I am new here, I found myself seeking a behavior website due to my cats bizarre behavior when it comes to cat treats.
It started about six months ago when my husband brought home some cat treats for out full grown, adult male, orange tabby cat that we simply call "orange kitty"
Six years ago the neighbors in an apt complex across the way, simply left him when they moved. He was already fixed, and in very good health, was skiddish and scared to death of new ppl- however we were determined and put a bed on the porch as well as fed him everyday- he eventually grew fond of us, came in the slider door, and has been with us ever since. He's an all around great cat, and has a wonderful personality even with his newly acquired bizarre behavior six months ago. So as I states my husband brought home these treats, and the cat goes fruity for them, and when I say fruity, thats really putting it mildly, if you could only see! !
He will stop eating his reg food if you don't bring home treats, he paces back and forth by the coffee table knocking stuff down trying to get your attention for some treats, if you ignore him still he will jump up on the couch and "tap your shoulder" until you give in! !! He will also do silent meows while doing this as well. He is "relentless" with this behavior, he will not stop doing any of these things until you give in and give him treats! ! He will jump on the table and kiss them until they fall over in front of you as well, when normally he doesn't jump on any tables or counters for any reason. If a couple days go by and you haven't bought any, he will "miss" in the litter box as well.
These treats are $4.00 a pack and he will consume the whole pack in one nite if you let him, we've created a monster in him and are at a stand still with what to do, its cute for a little while but it inevidably wears on yer nerves after awhile- what is going on with him and how can we stop this without going "cold turkey" taking away our junkie cats fix? !
It started about six months ago when my husband brought home some cat treats for out full grown, adult male, orange tabby cat that we simply call "orange kitty"
Six years ago the neighbors in an apt complex across the way, simply left him when they moved. He was already fixed, and in very good health, was skiddish and scared to death of new ppl- however we were determined and put a bed on the porch as well as fed him everyday- he eventually grew fond of us, came in the slider door, and has been with us ever since. He's an all around great cat, and has a wonderful personality even with his newly acquired bizarre behavior six months ago. So as I states my husband brought home these treats, and the cat goes fruity for them, and when I say fruity, thats really putting it mildly, if you could only see! !
He will stop eating his reg food if you don't bring home treats, he paces back and forth by the coffee table knocking stuff down trying to get your attention for some treats, if you ignore him still he will jump up on the couch and "tap your shoulder" until you give in! !! He will also do silent meows while doing this as well. He is "relentless" with this behavior, he will not stop doing any of these things until you give in and give him treats! ! He will jump on the table and kiss them until they fall over in front of you as well, when normally he doesn't jump on any tables or counters for any reason. If a couple days go by and you haven't bought any, he will "miss" in the litter box as well.
These treats are $4.00 a pack and he will consume the whole pack in one nite if you let him, we've created a monster in him and are at a stand still with what to do, its cute for a little while but it inevidably wears on yer nerves after awhile- what is going on with him and how can we stop this without going "cold turkey" taking away our junkie cats fix? !
My only suggestions are to find a low-calorie treat (Greenies are about 1.25 per treat, for example, I'm certain there are others), keep track of how many you're feeding him, and maybe try to get him to do something to "earn" the treat. Some cats can be trained to sit, lay down, scratch a post, go to a certain spot, etc before receiving a treat. My kitties come and kiss me/bump noses with me to receive a treat. Hopefully this will help him learn a more useful behavior to get a treat than just making a mess and being obnoxious to get attention and get one. Also, as far as controlling the quantity of treats, you could try to find a treat that can easily be broken into a couple of pieces (Blue Buffalo Kitty Yums, for example) so he feels like he's getting more but you can keep the calorie intake down. Hope this helps!
You could try clicker training and make him work for his treats. 
