Cat Under My Feet

[coasterdon]

Hi

My rescue cat Oliver is very affectionate. He follows me around the house. The issue is that he is starting to get under my feet a lot. He also chases my legs and tries to claw at my legs and try to bite me. This usually happens if I go somewhere and he doesn't want me to go. Also if I go into the kitchen and don't give him a treat he will try to stop me from leaving the kitchen. Any ideas on how to stop this? More exercise maybe? I usually stop in my tracks and say no but he will start again when I move. I'm afraid someone might trip. He does this to others too. Maybe I should change the treat location to the living room? No treats?

Another issue is that he whines for food even when he has food in his bowl. He eats dry food and he almost always has food but he whines for "fresh" even though it's not old.

Any comments?

 

[catsknowme]

Hello!
It sounds like he needs to respect your space more. I use an annoying noise, a combination of a squeak and a sqwak - sorta like a parrot- when they grab your legs, use claws, etc. This mimics the sounds that their littermates use during play that says, in cat lingo, "too rough"!
Two of my former ferals, bottle babies, do the food-excitement thing, too, especially when I haven't given them enough attention. Grooming them with a cheap plastic comb, especially about the face by the eyes and ears helps - i put my thumb along the edge of the comb's teeth so it doesnt hurt their eyelids by mistake. Also, I focus along the rear spine to the base of their tail. They love this! And once they've had their fill, they walk over to their dish and eat.
Also, a good round of active play helps. My favorite (and theirs) is a realistic squeak mouse tied to an old fishing pole. I bought a hanging squeak mouse toy designed to attach to a door and put it on the fishing pole instead - just be very aware of the strangulation hazard.
You can also use a "tsch!" sound when he approaches you in an aggressive way - the same sound used as a correction for horses. They all seem to respect that as the universal word for "back-off!".
Bless you for rescuing Oliver!!!

 

[Kieka]

It might help to have a dedicated play time and play session each day. It sounds a little like he is bored or is trying to entice you to play. When it comes to play time you want to fully engage them and get them to the panting stage. Panting in cats during play is fine and when it happens you take a quick break before seeing if they want more. Sometimes it may take a while to figure out which toys are preferred but I have found the each cat tends to have a favorite type of toy. You probably will need to dedicate at least 30 minutes to focused play where you are committed to just that. After that time you can probably sit down and watch TV while you dangle a wand toy or trail a wand toy behind you as you do chores around the house.

An important factor in play at my house is also the pattern of play. My play sessions always follow the model of hunt, catch, kill, eat. So we actively move around for a while, then allow for catching and slowing of play, then end with treats or food. That food or treat at the end firmly signals to my cats that we are done and rolls with their natural instincts. After a successful hunt when bellies are full cats just want to sleep. So by ending the play with food you go with their natural inclinations and they want to just sleep instead of push you to continue to play.

As to the food, I think that once you get the play going and work out that energy the wanting of food will resolve itself. My guess would be the food is an extension of the same boredom and wanting attention; just directed at food instead of play.

 

[PushPurrCatPaws]

I'm getting the impression you might be free-feeding dry food (leaving dry food out all day). Is that right? (Let me know if I'm wrong, but that's what I gather from your comment history.)

Even if you are going to stick with dry food, and not move into using at least some wet/canned food (it's easier to time meals with canned food), I'd recommend moving to timed meal times, and leaving the (dry) food in the dish for only a few hours, then thoroughly cleaning the dish and setting it aside until the next meal time. Each next meal time, make a big production of getting out the cleaned bowl, portioning out the dry food, cheerfully giving it to him in his regular food bowl location. No more treats whenever you are having to go into the kitchen. It sounds like he is learning to rely upon getting treats? Maybe they are tastier than his dry food, and so he is holding out for them. You could try training him by doing the Big Production of Meal Time, and after he DOES eat some dry food (and only then), offer one to two treats at his food bowl area (and not in the kitchen). Training like this takes time, but it's worth it. (The point is to do certain behaviors of your own repetitively when you are training, so that the cat can come to recognize what pattern you are setting forth. Do the same patterns, the same timing each day, use the same words he'll come to recognize, and he will start to realize that food times only come at certain times and under certain circumstances, with certain clues he can watch out for... the same thing with giving treats. Treats come only at certain times or when he does certain behaviors.)

As others have mentioned, upping the amount of playtime is a good thing, too! Keep some of his favorite toys with you, or near you, and when he is seeking attention via ankle-biting, that is the time to spend some quality playtime with him. Da Bird toys, super balls to toss, even kickie toys to place in his grip to distract him from the biting behavior.