If you’re a pet parent, you likely know all too well about food stealing in multi-pet households. Food stealing can occur for a number of reasons, but some of the most common causes can be:
Fear of scarcity - Even if you fill your pet’s food bowl up to the brim, many pets that have lived in shelters or experienced neglect can often feel that their food amounts are never enough. Oftentimes leading them to steal from other pets in the household in order to feel like they are eating “enough”. This can typically stem from fear of not knowing when their next meal could arrive.
Social Dynamics - It can be very common in multi-pet households for one cat to take over as the dominant pet, which can lead to complicated social interactions between other pets in the home. The dominant pet tends to “take control” over meal times, which often causes bullying or intimidation during feedings to occur.
Reinforcement - For many pets that simply enjoy eating, once they have stolen from other pets before, they may become accustomed to stealing more often. This can cause a repetitive cycle to occur as, once cats realize they can get away with it, the behavior can occur more frequently.
Even in households that may be struggling to manage pet stealing, many solutions are available in order to help manage this issue. Feeders such as the PawsPik Automatic RFID Pet Feeder that can provide RFID access control and restriction can be game changers for how you manage your pet’s feeding habits.
What is RFID?
RFID stands for radio frequency identification. It works by utilizing radio waves to track, identify, and manage objects. The PawsPik microchip pet feeder is designed to recognize these frequencies in the form of either our RFID tag or through a pet’s embedded ISO microchip.
How Does it Prevent Food Stealing?
With our cat feeder’s ability to detect RFID frequencies, our automatic pet feeders are able to provide accurate access control depending on the status of the pet. Pets that have been paired with the feeder will be automatically identified as the approved pet. Pet parents can set the feeder into either open or closed mode depending on their personal preference. No matter what mode the feeder is in, the approved pet will be able to gain access to their food once they approach the feeder, and any unapproved pet will be denied access.
The way this works is that our automatic pet feeder is able to scan the approaching RFID frequency to determine whether or not it is the paired pet, effectively helping to manage access control and ensure that the correct pets are eating their meals.
How Will This Benefit A Multi-Pet Household?
Owning a feeder that is capable of access control can provide immense benefits to multi-pet households that struggle with food stealing. Devices like the PawsPik Automatic RFID Pet Feeder can help stop food intimidation, bullying, and promote healthier weight management.
