# There's food in your bowls, goddammit! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 13, 2006, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-food-in-your-bowls-goddammit/360602 "2006-06-13T18:52:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2006, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-food-in-your-bowls-goddammit/360602/1 "2006-06-13T18:52:06Z")
Damn cats. I bought a new 25 lb bag of cat food yesterday and brought it in and the little bastards will not leave it alone. Sniffing at it, poking at it, trying to tear holes in it with their claws. This despite the fact that there’s food in both of their dishes. Then when I tell them to shove off the new bag, they sit and _look_ at me. Little punks. ---
**Author:** ![Winston\_Smith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e95f7d/32.png) [@Winston\_Smith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Winston_Smith)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2006, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-food-in-your-bowls-goddammit/360602/2 "2006-06-13T18:53:12Z")
Light the bag on fire. Cats _hate_ fire, and will likely leave it alone. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2006, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-food-in-your-bowls-goddammit/360602/3 "2006-06-13T18:56:10Z")
You don’t understand. It’s _other_ food. They must have the other food, because it will cause them to grow thumbs and then they can conquer the world! ---
**Author:** ![BiblioCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2006, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-food-in-your-bowls-goddammit/360602/4 "2006-06-13T19:17:20Z")
To the tiny mind of a cat, it’s much more fun to stalk and kill the Wild Bag O’ Food. Of course, it must then be strewn around to show their might hunting prowess. “I, Fluffykins, am the Mighty Hunter. See what I have done! Bow down before me! Now open a can of tuna, dammit!” We open the bags and put the food in a big plastic box with a lid that has locking handles. Damn cats. Dog, too. ---
**Author:** ![tremorviolet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e47774/32.png) [@tremorviolet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tremorviolet)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2006, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-food-in-your-bowls-goddammit/360602/5 "2006-06-13T19:19:15Z")
I put the bag on top’o the fridge. Otherwise, I come home to 25 pounds of cat food ascctered throughout the kitchen. ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2006, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-food-in-your-bowls-goddammit/360602/6 "2006-06-13T19:27:30Z")
[QUOTE=silenus] You don’t understand. It’s _other_ food. They must have the other food, because it will cause them to grow thumbs and then they can conquer the world! [/QUOTE] Oh, so _that’s_ why they do that! 😃 I keep the bags of my cats’ food shut in the hall closet- otherwise, Luna would bite through the bag to get at it. ---
**Author:** ![SnakesCatLady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4af34b/32.png) [@SnakesCatLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SnakesCatLady)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2006, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-food-in-your-bowls-goddammit/360602/7 "2006-06-13T19:30:33Z")
Cat food goes in a cabinet in the cat suite. One they haven’t figured out how to open, yet. They have figured out how to open the cabinets in my office, which are full of books. There is nothing in there that could be of interest to them, but they keep opening and exploring just in case there is a catnip plant or a open can of tuna in there. Beasts. _Beastly_ beasts. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2006, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-food-in-your-bowls-goddammit/360602/8 "2006-06-13T19:44:22Z")
My cats have lost this valuable instinct. The bag of food sits open next to their bowls, but they won’t touch it, even when the bowls are empty. “Miaow! You expect me to serve myself?!” I’m pretty sure that they’d chew on my dead body before they even investigated the open bag. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2006, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-food-in-your-bowls-goddammit/360602/9 "2006-06-13T19:51:51Z")
We put the food in a big covered bucket and put it out of reach. The finicky little fur faces won’t eat “broken” pieces. If it’s small crumbs, we have to refill. I suppose I’ll have to give them the keys and let them go out to eat next. ---
**Author:** ![hawksgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ed655f/32.png) [@hawksgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hawksgirl)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2006, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-food-in-your-bowls-goddammit/360602/10 "2006-06-13T20:03:44Z")
[QUOTE=Kalhoun] The finicky little fur faces won’t eat “broken” pieces. If it’s small crumbs, we have to refill. I suppose I’ll have to give them the keys and let them go out to eat next. [/QUOTE] My roommate’s cat does this. We call the rejected pieces “chunklets”. We usually have to refill the chunklet filled dish, unless we get tired of the whining and scream “You’ll eat those chunklets and you’ll like it missy!” ---
