okay with this until we heard that our purrson thinks it's strange? Are we weird or what? Just have to be sure, Spot.

Dear Spot, You are your Mom are behaving like two cats who get along quite well, at least where food is concerned. You share. While not all cats are into time-sharing their food, some are -- my friends Peanut and Chloe who live across the alley, for example. They each get a separate dish of the same wet food which they eat with gusto. But as soon as one of them has had her fill, she leaves; and if a bit is left on the plate, her companion will finish it off then and there; then the other will return and finish whatever was left on her partner's plate. No big deal!

For humans, your sharing the same food is a curiousity -- largely because they tend to hog their food to themselves. I have seen some human mothers eat the leftovers from their children's plates (but only so it doesn't go to waste in the garbage). And Himself has been known to put his fork into Herself's french fries, just to annoy her. With humans, any plate-to-plate travel tends to involve a coveted food item (like those fries) or a novelty (something on the other purrson's plate that the pilferer doesn't have). Sharing? Not so much -- unless they go to a restaurant and order one entree and two plates; then the motive is based either  on  a small appetite or small wallet.

Rest assured, all is well in your world. It's always amusing to bewilder humans with purrfectly normal behaviour don't you think?