cat people...

[Liesje]

...if you have any creative ideas on how to get my cat to stop eating EVERYTHING, please post! Poshie is as naughty as she is cute. Beckham knows not to go on the counters, but Poshie goes on them every few minutes. Last week, she stole my chicken breast the second I turned my back and I had to chase her down and wrestle it out of her mouth and claws. Her new thing is sitting on top of the fish tank and either drinking the fish water, or eating their food as it moves toward the back of the tank (the only part not covered). Becks will beg and meow every now and then, but Poshie is worse than a dog! She'll sit right in front of you, or climb your legs, or if you're sitting down she'll hop on your lap and just start eating your food. She doesn't notice when I yell at her and she's no longer afraid of the spray bottle. The way she behaves, you'd think I haven't fed her in months!

 

[UltraVelvet]

OMG LiveLuv, that's hilarious! Have you wormed her lately? ( only half serious there) Ummmm... sensible suggestions...

Continue to yell & hiss at her when she does something bad, to tell her it's definately her that pissed you off, and if you can catch her, lock her in another room/outside for a little while to show her you're really annoyed.

Put her out while you prepare food and make sure there is never anything edible on the bench so that when she investigates she can see there's no point. Then again, one of mine still crawls my legs every time I chop things at the bench even though 99.9999% of the time it's vegies.

The fish tank thing is BAD, hope she doesn't ever knock it over or fall in, LOL! Can you sprinkle something nasty smelling on the cover to deter her? Not something that will poison the fish but something like pepper or lemon peel often offends them.

Actually that might work on your kitchen bench too - also, if you have wood/tiled floors (anything but carpet) you could sprinkle a small amount of flour or salt which will gack up her paws & feel yuk to walk on, and taste when she washes. Prob a bad idea if you have a velvet couch, expensive rugs & thick gorgeous berber through out though LOL.

Check access too - if you make it easy to get onto things she'll never stop. If there is any furniture next to the bench or fish tank that she's easily stepping across from, see if you can move anything away to make it that wee bit fiddlier for her to get up there.

One that may sound silly, but may help with her landing in your lap during dinner - always feed your cats when the family sits down to eat. Cats get extremely offended if you sit down to a meal and don't give them anything. They feel left out - even if that's because you fed them while cooking to get them out of your hair, a handful of dry food will still hopefully distract her.

Reward her for being good, too, if she ever is. When you feed her in her regular spot, give her a big pat and tell her she's a good girl kind of thing. If you cut up meat & give her scraps, always take it through to the food place, don't let her have any on the counter or at your feet to get her out of the way. Consistency helps them to get what you're on about.

Anyhow, sounds like you've got your hands full, but good luck!

One question - is she ginger? They're usually the most trouble.

Cheers ~Ultra

 

[U2Kitten]

I really think some of them have more of a hunter instinct than others and are driven to grab all food. I have had cats who would literally take it out of your hand or mouth, or at least try, cats who beg, and others who don't mess with you at all. Right now I can't even make a sandwich without 2 of the cats coming running to stick their noses in it but the others don't. I also think it has something to do with you being the main 'food' person. Once they associate you with food, they think all food you have is for them. My cats will mess with my food but if my husband gets something they don't, because he never feeds them. That could be it too, some cats might not understand that not all food you have is theirs.

 

[Kristie]

sparky used to munch on the other end of my sandwich when I was eating it

If the spray bottle doesn't work I smack the cat with my spoon 'cause I'm mean (and hygenic) like that.
No, really, when our cats get irritating we just toss them outside.

 

[Liesje]

OMG LiveLuv, that's hilarious! Have you wormed her lately? ( only half serious there) Ummmm... sensible suggestions...

Actually, she's been wormed twice. Once before I bought her and again because Beckham got worms and I medicated them both.

The fish tank thing is BAD, hope she doesn't ever knock it over or fall in, LOL! Can you sprinkle something nasty smelling on the cover to deter her?

As if FISH FOOD doesn't stink enough? lol. She will not be deterred, the little stinker! I dunked her this weekend b/c she was sitting there terrorizing my fish (who have dug a tunnel in their sand where they sit when she's attacking the side of the tank). She didn't even seem to care and now she's right back at it. She also likes to drink out of the toilet, the bathtub, and the puddles of melted snow.

One question - is she ginger? They're usually the most trouble.

Black and white. She's acted like a little princess since the day Ellen and I picked her out. We took her home when she was like 8 weeks old and instead of hiding, she jumped out of her box and started playing with everything (unlike Beckham who hid in his litter box for two days when he came home).

When she was little her favorite game was stratching (not scratching like they do to a post, but tearing and ripping to shreds) the nice furniture set my aunt gave me.

And Kristie, I have popped her over the head w/ a spoon before, but she just swatted me right back!

 

[Kristie]

As if FISH FOOD doesn't stink enough? lol. She will not be deterred, the little stinker! I dunked her this weekend b/c she was sitting there terrorizing my fish (who have dug a tunnel in their sand where they sit when she's attacking the side of the tank). She didn't even seem to care and now she's right back at it. She also likes to drink out of the toilet, the bathtub, and the puddles of melted snow.

man, I was just talking about that with someone today
our cats will NOT drink out of the water bowl
they'll drink out of the fish tank, out of the pond, out of the toilet, lick up the water around the drain in the sink or bathtub, drink the water in little fountain we had (that had bleach in it!), but refuse to drink out of the bowl



edit 'cause I had a thought:
with the fish food thing, you could get sinking food. Or, there's some freeze dried brine shrimp squares I used to feed my fish that you stick to the side of the tank under the water.

for the food thing... umm... you could start randomly leaving out plates of food you don't want and lace them with jalapeno juice, heh
[/ideas]

 

[Liesje]

My options are limited b/c my fish are south american cichlids and can only eat their cichlid pellets, but I like the jalapeno idea....

 

[youtwohearts]

Are they boys? I have five cats and my girls never did anything. They wouldn't touch any food left out jump on anything.

My boys are awful. They will eat right out of your hands. They jump on the counter and somehow (I'll never figure this out) get a bag of bread open and eat the bread. Cookies, cake, condiments. They are so bad.

I yell and my husband throws things at them (soft things) nothings helped.

 

[Liesje]

The boy (Beckham) will occasionally beg or meow but he is very good. He's more of the coniving type - he does bad, sneaky things very rarely, but when he does, he knows he's being bad and will hide afterwards.

The girl (Posh, pictured above) is a nasty little rat when it comes to food! She doesn't care if I yell, spray her, throw towels at her, etc, etc. she'll just look up at me with big eyes and meow like I should still give her the food she just pulled off the counter and unwrapped.

 

[youtwohearts]

She would be very fast friends with my boys especially bucky. He is the leader of the three and will do the most daring things. However if your not looking they are all bad.

Wish I had some advice but I am in the same boat.

 

[Bonochick]

Poshie sounds like our Chloe, which means I have no advice. Chloe owns us.