cat stealing human food

[jonathan1978]

my cat who i never feed people food to and allways has a full dish is trying to take my food while im siting here eating knocking over the trash can and geting in the bread if i leave it out and if i leave somthing out to thaw like corndogs she gets into it as well this behaveor is making me angry what do i do she knocked over my trash can to get to the chicken wings today twice before i emptyed the trash i cant leave my dinner unatended she is teaching this to the other cat as well how do i stop this i love my cat! :mad:

[**Sapphire**]

Welcome to Fat Cat Forum, glad that you joined us here! :)

What do you normally do when you see your cat stealing human food? Do you discipline her?

[jonathan1978]

yes she does get disaplined i have a small rolled up magazine and get her with it. Not hard enuff to hurt her just to let her know she did somthing bad but it seems to not be working. Mostly i dont catch her doing it i just see where she did it only time i cought her was when i was having an sandwich and had it on my desk i was seting here and she tryed to reach up and pull it off the desk

[**Sapphire**]

Hmmm, she is eating her cat food right?

I'm trying to think of what else you can do to get her to stop, especially if you don't see her.

I've had a problem similar, except it's my kitten chewing on our indoor plants. She's taken to chewing on them when we aren't home. We do discipline her when we see it, but she has gone back to do it time & again.

I guess try to watch her when you have food around, make sure you put your food items away. If you don't have 1, get a garbage can with a lid on it so she can't get it open easy.

[jonathan1978]

yeah she eats her cat food all in all shes still a good cat i just dislike what she is doing ill do what u sugest thanks for your help

[Runsnwalken]

Disciplining a cat, is libal to make her view you as a predator, its better to use bribery with cats. Make what you want MUCH more interesting then what they want. This is probably much more true though with unwelcome feline scratching on furniture, and bad on hand play.


I'd just keep food out of reach. Water spraying, not on face, is one of the better punishments.

leopalorn is the same with Venison jerky, I only get it a few times a year (friend hunts) and he'll bite the plastic bag to get in. Can't blame a cat for being a cat.

[PureMuttz]

the same with Venison jerky, I only get it a few times a year (friend hunts) and he'll bite the plastic bag to get in. Can't blame a cat for being a cat.

I know this was commented on a couple months ago, but I couldn't resist.
My husband went and bought jerky, and he made the mistake of giving a piece to Jethro (my male cat)....then he wonders ''what got into'' Jethro when I bring out the shredded bag and told the hubby "You almost lost all your jerky. Might want to keep this locked up!".

Now, for something that we didn't give him a taste test of...flour tortillas. Apparently, Jethro jumped on the counter and had himself a midnight snack of tortillas last night. Hubby asked me who I thought did it and of course I think Jethro. My female cat, Martha, will join in the snacking once it's ripped apart, but she isn't big on hunting down people food and doing the work herself.

It's pretty easy to suspect Jethro when people food gets ''attacked'', considering he'll stalk your plate if it's in his reach, waiting for the best time to ''make the kill''.

[**Sapphire**]

You know, now that you mention it PureMuttz my Lady is a little people food stealer too. If we aren't careful, she will try her best to snitch some food off our plates.

She loves her people food, but we don't give her alot, we just give her a very little bit every once in a while.

[Erikkaas]

The only thing that works is being strict from the early age.

By the way, don't you know that there are such things as a .'s and capitals on your keyboard?

[**Sapphire**]

The only thing that works is being strict from the early age.

By the way, don't you know that there are such things as a .'s and capitals on your keyboard?

Erikkaas, please don't tell other members how to type their posts/threads. As long as it's in english & we can understand it, if they don't capitalize certain words etc, that is fine with us.

[Felineluvr]

The spray bottle and water always seemed to work well with me.

[alenalbert]

when i find cat stealing my food, i shoot him with my water gun..

[goldengrain]

The only thing that works is being strict from the early age.


I agree that you have to start very young and be consistent. I have had mostly 'only' cats.

