I'm spending this weekend feeding a friend's three cats. They're shy, slow to arrive when I start getting out the dishes, they eat slowly, they're skittish if the food-aggressive male tries to take food from the others. I wait about 10 minutes while they daintily eat 1/4 cup of dry food or about 1/4 cup of canned food, distracting the one male until all are finished. None of them has let me pick them up, though a scratch behind the ears of two of them is acceptable, and one is barely approachable.

Here at my house the three dogs charge into the room and pay close attention to the routine when it's mealtime. The food is on the floor and they wait till I tell them "eat!" and it's gone in 30 seconds. It's the same for friends or family who step in to feed them when I'm out of town. (And any time one of those friends or family comes for a visit they're excited to see them and hopeful that they might get an extra meal from that person!)