Help- diet cat eats all human food in sight!?

SunshineAndMia

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Hi there!
I'm new here, and I was wondering about my seven year old cat Sunshine, but his sister has a similar (though less severe) problem.
When they were two years old, Sunshine was sent to the vet to be catheterized and was sent home later that week. He had urinary crystals blocking him up. The vet said,
"Don't feed him anything except urinary SO by Royal Canin."
She told us to stay away from the dry stuff as well.
So here is my real issue:
No matter what we do, he doesn't stop his quest for a lick of human food, ever.
Leave the room, turn around for a second, and he's got it in his jaw and running. He licks clean plates (I guess because he can smell food through the soap), eats garbage (even the stuff covered in cat litter), and opens our cupboards and drawers to get inside! We have child locks on all our cabinets, and no paint on the bottom of the doors from scratching hopefuls. He eats everything a cat is apparently "not supposed to like" and we have tried everything. He even jumps up on the counter when we are at the table!
We have tried cayenne but they eat that too, (I mean, we cant leave tissues out or we find them in their stool) as well as spray bottles and many other things, and still he persists with this suicide mission!
I don't think they are hungry, as they eat the recommended amount. It is more expensive than we would like as it is, considering we have to feed her the same, or he gets vicious.
I just want to know if there is anything we can do. We already lock up everything, and constantly worrying about it is unneeded stress.
PS: these are cats that eat mesh and lace clothing, whole tissues, most feathers and cat toy parts, paper of all kind, and the list goes on. We once had to pay $2000 to get a penny removed from him!
 

jcat

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to TCS!

Chewing or eating objects is called pica, which can have all sorts of causes, which the article explains.

As far as human food is concerned, Sunshine sounds just like our Mogli. We think Mogli's ravenous appetite for food of all kinds is due to his having had undiagnosed/untreated IBD before we got him and having been in the shelter for several months. The vet calls him a "little Garfield", and my husband says he makes Garfield look like a hunger artist. We not only have child locks on cabinets (which are all scratched up), but have had to put all food, including flour, sugar, uncooked pasta, etc., in plastic storage containers with child-proof lids and put the containers in cabinets.

Mogli has food allergies (chicken and all grains), so it's a minor disaster when he manages to steal bread, a sandwich, etc.. I can really sympathize with you, but can't give any advice other than to keep food locked up and guard your plates!
 
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SunshineAndMia

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Thank you for the warm welcome and informative articles!
My mother always thought that they were just bad barn cats (as we got them from the wild), but perhaps he has a condition of some sort, and she is just following him because he finds tasty things. Usually I can tell Mia to get off the counter and she will, but Sunshine will inform us he is about to jump on the counter (with a pathetic, cute mew) and not get off until we remove him.
It's been okay until now because in my mother's house we close the bedroom and bathroom doors and only let them in the kitchen and living room, but I live with my boyfriend now and when the cats come it is going to be a disaster. I live in a bachelor, so there are no real doors to close.
I will certainly get him checked out though, as soon as it's reasonable.
In the meantime, however, are there any tricks to teaching older cats "new" rules?
 

rlavach

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I don't have any tips to help you, but you're not alone. My cat Bruno is very similar. We have child locks on our cabinets & he will lick our empty plates too. Recently, our other cat has started it as well. He'll pull stuff out of the garbage too. Now, I use a paper towel to wipe the residue off their bowls & they'll even pull that paper towel out of the garbage! The only thing we've been able to do is be better about wiping plates after we eat & sealing the garbage can. Hope it gets better!
 
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