I have a method with cats - actually, with other animals like dogs (and guys). If you seldom reprimand them and save expressing your displeasure only for the rare important things, and rarely raise your voice at home, and play with them frequently - they fall in love with you. When that happens they are more likely to want to please you and not get you upset. Then when they do something you don't like yell 'NO!' and act angry and maybe refuse to interact with them for a while. If you do this right, the first time you yell at them will really rattle their cage and they will not want a repeat of that.

Since they don't hear yelling often and only hear NO when they do something wrong and they want to make you happy this usually works.

I also give him a small bit of very finely chopped meat when we have it and every now and again some of Fancy Feast's Appetizers (expensive, but worth it), which is not a 'complete and balanced diet' (all meat), so it's a treat.

It also is very helpful if you catch them the FIRST time, so the negativity imprints with the behavior.

Zeus jumped on my chair once and I saw him clawing the back of it. I did 'my thing' and now he jumps on the chair and puts his paws on the back. I also saw his claws come out a few times, but he always catches himself and pulls the claws back in. I do not react when he does this - well, often I go over and give him a tummy rub because he knew not to claw.

I have several cat scratching contraptions, sisal and tree bark and carpeting, both berber and the regular type, so he certainly has no excuse to use my 'toys' to claw on.

My mom had used this strategy on both me and her German Shepard.

I think it might not work on every cat, or if there is more than one because they tend to bond with each other rather than you, but every cat I had since kittenhood has been pretty much controllable in this way.

He does not go on counter tops or the table. He is allowed the run of the house other than these.

I don't want to be too strict or to be feared by him, so I save the wrath for the important things.

He knows he is not allowed on the table, but can go on the chairs. Once, my husband made a ham sandwich and left it on the table. When he came back Zeus was there with his backside on the chair, his paws on the table and his face grabbing at the ham. My husband yelled NO loud and the cat ran away. Later my husband gave him a nice cut up slice of ham for himself.

Zeus often follows me all through the house, like a dog. Sometimes I will pick him up and take him from room to room with me, which he loves. He jumped into the tub with me - once.

He has lots of window perches and we have put pillows in several nooks and crannies around the house because he likes variety and we find him changing his preferred sleeping places frequently.

I always think if animals (us, too) have enough to occupy their minds with they will tend not to get into trouble.

I had read somewhere that Native Americans sometimes thought of animals as people of different tribes. I think they had something there. Animals who we live with really try hard to communicate with us despite the lack of a common language. Love and understanding go a long way to fill the gap.

[KittehLuver]

It's a major problem for me, but (as much as I'm not supposed to), I spoil the crud out of my cat. Not too much, but I feed her human food. Boiled chicken, veggies and so on. It's only sometimes, but I gave her thirst (taste) for more. Oy. O-o...well...at least my vet approves of the healthy meal.

Of course, if you don't want him to eat the human food, shoot him with a water gun like everyone else has been saying. It's not really a permanent fix, but it gets em' off reeeaaaal quick. :)

[draggosaurus]

my cat who i never feed people food to and allways has a full dish is trying to take my food while im siting here eating knocking over the trash can and geting in the bread if i leave it out and if i leave somthing out to thaw like corndogs she gets into it as well this behaveor is making me angry what do i do she knocked over my trash can to get to the chicken wings today twice before i emptyed the trash i cant leave my dinner unatended she is teaching this to the other cat as well how do i stop this i love my cat! :mad:
My cat that just died used to do that, she was sweet, bit of a pest where food was concerned, the other two never learnt to copy. I used to wrap the chicken scraps or put them straight in the bin wrapped, as they can get in the peddle bins, they are very inventive. The second cat used to steal muffins when they were cooling and eat half of one, a bit of another and so on. I had to stop leaving them on the cupboard top and put them in the microwave with the door just open. The third one can smell cream, custard, milk, cheese from anywhere in the house and like radar there he is. They are all different. No help to you I guess. they certainly are characters, have to love them