How to break table feeding with an adopted cat?

someguyyyyyy

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Hello, neat site. Figured I would post a question.

We have a 7 year old-ish male cat in our house who is very well behaved. We added an 11 month old female cat to the house-hold who just turned a year old. She is well behaved for the most part but she ALWAYS wants to eat table food. We never feed her human food but she always is literally trying to steal food off our plates. After we stop her, she just keeps coming back to try again!

They are both on strict diets. We feed the older cat 1/4" 3X a day. The younger 1/6" 2X & 1/4" 1x a day as she was a bit overweight according to our vet. They both go NUTS at feeding times. They each have their own bowls and do not fight over them. However, if one is not paying attention or is distracted, the other will steal a few bites.

The vet says our older cat is in perfect condition and we shouldn't change a thing we are doing with him (he used to be very overweight.)

1. Can you untrain a cat to not eat table food? Or at least get them to stop begging?

2. Is it normal for cats to go nutty at every feeding?

Let me know what you all think.
Thanks in advance!
 

aswient

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Welcome to TCS. My two cats use to do that. I started feeding them at the same time I ate. And if they still bothered me, I put the two of them into another room until after dinner. Eventually they stopped. I hope that helps. Some one else may be along to give you more advice.

Good luck.
 

cheylink

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Hi!
Another welcome to TCS! This is completely normal behavior, especially for a new 11 month old. She is basically testing her boundaries. Some cats relate feeding with attention, they beg, receive food, and therefore win our attention. My Maia is extremely guilty of this behavior, even if she goes through her song and dance at her regular feeding times, she repeatedly tries to trick me into snacks throughout the day! The begging for human food or hawking your dinner is a basic lack of manners. They don't do this to one another unless there is a lack of respect. There should be strict boundaries of where they are allowed to go, table tops, counter tops, eating area is off limits. You can't expect them to be able to jump up on the counter or walk across the dinning room table until you are preparing or eating food. You can't leave food out unwatched, this is simply an invite. Cats are very smart, they wait till no one is looking to do what they shouldn't just because. The trick is to reward them for the opposite, distract them from begging with toys or interactive play. Of course different kitties respond to different methods, the trick is spending time with yours to understand them and allow them to understand you, then ask them to respect your boundaries by respecting theirs.
 
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someguyyyyyy

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Thank you for the tips. I'll definitely have to see what she think of them now
I guess it doesn't help that I usaully eat on the couch and not at the dinning room table. Maybe I will have to start for a bit

Thank you again!
 

emmylou

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I think you should consider feeding the younger cat more. Until two years she is still an adolescent and needs extra nutrition to grow (also because their energy levels are higher). I'm puzzled that the vet would suggest restricting the diet of an immature cat, particularly just for being "a bit overweight." I've always been advised by vets to free feed young cats and to let them eat as much as they want.

The way to break the table feeding habit is just to do it. Calmly put the cat back on the floor every time she gets up on or near the table. However, I think you should consider whether you're seeing the effects of genuine hunger.
 

skimble

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Originally Posted by aswient

My two cats use to do that. I started feeding them at the same time I ate. And if they still bothered me, I put the two of them into another room until after dinner. Eventually they stopped.
Good luck.
This worked well with my beggers.

It does seem odd for a cat at barely a year old to be "overweight". I also thought at that age they would not have a weight problem already. Maybe she is just going to be a big cat in her normal body type. Like main coons are generally larger cats, not overweight. Not sure, but don't cats at that age eat what they need. Others will have a better insight.
 
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someguyyyyyy

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Well I was a bit concerned that maybe I was straving her, but the vet did say not to free feed her. I have increased her food a little just to see if that makes any difference but I really think it is a habbit she picked up from her old owners. She is getting a bit better as in she just sit in front of you and stares at your food but doesn't lunge for it as much
THanks for all the tips, keep em coming of theres more out there
 

jellybella

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Originally Posted by aswient

Welcome to TCS. My two cats use to do that. I started feeding them at the same time I ate. And if they still bothered me, I put the two of them into another room until after dinner. Eventually they stopped. I hope that helps. Some one else may be along to give you more advice.

Good luck.
This is what we do too...now they have a small meal when we eat our dinner and they wait until we are finished to jump up on the chairs (which are pre-warmed and ready for a nap
)
 
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