**Author:** ![lisacurl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/41988e/32.png) [@lisacurl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisacurl)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2006, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-food-in-your-bowls-goddammit/360602/11 "2006-06-13T20:13:05Z")
I used to keep the Curlcats’s dry food in a plastic container in a closet in the spare room. They were switched over to canned food _months_ ago, and the cans are kept in the kitchen pantry. That plastic container in the spare room closet hasn’t seen dry food in ages, and I haven’t gone to that closet as part of their feeding ritual for ages. However, the cats will still do their best Schroedinger to get into that closet if we so much as crack open the door. Charles T. Cat was trapped in there for a good fifteen minutes this weekend before we heard him mewing to be let out. ---
**Author:** ![Mouse\_Maven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@Mouse\_Maven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mouse_Maven)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2006, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-food-in-your-bowls-goddammit/360602/12 "2006-06-13T20:14:27Z")
Yep, my fuzzies do this too. I think cat food that’s still in the bag is the same as “people food.” Cat brain: Its forbidden, its out of reach, it must be **MINE**! (Come to think of it, maybe Bond villians were cats in a former life. . .) ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2006, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-food-in-your-bowls-goddammit/360602/13 "2006-06-13T20:26:16Z")
[QUOTE=BiblioCat] We open the bags and put the food in a big plastic box with a lid that has locking handles. [/QUOTE] Ditto. ([This, specifically](http://www.containerstore.com/browse/Product.jhtml;jsessionid=WW223BWJ1KP51QFIAILCM44AVABBOJVC?CATID=245&PRODID=63189).) Doesn’t stop the fuzzy black land shark from grabbing plastic bags of bread off the kitchen counter and tearing the shit out of them, but at least the kibble is safe. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2006, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-food-in-your-bowls-goddammit/360602/14 "2006-06-13T20:36:58Z")
Our cats love to tear into bags of cat food. Dog food, too. Once the kibble comes spilling out, they push it around on the floor a little and lose interest. I suspect that the bag-shredding is symbolic of disemboweling the prey. Down inside those sweet little pussycats is a predator’s instinct, and tearing into packaged food may provide satisfaction to the primitive killer-kitty inside. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2006, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-food-in-your-bowls-goddammit/360602/15 "2006-06-13T20:42:47Z")
Maybe your bag of cat food sat on the shelf next to a bag of much-tastier-smelling cat food, and your cat wants that other food… ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2006, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-food-in-your-bowls-goddammit/360602/16 "2006-06-13T20:44:18Z")
[QUOTE=pinkfreud] I suspect that the bag-shredding is symbolic of disemboweling the prey. Down inside those sweet little pussycats is a predator’s instinct, and tearing into packaged food may provide satisfaction to the primitive killer-kitty inside. [/QUOTE] Oh, yeah. Just watching our little sweethearts with one of my socks sends chills down my spine. Grab with teeth, roll over onto back, hold in position with front paws and disembowel with both back claws. Slash, slash, slash. Nice kitty. ---
**Author:** ![Elza\_B](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Elza\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elza_B)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2006, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-food-in-your-bowls-goddammit/360602/17 "2006-06-13T21:34:32Z")
[QUOTE=silenus] You don’t understand. It’s _other_ food. They must have the other food, because it will cause them to grow thumbs and then they can conquer the world! [/QUOTE] Huh. Yours don’t already have thumbs? I guess I just have gifted and talented cats :D. Granted, they’re not so gifted and talented when they run into doors, but they’ve figured out how to eat daintily off of their thumbs. E. ---
**Author:** ![Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cab0a1/32.png) [@Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Man_With_a_Cat)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2006, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-food-in-your-bowls-goddammit/360602/18 "2006-06-14T01:04:02Z")
The cat food cabinet is up high, out of reach, and what doesn’t fit in the plastic tub is tied up. Wait…you said 25 lb bag??? :eek: ---
**Author:** ![supervenusfreak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@supervenusfreak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/supervenusfreak)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2006, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-food-in-your-bowls-goddammit/360602/19 "2006-06-14T01:40:23Z")
The kibble goes in a big plastic container. We recently switched from Purina to Iams. I get the same “if I must” looks from them that I get from **Jayjay**. 😃 The treats and the wet food (given once per day) are in a basket on top of a hutch. I wish I had the same restraint for my diet… ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2006, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-food-in-your-bowls-goddammit/360602/20 "2006-06-14T01:54:32Z")
We keep the cat food bags in big metal tins, like those ones that gourmet popcorn come in at Christmas time. Then we put the cans in the stairwell going down to the basement. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-food-in-your-bowls-goddammit/360602.md?page=2)