Kimiko has started resource guarding (kinda)

edited February 2013 in Behavior & Training
She guards food, but not her own, she guards Kiyomi's food.... from the cat...

Every morning I feed the dogs in their crates. When they are done I let them out, with Kiyomi(Shiba), since she doesn't normally finish I'll just lock her crate door closed. Kiyomi can unlock her crate, so she is free to go open the door and eat whenever she wants. Sometimes Kiyomi will go open it, eat a little, then walk away. When this happens Mr. Willson(cat) takes this as an opportunity for him to have some dog food. As soon as Kimiko(Shikoku/Laika) hears a crunch from the cat eating the food, she runs over and pushes him away from it, then lays down by the cage and makes sure he doesn't eat any more of it. She doesn't ever hurt him, so it isn't something I'm worried about. I just think its adorable. She's like "This isn't your food! It's Kiyomi's!"

And just because, here is a picture of Mr. Willson drinking Kimiko's water~
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Comments

  • oh my, they are so cute together! I am sorry, I have no other advice but to no longer allow Kiyomi to free graze. I hope it doesn't get out of hand!
  • I would just pick the food up and not let Kimiko practice that behavior. If Kiyomi is really hungry he'll eat all the food when he has it.
  • I've started picking it up and giving it back to her with her evening meal, since I don't want it developing into more... As of now Meeko still loves Mr. Wilson, she'll share her food/water with him, thought it was funny that she was just "protecting" Kiyomi's food.
  • She always does things that I find cute, but know that I need to stop her from doing...
    Like jumping and putting her paws on the counter, it was so cute the first time she did it... Not as cute when I'm trying to prepare dinner. Lol
  • edited February 2013
    Well, I might be the lone dissenter here, as I think it really might depend on the dog Alanna.

    I have 2 shikoku and 4 cats. As puppies, the shikoku always had the feeding time and then the dishes were picked up (to especially help with house breaking). But because the 2 shikoku really love each other and show no resource guarding with each other, I started leaving their food down all the time and they could eat when they want. Often they eat together out of the same dish even if I have 2 dishes of food. Both dogs are very good keepers and never overeat and are in good weight.

    Well, our cats will also eat the dog food sometimes. Kuma will sometimes trot up and push the cat's head out of the dish. If he is in the other room, he will come in from far away if he hears the cats in his/Sachi's dish. I worried at first, but he was always very gentle with the cat, never ever aggressive. And it never escalated. So now I do not worry.

    So, if Kimiko were mine, I would just observe her and see how she is with Mr Wilson. Having watched your play videos, they obviously like each other and she is gentle with him in play. If she is gentle with him at the dish....well, I wouldn't worry too much. Especially if she is a light eater and in good weight (not heavy).

    Each dog is unique. When I get another shikoku (soon), I may very well go back to timed feedings and dishes up after 10 minutes.

    And just because it's cute, here are 2 videos of the dogs with the cats at the dishes








  • edited February 2013
    I'd suggest taking away the dog kibble for the cat's own good-- I've been told the ash content too high for kitties, (I assume you're feeding kibble, it would not be sanitary to leave food out if you're free feeding raw), will cause kidney issues, which is pretty much what kills most pet cats at an old age :-(
  • She never appears aggressive with it, but I've still been picking the food up the last few days. The cat is a real bastard about getting into things, last night he ripped into a brand new bag of dog treats, got into the trash can and spread trash all over the kitchen. He saw me pick up the bag and took off running upstairs because he knew he was bad. Then every time he sees its time to feed the dogs he'll go and get into one of their crates.

    He's lucky he's such an adorable cat.
  • @Loni The CAT did that? but, DOGS do that stuff, not cats! Oddball kitty... Sounds like a real character.
  • @Losech Yeah lol, I seriously think that he thinks he is a dog. He does everything they do. If I go to let them outside, he runs to the door with them and will sit by the door with me (I stay by the back door and watch them too make sure they don't try to escape) and wait for them to come back in. Then goes into their crates with them when he sees it's feeding time. When there is something out front he'll be right there staring out the front window with the dogs. He's usually at the front door when we come home, or if he's not already there, he'll come running down the stairs to great us.

    I could probably keep going with his dog-like mannerisms, but I think you get the point. lol I'm on a mid-watch right now and won't be home from work till about 0630, I just know there will be trash everywhere when I walk in...
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