Cats have become brave about stealing food.....

BlueRaccoon

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For years our cats have just sat next to us and 'begged'. However, recently they have become EXTREMELY brave. They will just walk right up to your plate and steal food quickly. No matter how many times I push them away they try to do it again! lol. I have three cats and two of them started to doing this recently! I also can't keep them out of the sink. I have not changed their food or the amount they eat! Also, we used to rarely give them human food. Once they started acting like this we quit all together! What tips do you have?It's driving us crazy! lol
 

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BlueRaccoon

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Hi!
Cats don't typically work this hard to get food unless they aren't getting enough cat food, or the cat food they're getting isn't providing enough nutritional benefits.

Are you feeding them dry food? Do they get canned food?
My boy gets canned that I leave out for a few hours, and also some free fed kibble.

How Much Food Should I Feed My Cat? – TheCatSite Articles

Top 5 Brands Of Wet Cat Food Our Members Love The Most – TheCatSite Articles
They eat dry food! I do not give them wet food. I don't give my cats free fed kibble because one of my cats is overweight (not one of the two doing this though), and I wouldn't be able to keep my dog out of it. I will read those articles to make sure I am feeding them enough. Also, what would cause a cat to need more food? One of these cats used to not even finish what I gave them. Now they act starved.
 
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BlueRaccoon

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They eat dry food! I do not give them wet food. I don't give my cats free fed kibble because one of my cats is over weight (not the two doing this though), and I wouldn't be able to keep my dog out of it. I will read those articles to make sure I am feeding them enough.
 

arr

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One of our cats had this obsession with getting food off our plates. We think in a previous home the owners must’ve fed her people food. I know this isn’t popular here but we used the spray water bottle. We eat on the couch watching tv and it was becoming a problem so I literally only had to spray her twice and the problem stopped. Then I would just have the spray bottle next to me and her seeing it was enough. Now I don’t even have to have the bottle next to me and she just leaves us alone. She learned fast and I don’t see that it caused her any harm.

The only other thing I ever used the spray bottle for was this same cat and her food obsession, she would jump on the counters while I was in the midst of preparing food. I got tired of throwing her off so again, I used the spray bottle probably twice and that was it, now she just sits on the island watching me cook.
 

arr

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Also, as far as keeping them out of the sink and off the counters and table in general, I use those Ssscat cans that shoot a puff of air at them. It’s worked great for us. They are rather expensive but totally worth it in my opinion. We’ve used them to stop door dashing, keep out of plants, etc.
 

cataholic07

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What is the brand of dry? I would add wet food to their diet, dry food isn't best for cats it can cause lots of health issues and if your one is overweight even a diet dry food it will be hard to lose the pounds easily cause of how carb heavy it is. I would add something like weruva, tiki cat, almo or something like that that is high in protein. That might help satisfy them lol.
 

LTS3

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Also, what would cause a cat to need more food?
Certain medical conditions such as diabetes and hyperthyroid, not feeding enough calories to meet each cat's need (roughly 20 to 25 calories per pound of body weight daily).

How much dry food do you feed each cat and how often? What brand? Most dry foods are very dense just empty calories that don't fill up tummies. Canned food is more filling. It sounds like this behavior is new and could be "hangry behavior" because the cats aren't getting enough calories from their dry food to satisfy their tummies. Could you feed the cats one meal of canned food daily in addition to the dry? Canned food would help the overweight cat lose weight, too.


The only other thing I ever used the spray bottle for was this same cat and her food obsession, she would jump on the counters while I was in the midst of preparing food. I got tired of throwing her off so again, I used the spray bottle probably twice and that was it, now she just sits on the island watching me cook.
TCS has an article that explains why spay bottles should never be used: 5 Reasons To Never Spray Water On Your Cat [Or otherwise punish them] – TheCatSite Articles
 
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