Feeding Your Cat Around Your Dog: Important Things You Should Know

Having a pet is just like having a child. As soon as they enter your life, it’s like they’re a member of the family, and there isn’t a thing in the world that you wouldn’t do to keep them safe, comfortable, and happy. In many cases, you soon discover that having one pet isn’t enough, and they do need companionship, or perhaps a member of your family just wants another pet. In any case, if you find that you end up having a cat and a dog as pets in your home, it’s important to understand what is the best way to feed them. This is why we’re going to help you find out more about what you need to do when feeding your cat around your dog. 

Supervision is Important

If you’ve gotten over the initial hurdle and are certain that these two can get along, the next step is making sure that you have control over the feeding process, and this, too, comes with conditioning. You must supervise their feeding time to see how they react to one another and to each other’s food and space as well. You have to remember that animals have different personalities just like we do, so it really depends on their character. You need to see how they behave when faced with food- sometimes they may feel tempted to explore each other’s plates and this is where you need to step in to make sure they understand that this is something that they shouldn’t be doing.

They Have Different Dietary Needs

Dogs and cats have different nutritional requirements. It’s important to know that while dogs can more or less get away with eating cat food, the same doesn’t go for cats. You should also know that even if dogs can manage to dig into cat food, it’s not healthy for them in the long run. For instance, if your cat is unable to digest hard dry food, you need an alternative. There are soft and dry options that are great for them and have special ingredients, but they aren’t necessarily good for dogs. This is why it’s so important that when you feed your cat around your dog, you work out an arrangement where each has only their food. Dogs usually have carbohydrate-rich food while cats need a more protein and fat-rich diet. If your dog eats your cat’s food, they are at risk of becoming obese, which will lead to an array of other issues that you don’t want to deal with. 

Schedule Feeding Times

You have to keep in mind that there are going to be times where your pets need to eat and you won’t be there to forever keep an eye on them. This is why you need to work out feeding schedules that they both can get used to from a young age. You can keep them 10 minutes apart so it’s not too much of a drastic difference and one doesn’t feel more neglected than the other. 

Get a Dog-Proof Cat Feeder

There are a number of dog proof cat feeders, but your best bet is the one that uses a microchip reader to open. This saves you a lot of hassle because it only opens when your cat is close to it, and they usually also have side barriers to keep the pup away. Even if you’re going to schedule their feeding at different times, there’s still the risk of the dog getting to the cat food, because most cats don’t eat all their food in one go, so this is a really practical option to go for. 

Feed the Cat at an Elevated Spot

Regardless of whether you’d like to feed them at the same time or not, it’s the best idea to place the cat’s water and food plate on an elevated spot that the dog can’t get to. This way, you won’t have to worry about them getting at each other’s throats or worry about the doggy eating all of your cat’s food. 

The whole point of having both a dog and cat as pets is to work towards having them live harmoniously together. Feeding time issues can actually ruin this relationship, so you need to know how to feed your cat around your dog so they don’t ever feel the need to be on the defense. Take the precautions provided here and you’ll be sure to have a peaceful, crazy family, filled with cats and dogs existing harmoniously side by side.