New Member And A Question!

[jaegersmom]

Hello, all!

I came across this forum on a semi-desperate search to figure out how to discourage my newly adopted cat, Jaeger, from attempting to slap food out of my hands.

He is an absolute joy. A talkative, active, and snuggly 11lb orange tabby boy. I adopted him a month ago from a local rescue where he had been in foster care for over a year. He's approximately 2 years old now.

Here's the problem... He is brilliant. Learned sit, semi-stay, and high-five in no time at all. BUT... He has an obsession with food. He eats twice a day, various quality canned foods (half a can in the morning and half at night), along with about 1/4 cup of dry Orijen kibble. However, if you are in the kitchen trying to prepare a meal or cook, he will follow you incessantly, meowing, batting at your hands, knocking things over, etc. Once you sit down to eat, he will climb all over you to try and get to your plate, drinks, and so forth. I am at my wit's end.. It's such a rude behavior.

I've tried gently pushing him back every time he gets in the way or close.. Doesn't seem to be effective. I've had to resort to keeping a bottle of ammonia on the counter and opening it so that the overpowering smell deters him.. But we can't do this while we eat. I have no idea what his home environment was like in the foster home or how he was handled. 

Any advice? Here's the little scamp:

jaeger.jpg

• jaegersmom
• May 19, 2014

Thanks!

 

[betsygee]

Wow, that sounds like one smart kitty!  I don't have any advice to offer for that but I wanted to say welcome to TCS!

  I'm sure someone will come along with some suggestions for you.  

 

[laralove]

My kitty does similar to this. Whenever we're in the kitchen, he follows us around and meows constantly. He'll put his paws up on the cabinet doors and periodically jump on the counters, which gets him quickly removed with a hiss from me. He doesn't bug us too much at the dinner table, but will periodically try to jump on my lap or onto the table. For that, it's basically the same response: I hiss at him. I don't know if that would work for your cat, but it scares Oliver off. It also keeps him off my kitchen cabinets, at least when I'm around. I find his fur on my stove periodically, which really ticks me off, but I'm not sure what to do about that myself.

 

[fhicat]

What happens when you completely ignore him? As in, pretend he isn't there? Does he do something that makes you ... unable to ignore him any more? 

You can try hissing at him. That'd be my first try. Hiss at him, put him down on the floor, then proceed to ignore him. Every single time. No eye contact, no talking, no interacting, no scolding, no nothing. As long as he's being a jerk, he is invisible to you. 

The moment he stays still and behaves, throw him a treat. Or pet him. Or praise him. You can even wait till he gives up and walks away (if that ever happens). Once he's back to being a jerk, ignore him again. You get the idea.

 

[jaegersmom]

Thanks for the welcime, betsygee! Yes, he's incredibly smart.

I've never tried hissing until reading it here. It worked very well. I did essentially what you've recommended, Fhi. Eventually, he gave up and hung out on the floor as I cooked. For some reason, the combination of the noise and removal instead of just the removal seems to have gotten the message across.

Y'all're already helping me! Thank you all!

 

[fhicat]

Yay! Just keep up the consistency and pretty soon he'll learn to leave you alone. He sounds like a smart cat who needs to be intellectually challenged, so this type of training does him some good.

 

[jaegersmom]

He's very intelligent. I do as much as I can think of with him. I leave his kibble strewn on various perches and landings in the house before I leave for work so he has to explore to find his food, he has three different types of scratching posts and mats, a ton of rotated toys, we play with the laser and his feather pole every night, and I just started walking him after getting him acclimated to his harness.

We also do training at least every other night with both him and my dog. So, I can't imagine how insane he would be without all of that. I just couldn't figure out how to communicate that the food I'm handling isn't even remotely his... and he's persistent. But, I've agility and obedience trained my dog, so unfortunately for him, I'm more stubborn, lol.