Smokey doesn't like to see the bottom of her bowl, so picking it up and
shaking the kibble will stop her complaining. The other two are happy to
steal every last bit of her kibble if the bowl gets left down.

Smokey likes to have her tummy rubbed while eating, makes her eat faster and
purr louder. This is the only way to get her eating when she gets a new bag
of food, even if it's the same brand. It does not smell the same afterall.

I guess I should consider myself lucky then; sometimes I just lean over and
mess with the kibble in the bowl while it's still on the floor. I've often
wondered if he would catch on to that. He probably will, so I'll take your
lead and be sure to pick it up, turn my back and stir it before putting it
down.

Ketzl, on the other hand, will NOT eat if I'm in the kitchen. Many's the time
I head in there only to see he's happily eating, and, knowing that if I go in
there while he's eating, he'll stop and leave the room, I wait till he's
done! Man, talk about a sucka!

By the way, I had to surrender a linen napkin to him after he'd been here a
few weeks. When he's done munching on his wet food (never eats it all at
once, and in fact, almost always leaves some until it becomes inedible) he
would scratch at everything within reach to try to cover it for later: the
stove, the floor, the wall, etc.

He ended up moving the wet food dish all over the place, catching the kibble
bowl, which was nearby, and scattering that everywhere, and also moving his
water fountain all over the place, often spilling water in the process.

I finally learned (yet again; yet another thing he taught me) to drop a linen
napkin near his wet food dish, and now he focuses on that, pawing at it and
dragging it until it covers his dish. Ya gotta love 'im.