New "only" kitty is nothing like the last!!!

Hi All,

Potentially the last time I posted was about Lexi - who passed Sept 2011.

Just this last Saturday (8/11/12) I went and picked up a cat I never met, to foster to adopt.

Lexi was a stray with a recently weaned litter and so is this one (Cora).

Well, they are nothing alike. I guess I knew they wouldn't be, and I guess I knew Lexi was a really really good cat. I think this one is too.

Cora, is the opposite of Lexi.

She is a young mama, not yet a year... so really still a kitten. She had 7 babies and as I am sure many would guess, 4 didn't make it. I think she weighs about 5 lbs - she had a flea collar on her that was on long enough to make a ring around her neck because she grew too big for it. This is what I was told by the rescue and both accounts are believable as Cora still has milk and there is a definite ring around her neck.

She is a sweetheart and also a bossy, self important princess. I mean that affectionately, but also literally.

Question - I want to curb around some of the crazy kitty tendancies. What do I do about the urgent-about-to-die food obsession when I walk into the kitchen? I understand where it came from, but would like to see it back down a bit. (side note, feeding grain free, cooked unseasoned protein where I can, mostly canned and some eggs/chicken/cod)

Also an observation - this cat calms down with catnip... Lexi hyped up. Does anyone know why two cats would have such a different reaction? Out of curiosity.)

I'll start here.. lots of questions though.

Thank you!

Congrats on the new addition!!!

No two are alike, you are correct.  ;-)

I have a purebred cat that has never had to scrounge for food who has the same food crazies.  She cries as soon as she thinks I am heading to get her food at feeding time.  In the morning she starts running around on the bed to wake me 15 min before her normal feeding time, just to make sure I don't forget.

She is three years old.  If you figure out how to curb the food crazies, please do share with me as I haven't figured it out either.  :-)

All of mine go bananas every time I go into the kitchen.  I have a vocal audience even just getting a bottle of water from the fridge.  I think just about all cats are floor sharks in the kitchen.

Here's an interesting take...

http://www.wayofcats.com/blog/the-hungry-problem/138

My cats do it, not because they are "starving", but to check out the human food I am making or getting out of the fridge.

When all we had was Punkin, we had to show him what we were eating.  We called it "making an offering to the kitchen god."  He wasn't interested in eating it; he won't touch any human food that we've ever found.  He just wanted to know what it was.
 

Play with her when she acts hungry and you know she isn't. But of course make sure she isn't hungry. She's still growing after all. And recovering from a difficult labor and nursing a family. So she may need more to eat.

Keep a box of throw toys in the kitchen. When she follows you in begging for food, and you KNOW she isn't hungry, distract her by throwing the toys for her to chase down.

Break up her meal portions into smaller servings so you can feed her more often. Always feed her a small meal before you eat your own meal.