Reddit reviews Doc & Phoebe's Indoor Hunting Cat Feeder

So the Daughter took her beloved cat (she LOVES this cat) to the Roswell Cat Clinic and saw God.

This is her first solo pet, not one of the family pets (it's actually kinda cute)

She was so enamored with the Vet there and is taking his every word as if it were one of the 10 Commandments. He was really good. He spent almost 2 hours with her talking about cats and their behavior



Apparently, her cat is a "Barn Cat" because the Vet kept calling him a Barn Cat. He also said that it was a "proven fact that Red (orange) cats have the best personalities.

Because our 2 male cats are overweight lazy slobs, we now have to switch our feeding style.

They now have to "hunt for their food" and we have 6 of these little mouse feeders and the cats have to actively work to get the food to come out. Once they figure this out, we are supposed to hide the mouse in the house so the cats have to hunt for their food.

Lucy, our Mico Cat, doesn't need to do this as she is an indoor/outdoor cat and is svelt so we can still bowl feed her but we have to move her food bowl out into the garage to the boys don't take all her food.

Cats are not dogs first off 😺. Please throw away the spray bottle and no more yelling! If you have access to the animal planet go app you can watch Jackson Galaxy's "My Cat From Hell". He also has many You Tube videos. It is the Best advice you can get for solving behavioral problems with cats. He also has some good books so please at least invest some time into solving your problem by watching the show or videos or reading the book or all of them. I did all of them before I adopted my first cat.

I am assuming both cats are neutered. Do they have enough space to stay away from each other when they want to? For example do you have two cat trees or at least some shelves on the wall and two different beds and so on. They may get used to each other and become best buddies or they may never get along and just each hang out in what they claim to be their part of the house.

Because you have two cats, you will need two sets of these.
Doc & Phoebe's Indoor Hunting Cat Feeder https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07HFKDJF8/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_878vCbQXB021F.
I'm sharing one of my favorite things for my cat it makes her happy in many ways and can solve a lot of behavioral problems. In nature cats eat 6 mice a day, these little feeders give them the feeling of the hunt catch kill eat cycle that is so ingrained into them. The amount they hold is about the same as if they were eating a mouse so they get small meals throughout the day as they hunt for it and throughout the night. It comes with three mice and I fill them up in the morning and hide them and then again before I go to bed. Even though my girl generally knows where they are during the day because I have a very small apartment when it comes time for her to hunt catch kill eat I have seen her actually get so engrossed that she does the butt wiggle before leaping towards the mouse.

If juggling your cat's food becomes a problem and since all cats have a hunting instinct, you may want to try puzzle feeders; any type of puzzle feeder will do. I use mouse feeders Doc & Phoebe's Indoor Hunting Cat Feeder https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B07HFKDJF8/ref=cm_sw_r_other_apa_i_iEGPCbSNHKAWM When your cat figures it out, you can start to hide them in different places in the home. This will keep your cat busy when you're not home as well as satisfy that hunting instinct. G'luck!

Have you considered placing him in another room for mealtimes? That way, your other cats can eat in peace.

You may want to consider portioning his meals using a timed feeder. I own a similar one, with an ice pack built in for wet food, available on Amazon as well. You can set it to dispense food up to 5 times per day. I’ve also heard that these are good for cats that eat too fast, as they have to “hunt” for their food little by little (alternatively, you can also hide his food in small portions around whatever room he eats in, inside puzzle feeders, etc). I think the food dispenser is probably easiest. The version I linked to above is $36, but I’m sure you can find it cheaper on OfferUp or eBay.

As for fighting, Jackson Galaxy and Pam Johnson-Bennett have some great suggestions. Pam has a great reintroduction guide here. They also stress the importance of playing with your cat to get any excess energy or aggression out.

My guess for why he attacks the other cat may be some insecurity on his part about his status in the home. Do you have any cat trees, or high perches where he can sit? That may help him feel secure. Does he get to spend adequate time with you? I know it sounds silly, but some studies now show that cats view their owners in the same way that children view their parents, in contrast to dogs, who view their owners as pack leaders. Maybe your cat feels like the child who is always getting disciplined (however well-deserved it may be). In either case, reintroduction would likely be the first thing to try. It can take weeks, but it may be worth it for some peace in the home.

Another option is Feliway Multicat . It is a diffuser system (and I believe they have a spray version) designed for homes with multiple cats. The diffuser contains artificial pheromones designed to mimic the ones produced by a mother cat to calm her kittens. A friend of mine volunteers at a local shelter that utilizes these extensively to help keep the peace among their cats, and I know they’re quite popular in households with cats that don’t get along. It’s a pricey product and you may need multiple diffusers throughout your home for adequate reach, but again, you may find them cheaper elsewhere. Additionally, you can try placing them specifically where the two cats fight.

Good luck with everything. If you do choose to re-home your cat, the best thing would be to find him a loving home yourself, or at the very least, be sure you are looking at no-kill shelters (they often have waiting lists, by the way, so you’ll likely have to wait a bit - but it would save his life!) Be transparent about his issues and his need to be an only cat (in probably an adults-only home) so he can be placed where he’d be a good fit.

I hope it all works out for you and you can all live peacefully together!

At the shelter I volunteer with we always need Kongs (off brand are ok) both large and small. It lasts the dogs forever and provides great mental exercise!

As for cats, we use treat puzzle balls and toys (like this) and the “Stretch and Scratch”.