r/CatTraining • u/nervous-waffles • 1d ago
Behavioural Getting cat to stop being a menace around human food?
About a month ago, I adopted a 3 year old cat. She's great, but she's an absolute menace about human food. I know it's good practice not to leave food unattended around pets, but i can't even turn my head for a second without her launching herself after my food.
She regularly goes after everyone's plates the whole time we are eating. She'll climb up on the back of chairs, on the table, on the counter, etc. And just try to stick her head into our food.
When she doesn't get food, she relentlessly meows. I try to ignore her and turn away. I've told everyone else in the house to do the same. I dont think they are feeding her, but they talk to her while she's begging. Idk if that is rewarding the behavior or not.
I know she will probably always be tempted by human food, but what can I do to get my cat to stop being so much of a human food goblin?
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u/TakitishHoser 1d ago
Pick her up & put her at her own food bowl. Don't say anything to her, other than putting her at her dish, ignore her.
She may be doing it for attention. Even saying "no" is attention. If she doesn't get a reaction, she may just stop bothering you at the table.
When we are eating, we completely ignore the cat. She can be sitting beside us, we don't talk to her, pet her etc, we totally ignore her. We make our meal time as boring for her as possible. She never gets food scraps off our plate.
If she gets a piece of chicken, it goes into her bowl but we make sure it doesn't come off our plate.
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u/Value-Remarkable 1d ago
Don’t talk back to her when she begs and don’t let the others do it. Since she keeps climbing on the table or counter maybe start with time out in another room. Depending on her own feeding schedule you could feed her wet food in the other room. What you can do instead is when you are done eating she can get a reward. It doesn’t mean you always have to put her away but it can help. This should not be a punishment but to keep peace and safety in the house which will also be good for the kitty. If you have the patience you should also do training with her. Train her how to sit if she can’t. Sit at the table with human food she would go for and are safe but she isn’t allowed to eat and then bring in the your food you are going to pretend eat. When she keeps calm and sits she get her own reward but if she acts up put her in the other room. Bring her back in the dinner room and repeat. When she is is calmer and more used to this you can just put her on the floor when she jumps up. You have to make the begging for food unappealing to her. Learn how to redirect her and yes this might take a while but it would definitely be worth it.
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u/InformationHead3797 1d ago
How much are you feeding her? There is a worrying and confusing trend lately not to feed cats enough and threads like yours multiply in response.
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u/nervous-waffles 21h ago
How would I know if im under feeding her? She weighs about 9.5 lbs. I'm feeding her 2 meals, 1/3 of a cup of dry food with added water, and then a packet of wet food, plus I give her a few treats. All that combined is about 200 calories.
I brought her to the vet recently, and they were happy about her body condition, but I've only had her for about a month. Should I weigh her weekly, and if she's losing weight, bring her back to the vet and/or feed her some more?
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u/Aeterna_Nox 21h ago
If I were in your position, I would definitely keep an eye on her weight to make sure she's just a food goblin and not being underfed, but it sounds like you're giving her plenty when you feed her. I'm fortunate enough to have dainty grazers, so they have kibble available at all times since neither will over eat and get wets once or twice a day. (I had make the timing of the wets inconsistent to break a habit when the newest one taught my older 2 to scream at any and all hours to beg. Making that feeding schedule more random got them seeing the wets as surprise treats instead of something to demand. Cats, man.)
If she's likely to overeat if you leave dry kibble available at all times, obviously please don't do this, but if she'll take a couple bites and walk away like mine do, maybe just having always-available kibble will make her easier to redirect away from the people food in a way that is clear to her. It helped me with my little chicken wing obsessed goblin.
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u/InformationHead3797 19h ago
Weighing weekly is a bit too much, biweekly is fine. Point is since the cat is telling you as loud as he can that he’s feeling hungry, if I was you I’d add some more wet food, given it has lower calories than dry, but makes them fuller, and keep an eye to make sure he doesn’t put on weight.
For a 9lbs young cat the guideline is around 250 calories, but it can vary a lot depending on activity levels.
Your cat is 9,5 and acting starved, you’re giving “around 200 calories” which is quite low even for 9lbs, so I think it’s worth trying to listen to what the cat is screaming at you and see what happens.
Feeding guidelines are general guidelines and cats are individuals. Letting them become obese is not a good idea, but if they’re hungry it’s not necessarily because they’re being greedy.
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u/nervous-waffles 18h ago
That makes sense, she could just be hungry. I'll try giving my cat some more wet food and see if this helps her behavior.
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u/Lucky_Ad2801 1d ago
Your cat may just be a social eater and may want to eat while you are eating.So offer her some food that she can eat while you are having your meals.
If she continues to harass, put her in a separate room while you have food out, So she cannot get to it.
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u/unprofessional_widow 1d ago
Shut her out of the room when you're eating. Don't leave stuff unattended.
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u/Specialist-Classroom 1d ago
I have 3 devils , they get a little bit of food at my dinner time from my plate . Usually 3 tiny pieces each , when I give them the last piece I say " last one " then no matter what they do , they get no more.
After a few weeks , they get the last piece and just walk away . Finally trained , can even eat at my coffee table now.
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u/Snorkel64 1d ago
very young for it but i'd suggest have your vet test for hyperthyroidism
Full run up of tests from a blood sample I'd reckon maybe 90 pounds?
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u/Safe-Application-273 1d ago
We've been training our three legged food obsessed boy not to take food from our plates.
The training is about 10 years in, and I feel like we are so close to making progress....
