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I can't stand the begging anymore!!

post #1 of 11
6/29/10 at 4:33pm
Thread Starter 
Mooch and Noodles are both driving me absolutely bonkers!! I'm at home with the baby all day now; have been for almost 6 months. DH feeds the girls first thing in the morning (probably around 7 am). So every day starting around 2:30 both cats are BEGGING to be fed. They get fed at 6pm. Always have. They are technically getting more than they need too.

They will trip me if I head even in the direction of the kitchen. They circle my feet in the kitchen. Noodles will paw at my legs. I mean they really are just incessant sometimes! The tripping part is what annoys me most. Luckily I've never fallen; especially with the baby in my arms! And fortunately I've never hurt them while they've tripped me.

Any advice on how I can teach them to stop? I'm consistent with the feeding times. I don't ever cave. There is no reason they should be so hungry; at least that I know of. I'm really frustrated. Today Mooch tripped me and I swung the shirt I was carrying at her and she went off and hid and didn't even come out when I did feed them at 6. I didn't hurt her or anything; but she knew I was mad. Mooch is a lap cat; so yeah she gets less attention than before; but I still try to cuddle her when I can (although she's staring at me with big eyes from the floor as I type this...). And Noodles is affectionate with me just the same as always besides this begging.
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post #2 of 11
6/29/10 at 5:32pm
I'm guessing they're waking up from a nap hungry.

You have two choices, move the meal times closer together or add a third one. Just use the same amount of food per day, broken into smaller portions.

Short of shooing them away from you, they're just going to keep underfoot bugging you.


Mine do it too, but it started when day length changed. I think it confused them a bit and now they'll bug for their meal a couple hours early.
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post #3 of 11
6/29/10 at 6:12pm
Hurley used to bite my foot really hard if I didn't get his food fast enough, so I ended up training him to stay out of the kitchen. I feed the kitties in the dining room.

To train him, I started during feeding time. I would begin to make his meal and each time he stepped a foot over the threshold I would stop making his food and say "uh oh" and body block him from coming any further into the kitchen. It took a lot of repetitions over several months, but each time he came into the kitchen while I was making his food, I would stop and correct him. He learned that if he just sits and waits his food comes to him a lot faster and I haven't gotten bitten since.

He does not go into the kitchen at all now.
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post #4 of 11
6/29/10 at 9:06pm
They may also be looking for attention. Try playing with them to divert their attention and see if that helps.
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post #5 of 11
6/30/10 at 2:51am
Quote:
Originally Posted by stephanietx View Post
They may also be looking for attention.
I was thinking that. They have someone else in the house that's getting a lot of attention now, because as you've just said one of them doesn't get your lap as much now.
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post #6 of 11
6/30/10 at 5:25am
Quote:
Originally Posted by stephanietx View Post
They may also be looking for attention. Try playing with them to divert their attention and see if that helps.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rosiemac View Post
I was thinking that. They have someone else in the house that's getting a lot of attention now, because as you've just said one of them doesn't get your lap as much now.
This is my thought too. Often the begging is seen as a demand for food, when really all they want is a little one on one time from you.

I agree with distracting with a Game. Do it the same time every day (at 2:30?), since that is when they are begging.

done every day this will soon become a routine for them, and they will look forward to it every day. Knowing that special bonding time with you is coming will go a long way toward easing their anxiety.
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post #7 of 11
6/30/10 at 7:57pm
Thread Starter 
I'll try to get them playing with me when the baby goes down for her 3:00 nap. Sometimes I can sit on the floor with the baby and toss the mouse for Mooch; so that might work too.
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post #8 of 11
6/30/10 at 9:04pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by MoochNNoodles View Post
I'll try to get them playing with me when the baby goes down for her 3:00 nap. Sometimes I can sit on the floor with the baby and toss the mouse for Mooch; so that might work too.
Another thing to try - my Ophelia Rose is a complicated girl. Sometimes when we play with wand toys, she gets overstimulated & attacks me (claws, teeth, the whole 9 yards). Yet she craves the one/on/one play. The alternative? Toys she can play with on her own, yet I am there. Like Ba Da Beam, Turbo Track/Turbo Scratcher, etc. I am there, she comes over to get petted, then she goes back to play, then petting, then play....you get the idea.
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post #9 of 11
6/30/10 at 10:00pm
^I would think more along the lines of putting the wand toys on the end of a 6ft pole.

One game I have around here, that allows me some laziness, is throwing fleece balls. I literally have dozens of these things - the cats have 15 or 18 of them strewn around the house and I have another 80 in a large storage bag (I make them when bored and watching tv, I have no idea what to do with them...).
I'll gather up as many as I can find and keep throwing them. This works well for the cats that don't fetch. To get Sho to play I actually have to hit him with the balls. Siri fetches, and Tanna has her crinkle ball fetching obsession.

None of this play makes them beg less. And in fact, Tanna gets extremely obnoxious when she can't find a crinkle ball and wants to play - she meows at the top of her lungs until I find one for her. (note: loud and obnoxious describe Tanna well...)
Besides, attention meows sound very different from feed me meows, it's nearly impossible to confuse the two.
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post #10 of 11
7/1/10 at 7:31pm
Cats get very, very 'beggy' when they are hungry. I have not seen anything work other than feeding them. You could try changing meal times, gradually, or like someone said up there, split the same amount of food into three meals instead of two.

This may also be a plea for attention. Some cats are jealous. A new baby takes up plenty of time and that is cutting into the time they are used to getting with you.
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post #11 of 11
7/5/10 at 8:55pm
You don't say their age, how much their being fed or what they are being fed. Maybe they are hungry. Are they kittens? Kittens are suppose to have food down all day. I've got 4 cats that get soft before I go to work and soft when I get home with hard in the dish all day while I'm gone. They act like they are STARVING TO DEATH until they get their soft food. Once they get their soft food, they could careless about me. By me leaving the hard down all day, at least I know they are not going hungry just being picky. None of them are over weight (I ask the vet at their check-ups) so I guess I have no problem leaving hard food down all day. Just because the package says XXXXX amount daily doesn't mean one size fits all.
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