Behaviour issues in a 25 year old human (relates to cats, I promise)

So I got this human a year ago and he seemed pretty good. His health wasn't the best, but with a bit of an uphill battle, he's now mostly healthy. He's really adapted well to my home. The cats love him. He never has accidents outside the porcelain litter box. He's clean. I can now get him to brush his teeth without a fight. I've corrected most of his major behavioural issues, but there is one remaining.

This human likes to feed cats from his plate. As we all know, humans should clean their plates or dispose of leftovers appropriately, not feed cats from his plate. Humans aren't supposed to do that. It's a bad habit. One that I have been unable to break. The people who had him before me and raised him to adulthood all feed cats and dogs from their plates and encourage begging behaviours by doing this.

It was first annoying. Leo, my oldest cat, didn't realize that he COULD remove food from a plate without it being removed from a plate with human intervention and placed at his paws. My human has taught Leo that food comes from plates and now Leo will do ANYTHING to get food. Leo will now sneak food from a plate left unattended for even a second.

Now, it's potentially dangerous. MALP, one of my youngest kitties, has food allergies. We know that she is allergic to rice and we are aware that there could be other allergies lurking. I looked up to find my human, who knows very well what allergies are and how deadly they can be, attempting to feed pepperoni to MALP! Fortunately, MALP didn't get any, I intervened in time, but I don't know quite what to do with my human to put an end to this behaviour.

What training method would you recommend?

Reward him for good behavior, and not for bad.

Happy New Year!




Robin

Compromise.

It's obvious by this point that you aren't going to break your human of his habit of feeding cats from his plate. Heck, I feed cats from my plate

However, set a ground rule compromise.

He can feed the other cats from his plate, but he CANNOT feed the one with allergies from his plate, not even a single morsel because it could potentially kill her.

Make sure you let your human know that you can see that he really loves "our" cats (making your human feel like he's part of the family will go along way) and that he would feel really badly if something bad happened to any of them.

Then for each time your human behaves, give him a treat and a belly rub!

I've promised him a puppy for my birthday (Yes, for my birthday. I don't hold out any hope whatsoever of actually getting presents from anyone on my birthday, given my track record, so I decided I'd rather give him one), but only if he can follow certain ground rules in regards to animal care. I know full well that I'll be the one doing most of the work for this puppy and have accepted that. He does all the litter pans, so I can deal with housebreaking.

I think the biggest problem my human is having is that he sees 'cat food has meat' and 'pepperoni has meat' and fails to see what the issue is. We're still struggling to find a cat food that she tolerates well. She's currently on a raw diet because it's balanced and with minimal ingredients but I'd rather get her onto at least partially dry food because she's driving us mad at night when she wants a snack. He doesn't understand that I can't watch for other food intolerances if he's sneaking her snacks. MALP is one of 'our' cats. Leo is mine, Shini is his (they have definite personal preferences in people) but the new girls, MALP and DHD, are ours. I know he loves them and I even purchased special treats that I knew would be safe for MALP (freeze dried chicken) so that he could share with her without hurting her.

I don't really have an issue with giving cats human food, it's giving it directly from the plate I have an issue with. I don't like begging behaviours in any creature, be it a small child, a dog, a cat or a siamese fighter fish. Giving food directly from the plate encourages begging behaviours. I don't have a problem with taking a cat, setting it on the floor and placing a morsel of food between its forepaws for it to investigate. You remove the morsel from the plate while it's distracted with being moved and then it doesn't associate the plate with the food so much. The begging bothers me. And I am especially perturbed by my human's inability to understand that meat is not all the same. My human knows that fruits are different, as I am allergic to some and not others, so why is it hard for him to understand that meats are different, too?

Have you considered declawing your human, I hear the new methods aren't so bad

I think you need to be more strict with him, and if he tries to give the kitties food, remind him you have treats, and that people eat people food, and cats eat cat food.

Or tell him EVERY meal "don't forget, people eat people food, and cats eat cat food". Drive him nuts enough, and he'll get the hint!

Threaten to neuter him! That'll fix him in NO time!

Originally Posted by Kailie

Threaten to neuter him! That'll fix him in NO time!

Click to expand...

He's already neutered.

Tell him that garlic and onion are TOXIC to cats (which is true) so pepperoni, salami, etc.. all that stuff is loaded with garlic so he might as well be feeding them poison. How is that being loving? Do a little internet research to find the articles that back this up... they are out there.

What is SAFEST for kitty(ies) is their OWN food or anything very very very plain. HE likes the spices... doesn't mean THEY should be eating it.

Cats are - for the most part- lactose intolerant. A little yogurt is ok and can even be beneficial.

I am very guilty of the feeding off the table thing and have created a bunch of lil monsters.. but then I am not at the house very much and I am VERY careful about what I do and do not share with the cats.

Another way to show his love for the kitties is to play with them.

I know about the freeze-dried chicken. That is a treat of choice around here. I also give them EVO kibble ... the fishy one - as a treat b/c there is no grain in there. One of my boys has an irritable bowel... and grain bothers him... so I understand about being careful.

The babies have gotten freeze dried whiting and freeze dried chicken breast as treats. The big cats hate treats. Shinigami won't eat any kind of treat and Leo only really likes human food. You can't MAKE HIM eat a cat treat. I had a roommate once try to force feed him cat treats. He wouldn't take them. Leo's favourite treat is corn chips, which is absolutely NOT going into the babies' tummies. With MALP having an identified allergy and us being positive they're littermates, I'm not taking the risk with DHD, either. It's just safer to avoid MALP's allergens for both of them.

Hilariously, he doesn't like pepperoni, which is why he was trying to fed it to the babies. He's the pickiest eater on the planet. No, actually, his nephew is. The child ate nothing but whipped cream and two bites of a bagel for the entire time we were there for Christmas, which my human's mother allows happily and used to do similarly for my human, apparently. He always tries to feed the bits he doesn't like to the cats. Leo won't turn his nose up at it. Shini will. And I think the babies got fed from someone's plate before they came to us, because they will dive HEADFIRST into a chip bag or a plate to get some noms.

My friend suggested a shock collar for my human.

I HATE beggers at the table. Dogs or cats, it doesn't matter. If you're going to be getting a puppy this has to stop now. There is nothing wrong with putting the scraps in the puppy's bowl (or the kitties' bowl, if they can eat it) but they shouldn't be fed at the table.

Tell him "If the kitties get treats, you DON'T get treats" and stick by that.

Usually if I fix a meal of Chicken or steak, I save some and shred or chop it up for the cats and give it to them when we're eating. That keeps them out of our hair (the dogs go outside). By the time they're done eating and cleaning themselves we're finished dinner.

Good luck with training your human....they are VERY hard to train (just ask my husband! )

This is also one of my biggest "pet" peeves ( ) ie, begging animals. I absolutely do not give my cats people food, it is the one and only rule I have regarding them and they learn very quickly that I do not tolerate them trying to get my food- if a cat can be taught that people food is off limits, surely a human can be taught that I'd tell your human that if he wants to feed the cats, he can cook his own meals.... based on my experience with 25 year old male humans, he'd starve

Your human sounds like mine. I grew up with pets and know enough not to feed (my own) from the table. DH grew up without pets, feeds them from his plate and then complains to me about them begging or stealing food off the table. I gave up trying to reform him years ago.