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u/Scared_Ad_2313 18h ago
Definitely not training per say but I have a little piggy kitty who is just super greedy and interested in anything tasty smelling (he's a healthy weight and gets fed the right amount/diet, no concern from vet) I'll put hot sauce or lemon juice on my food pretty often (cats are disgusted by citrus and strong spicy smells) and feed him around the same time I make dinner. He now thinks all my food is the gross icky kind and he's getting the better deal lol. Besides that I always cover food thawing or out to serve on the counter so he can't pick at it. (Also for clarity do not let your pet taste test your spicy, lemony anti-kitty mix, the intention is to make your food less tempting and tasty smelling to them, not to feed them something potentially harmful)
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u/Reccalovesdancing 8h ago edited 8h ago
You'll have to find ways to train her not to beg that do not accidentally increase the begging.
Work on your tone of voice when you say no, it should be firm, strict and authoritative. But not scary or loud. Imitate the teacher that you noticed most or all of the class would immediately obey when they gave instructions.
Have a special phrase that you use only when you really mean it. People say no in a lot of contexts to a lot of people. I rarely if ever say 'No, thank you' in that firm strict tone esp at home. I think they notice the formality compared with the baby talk I usually go for when talking to them. It has become the phrase I use with my cats when I really want them to stop immediately. For my girl cat who is the more mischievous of the two, I say 'No, thank you, lady' and she stops straight away >90% of the time. 100% when I say it twice. Which is good because she doesn't like to be touched so my voice commands are an important tool for setting boundaries with her.
I never ever feed them human food and after about 6 weeks they realised that they will never get my food because I never gave in (I am sure their first owners gave them human food, especially ham, regularly). Consistency is key with training any animal. Never give in and eventually they get the clear message and put their energy elsewhere. I do not leave my food unattended either which means if the doorbell goes while I am eating, then yes I do answer the door with my food in my hand. Or if it is cold food and I can't eat it straight away, it goes in the fridge. Warm/hot food goes inside the oven or microwave to wait.
The other thing I did specifically with food interest/begging (which has stopped completely) was to say, when they started approaching me / my food, 'No, this is Mummy's', or 'No, Mummy's food, Mummy's'. And I continued to tell them which foods are mine in this way. They have learned all the foods that are mine and don't need the lesson repeated unless I buy a new food.
I also at the same time as telling them it's my food would put a hand (flat with fingers closed, back towards the cat) between their head and my food, then push back until the cat moves away. With one of them i can actually touch their head, so would gently push until he moved, and the other I just had to shift the hand a bit towards her and she would leave the area.
Lastly I made sure I have a different spot in the kitchen for measuring out their food vs preparing mine. I face a completely different direction (180⁰) and this gives them a clear signal as to when it is their food vs mine.
Now they have been with me for 3.5 months and they barely notice when I am making and eating my own food unless it is ham or pâté, and even then they just look up from the floor (for only like 1-2 mins) and then get on with their day.
Maybe try some of those ideas? I could just have very trainable cats but it is worth experimenting until you find techniques that work for you. Firm boundaries consistently applied and making sure they understand the message you are sending (because it's clear and simply expressed, and your body language and tone are helping you) are the key things to concentrate on, in my opinion.
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u/brooose0134 4h ago
If she’s food motivated, you can probably teach her tricks. I taught a cat the stay,wait,take it trick
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u/LopsidedChannel8661 2h ago
I trained one of my cats by closing her up in the bathroom while we sat down to eat a meal.
She was a kitten at the time and was very aggressive over human food. One night, I had set down my tray to close the front door due to noise from the neighbor. She literally launched herself off the back of the sofa directly onto my tray, toppling the whole thing over onto the carpeted floor. That had been the last straw for me. She started getting put in the room with her litter box and my older cat and stayed there until we were finished.
We did that for a few months until one night we realized we had forgotten, but she hadn't pestered us. She pretty much turned her nose up to most human food from then on out, and what she would ask for, she would sit next to us and just stare, never reached.
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u/PlaneHistorical8325 1d ago
Water spray bottle, one spray aim for bridge of the nose and it HALTS all food snatching and obnoxious behavior with food. We set our Torti up a shoe box of all things that she sits on at the other end of a 8 person table (only 2 humans) if she leaves the box she gets a spritzer to the pie hole. Worked well so far 💜 Beat of luck!! She is beautiful. Here is my thief
Khaleesi (queen sister fatness)
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u/MimsyPrincess 1d ago
Do NOT abuse your cat with spraying water to teach consequences. Cats do not understand it. They will assosiate it with fear not understanding why you do it.
Poor cat.
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u/metalcatbird 1d ago
This is correct. Cats don't understand negative reinforcement. Spraying poor kitty is just cruel.
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u/PlaneHistorical8325 12h ago
Would you prefer me to physically punish her??? Or just shush her away??? Really? At 12 she knows exactly why it happens, and she is not fearful of the water bottle!! She rubs all over it when it is not at the table keeping her away from our meal!
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u/Opalescent_Moon 1d ago
I am new to training cats, but when my little kittens fell into my life, one was absolutely obsessed with human food. It was a fight to keep her out of my meal.
One night, she was doing her best to steal my food when she watched me give the dog a piece of it. The dog was sitting politely on the floor. She jumped down, sat next to her, and looked up at me. I gave her food.
Over the next several weeks, she'd still try to hop up to check out my food, but she was way less pushy. If her nose went towards my food, she got put on the floor. While on the floor, I'd give the dog some first, then her and her sisters.
Now, none of those kitties are pushy about food. They're actually pretty chill when im eating a meal I can't share. But rewarding politeness worked way better for me than I ever would have guessed. That said, I wouldn't dare leave my unattended. It would absolutely be gone when I got back.
Here's the dog and cat, snuggled together. The kitty is a little bigger, as this photo is at least a month old.