by greg-in-washington

Scooby the Social Eater New

Scooby the cat may be defined as a “social eater”.

I did a little research, with the emphasis on “little”, and found people describing Scooby’s unusual behavior. What does he do? When he is hungry he will come near me and sit and stare at me for as long as it takes for me to get up. Then he leads me to the kitchen where his food bowls are. If they are empty, I give him some food. That sounds like reasonable behavior–I am out of food! More often than not, there is food in the bowl and he just begins eating it. If I walk out of the room, when he notices, he will stop eating and follow me, and do the whole staring routine over again, until I return to the food bowl. Then he eats some more. If he looks like he is about to stop eating, or does stop, if I immediately scratch his head, he eats more. I need to stand there until he is finished. If I leave, he will follow me out, and bother me until I go back to the food bowl and watch him eat. When he is done, then he will wander off. If I am not around, he will eat on his own.

Scooby

Scooby

He eats when other cats are eating also OK. There have been no changes in the household whatsoever.

Opie Zeke Scooby

Opie (doorway) Zeke (foreground) Scooby (right) eating

Is this an actual condition or not? I read several explanations. I don’t play with him enough so he does it for attention. Not likely. Or he was confined in a cage for a long time and only ate when a human brought him food. Possible. Or he just likes company. It took me a while to figure out I needed to stay by the bowl until he was done. It would be nice if he would go out into the kitchen and eat on his own. There are no issues with drinking out of water bowls.

19 Comments

  2. I’m learning that cats are much like humans, in that they all have different personalities and they have mood changes just like we do. He sounds like he just wants your company while he eats. It wouldn’t surprise me if this stage passes in time. I’ve noticed that Otis goes through different changes quite often. I’d thought that cats are creatures of habit, but I’m now questioning that way of thinking. I don’t think this stage will last.

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  3. Cats are just like people, some are social and some are not. I think he likes your company. Plus he may feel safer with you there to watch his back.

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  4. I think his behavior is so cute but I imagine it is at times, exasperating. One of my cats years ago did not eat unless I fed her canned food from a spoon. She had been very ill and was near her last days so I began holding food in a spoon in front of her nose so that she could get the smell. This lasted for about 5-6 months until her eventual decline from renal failure and she refused to eat. It was time to put her down.

    I have not the faintest idea of why your cat likes to eat with you standing there. Maybe he just likes the attention. 🙂

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  6. When I was a teenager and got “my” first cat, she was a tiny kitten and scared. I would pet her and she would eat. Little did I know that I was creating a habit that would last for the rest of her life (19 years!). If she wanted attention, she would go to her food bowl and want to be petted. When I’d pet her, she would eat (and she’d eat on her own too). Perhaps Scooby’s former owner did the same?

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  8. dood…while we due knot haz any reezon for thiz….we hafta say yur coatz total lee awesum… yur tail markingz are way kewl…..

    on that note ♫

    me…tuna….if eye am drinkin water N heer de food servizz gurl come inta de room; eye stop N will knot drink again until herz outta site ???? dunno why on this either !! 🙂 ♥♥

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  10. Now this is a coincidence as Spike is definitely a social eater. I don’t have to stand near him as long as he can see me he carries on eating. He will stop and look up and if he can see me he continues eating. He was never like this he would happily eat his food alone. I feel as if he’s looking for reassurance from me just to let him know everything is okay you can happily carry on eating. The more I think about it,I would say it started when Graig used to come in and sneakily eat all Spikes dinner. I like to think he loves me that much he just likes my company at feeding times. x🐾😻🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾

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