Bad Kitty !

VERY long post, but I really need help !

I have a 6 year old Snow Bengal cat, Pau Sau. We got him through the
Bengal Rescue society in the UK, in November 2002.

He is a real character, but my gosh, he is very naughty, and
he is getting worse. He is not particularly well at the moment
( see health forum ) but he is getting better.

The weekend has been a nightmare. Pau Sau and I bonded very quickly.
He has a great sense of humour and I adore him, but his previous
owner let him eat on the dining table and also it seems he allowed
him to share the same dinner plate. He is so demanding and will steal
your dinner half given the chance. When I had friends round, and they bought fish and chips, he was so quick, but dashed in, grabbed a mouthfull of their chips, and dashed out again, before wolfing down his theft. The cheeky little guy even tried a second time, but we were watching more carefully. He is such a junk food junkie ! He is also sooooo jealous of all my other animals.

I went on holiday for 4 days three weeks ago, and he was at home with
my dad and brother, who are always at home, but he sulkled for
three weeks, wouldn't give me the time of day, or walk down the same hallway as me, and only in the last three days he has started to talk to me again, and is DEMANDING attention from me.

In the garden this weekend he attacked me when I was introducing
some new fish to our pond, and our other cat was lying next to me.
When I wasn't paying attention to him, he tried to attack our birds,
but he was so vocal with it, which he isn't really vocal at all when in hunting mode. It was a deliberate " Look at me or I eat your birds ! "

When I had my guinea pig in my arms later on, he growled and skulked around, before curling up in the far corner of the room, and sighing a short, hard, loud, temper tantrum sigh.

The only time he purred yesterday, and was an absolute delight,
was doing something he loves. and had my ful undivided attention.
It was when I standing up, cradling him in my arms, like a baby, his legs in the air, my chin on his head, and rocking him gently while muttering " Poor grumpy Pauie " over and over, in a sympathetic tone. Then he slowly dozed off to sleep in my arms. After a while
I can put him on a chair and he will sleep for ours...yes this is
an adult cat I'm talking about, NOT a baby !

Sorry about the long post, but I really need some advice, I really
found this weekend really very hard going.

How do I change a 6yr old habit of stealing off your dinner plate, and helping himself to whatever he feels like off it, without having to lock him in the hall, where he panics and wails his head off, as if Satan were riding him !?!

And how do I cure him of his insane jealousy, when really I have the
biggest soft spot for him, even though I adore his feline companion, Puffycat, too.

Please help me save my sanity !!!

Peace, Love, and Happiness, Always
Sonia

I can identify with you on this. My Sammycat is the worlds worst for stealing food out of the plate.

What I do is get a few of his favorite treats and have them either on my plate or really close by. When he reaches to grab a small morsel of food off my plate I will pop his paw(not real hard) and tell him no! When he quites trying to reach for my food I will give him a cookie and he usually happy and will leave me alone to eat. I don't know if that will help with the Hit and Run situation you have with your furbaby but it couldn't hurt to try.

As far as the jealous streak he has try to give him all of the attention first before paying any attention to another of the furbabies you have. He has got to understand that while he does have a special place in your heart he must share your time with others.

I hope at least some of this will help you, Good Luck with him and show some pictures when you can I bet he is a real beauty. That is one breed of cat I would dearly love to have for a pet

Sonia when you eat, you put him in a room all to himself feed him there and close the door. Once the table has been cleared, let him out. He will yowl, but you can always turn the radio on.

He has been shown that he gets his own way and so when he acts out,you can either ignore him, or put him on time out. If he attacks you, pick him up quickly take him into a small room, close him in for only 3 minutes- no more, no less.

If he bites you, take him and lay him on his back. Scruff his neck gently hold him in that position for 3 seconds only, Tell him once firmly NO and let him go. He will learn, you just have to reprogram him and that will take time.

Because he has been feeling sick, he is stressed out as well and cats act out when they are stressed or in pain.

Since I have been giving my Sammycat a cookie I am actually encourageing him to try to steal food off of my plate so he can get a cookie right? If so then I need to re-evaluate the way that I get him not to do the deed.