We recently broke a food bowl that Beau and Bella use for their wet food treats. Eileen, being a good cat mother, went out and bought a couple of new appetizer plates.
Results were fascinating. Typically, the cats come for their wet food in the afternoon spontaneously. If they don’t, we clink the plates together and then they come running. Beau would only come down and eat when the old plate was clinked. After the first time, though, he got the picture and showed up when the new plates were knocked together.
The little buggers are smarter than we think, sometimes. However, sometimes they are not. Bella refused to eat from the new plates until both an old plate and a new plate was put out. Seeing food on both, she was then placated.