My kitten goes nuts over people food

fairestelm

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I recently adopted a kitten and the first week she was fine with just her food. We leave dry food out for her to munch on whenever she is hungry. We have never given her people food, not even a bite and now this last week she has been going nuts everytime we sit down to eat. Jumping on laps, meowing, sticking her paw on the plate trying to grab a piece, and biting fingers. Is there any way to get her to stop?
 

Draco

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I don't think it's a question of should they have people food. I would rather say what kind of people food they can have.

if you really do not want to feed her people food and break this habit, I would pick her up from your lap, chair, table. and put her back on the ground and completely ignore her. this may take many tries!
 

sapphire96

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My kitten does the same thing! I got Margaret when she was 3 months old and to this day (she's 6 months old now) she will bother us about food. She'll have food in her bowl but she'll leave it to come harass my roommate and I for ours, she's gotten a little better as she's gotten older but for the most part we put her in the bathroom when we eat and then let her out once we're done. We used to put her on our balcony (we live in and apartment and she has her litter box, an outdoor bed and cat jungle gym out there) but she would meow incessantly to be let back in. For some reason she really likes our bathroom and will hangout there on her own, she especially loves the tub, so she doesn't seem to mind when we put her in there while we eat.
 
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fairestelm

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Mine hates the bathroom, I suspect it's because I gave her a bath the other day and now she thinks when she gets on there she's getting another bath. She gets crazy over it, like I dropped some turkey in the ground by accident and I threw it in the trash and she knew and sat in front of the trash for 30 minutes meowing at it. Me and my boyfriend hang out in our game room a lot do we eat in there, we started shutting her out, but she just claws at the door, meowing as loud as she can to get let in to beg for food.
 
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neely

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if you really do not want to feed her people food and break this habit, I would pick her up from your lap, chair, table. and put her back on the ground and completely ignore her. this may take many tries!
I completely agree.  We have done the exact same thing with many of our cats over the years if they jump up on the table while we are eating.  I think consistency and repetition are a must.  
 
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fairestelm

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I have been working with her on that, putting her on the floor and when she jumps on me while eating. Though last night I was drinking a protein shake and she went more crazy over that then I have seen her get over anything else I've had. She was yelling at me and trying to get the bottlemail. I was surprised.
 

sebnari96

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My kitten loves food period and goes crazy if it's dry food, wet food, or even people food. She likes to get in my face too or in the chair and all I did was pick her up and put her on the ground. It really does work, just have to keep at it. Eventually, your kitten will get the message. My now year old cat use to do it when he was a kitten. He soon learned not to so it anymore. Now, my cats sit in the spare chair at the table napping as me and my family eat.

Your kitten might think when you eat, she eats. You must ignore her and not talk to her while she yells at you. When I'm preparing food for myself or cats, she is there, yelling at me and I ignore her...sometimes lol. I talk her, which doesn't help, but I try not to though. I've learned to live with it.
Now my cats do get people food every now and then. My older cat gets tuna, while my kitten cats my small pieces of bacon. Since Thanksgiving jus passed, they got some turkey along with my dogs.

But the best thing to do it tell her 'no', pick her up and put her on the floor. I did and my cats don't do it, especially my older cat. Now my kitten needs some reminding.
 
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fairestelm

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I talk to her all a lot lol. We have been trying different kinds of wet cat food and she hates them all. Will eat maybe four or five bites and turn her nose up at it and walk away.

But sometimes we don't cook a lot due to being busy at work and so we make something quick and easy, she's never interested in that food lol.
 
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