Prissy begging for tomato sauce?

Prissy and I usually have an agreement. She sits quietly just out of reach while I'm eating and stares at me, then when I get done, I put down my plate and she gets whatever is left.

However, lately, anytime I get out a jar of tomato sauce, she goes crazy. My normally demure and patient girl starts standing up and patting my legs, crying her nearly silent cry, and pawing at my feet, my legs, anything she can reach. She doesn't stop until I take a spoonful and put it down on a plate for her.

I do not understand. Even now she is sitting in my lap, and staring at the plate on the table. Is she missing something in her diet? She's never had any interest before... Can anyone give me a reson for her new behavior?

Do you mean an actual plain tomato sauce (never seen any that comes in jars, myself) or do you mean a spaghetti sauce? If the latter it is because these sauces have other things added to them - such as meat and seasonings. There's also salt, garlic, typically sugar, and sometimes cheese and/or veggies like onion - some of those ingredients are not good for a kitty to every really have more than a taste of (like getting to lick your spoon).

Personally I wouldn't read too much into it, I doubt there's anything wrong with your kitty. You've simply taught her that you have a nice treat and will share with if she pesters you enough. If you want the behavior to stop you have to correct your's first.
I'd suggest that first you get her a bit safer treat to replace her sauce one.

This is home canned tomato sauce. It is onion and garlic free, because I do share with my kitties, even when I shouldn't. It's home grown tomatoes, medium level of salt, pepper, thyme and basil, a bit of brown sugar, some olive oil.

I know that me giving in is really not helping. But it's just the sauce she's going crazy for. Everything else --even bacon, cheese and yogurt, her favorites-- she sits by patiently for. Why the sauce? It wouldn't bother me if it didn't start so suddenly and wasn't so Specific. I bought a jar of store spaghetti sauce, and put it in the same cabinet. Tonight when I was making my dinner, I got out that jar. Prissy jumped up on the barstool, investigated, then jumped down and went into the living room. So either she has lost interest, or she just likes something in My tomato sauce. Either way, I'm confused.

Maia has a taste for tomato sauce as well! When she was a kitten it was stronger, but she loves to lick tomato sauce as well as other sauces, but she doesn't go for what most kitties do, the meats! She's a stickler for her Cat Chow! I would say let them lick a plate here and there, but don't over do it, it's very acidic........

I bet it's the thyme you put into the sauce - it's closely related to catnip. I also had a cat years ago that loved tomato sauce, especially pizza sauce. He also would go nuts for green olives.

I never put thyme in my tomato sauce but I've had several cats that went nuts for my spaghetti and meatballs.

I thought tomatoes are poisonous to cats. Wouldn't tomato sauce be poisonous too?

Originally Posted by dandi

I thought tomatoes are poisonous to cats. Wouldn't tomato sauce be poisonous too?

Click to expand...

I thought they were too. I know tomatoes are toxic to dogs though.

Before I had ever heard about tomatoes being toxic, I had a cat (Shasta) who was totally bananas for anything with tomato in it, and enough of a pest about it, that she got her own serving and/or the pan to lick up, whenever we had chili or spaghetti sauce or anything of the sort. I'm guessing there must be some variance in toxicity -- either among individuals or based on quantity -- because she never in her 21 years had any ill effect from it.

Just did some digging - ripe tomatoes should be of little concern but green or greenish tomatoes and all other parts of the plant are toxic (the plant part applies to humans too) as are all plants of the Nightshade faminly which includes potatoes. Cooked tomatoes and potatoes are safe. I am more concerned about onions and garlic fed to any animal as they have some rather nasty substances such as n-proply disulphide which causes Heinz body anaemia

The tomato plant, green parts are harmful, but a fully ripe tomato is not. Some of our dogs loved to steal cherry tomatos (ripe) from the vine!

Keno get chuncks of tomato when we are cutting it up. The cats love it too. As long as its not a lot of tomato sauce and there are no onions in it, as a treat its fine.

Oh, good. That's reassuring. Not that it makes any difference in our household just now, with kitties who simply aren't interested in human food other than a bit of butter or cream cheese. But who knows who will be living here in the future!