….. they teach themselves.
The mystery of the empty cat bowls had been going on for quite a few weeks. Bijou and Coco never empty their bowls completely but for some reason they’d suddenly started eating every little biscuit (they get dried food) and their milk bowls were dry as well.
Now it’s not uncommon for cats to put on an eating spurt to bulk themselves up for winter and in Coco’s case, being the absolute glutton she is, she almost doubles in size, but they’d always left some, but not now. Every morsel had gone.
And the cats had suddenly started hammering on our bedroom door in the middle of the night, shouting and bawling. It couldn’t be because they needed to get out because the door to the garage was always left open and so one night when I couldn’t stand the constant meowing anymore, I let them lead me into the kitchen and there was Shadow, just finishing off the last of the cat’s milk having completely emptied their food bowls.
In true Shadow style when caught out, he lowered his head and closed his eyes and pretends not to be there thinking that he's become invisible. No chance! He was soundly chastised, his treats were cut off for a couple of days and he was told in no uncertain terms that his behavior wasn’t that expected of the head of the animal family. He skulked back into the lounge, lay in front of the dying embers of the fire and was snoring again within a couple of minutes.
The following day, I decided to put a door stop on the kitchen door so that it was open wide enough for the cats to get in and out but way to small for Shadow to sneak in - his food and water are placed in a corner of the lounge so he shouldn’t need to enter the kitchen.
That night the usual cat commotion started outside the bedroom door again. I rushed into the lounge but Shadow was asleep (I think) in the corner but amazingly, the kitchen door had been opened just wide enough for a dog to get in. Yes – the cats’ bowls were completely empty. There was only one suspect but Shadow is a bit thick so I feel guilty about telling him off when I don’t catch him in the act so I filled the bowls and went back to bed.
The following night I’d forgotten something in the lounge about 10 minutes after lights out and when I went in and there was no sign of Shadow. The kitchen door had once again been prised open but this time there he was – face deep in the cats’ bowl scoffing their food. Well he didn’t know whether to run, stay or just lie down and cover his eyes with his paws but it was all too late. I whacked him over the nose with the empty cat bowl, booted him up the backside and he crawled back into the lounge.
That was a couple of months ago and we’d thought we’d cured him of his illegal midnight feasts but no, he’s at it again, but with a subtle twist.
He now leaves a small amount of cat food in the bowls to make it look as if the cats have been eating but he stupidly empties their milk bowls. And how do we know? J caught him last week in the process of moving from the food bowls to the milk bowls. Again he pretended not to be there which is absolutely hilarious to watch but once again he suffered because his beloved doggie treats were confiscated for a week. I don’t think he correlates the two.
But how does he open the kitchen door? He might be thick but when it comes to getting into the kitchen through a 'locked' door to get to the cats' food, he obviously knows a trick or two!
One night I'll catch him.
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