cat loves throwing the table cloth off

jinksandchew

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Pumpkin was taken in to the foster home when she was around 4 weeks old with her brother and mother. They were all found lying in a hole near one of the main road. Her mom got adopted before I came along, and as for her brother — the owner of the foster home got so attached to him she adopted him herself, so only Pumpkin was taken in.
The first week was tough for Pumpkin, she was very anxious and refused to leave her safe spot behind the couch. Luckily, some pheromones and patience helped her get through that and now she is a very outgoing cat! (And by ‘outgoing’ I mean she always runs to greet me when I come home, follows me around, sleeps next to me on the bed). She is very brave and curious and it’s beautiful to see how much progress she made in less than two months.
So, now that I sugar-coated her, time to move to the main issue — what is bothersome. So, she has a tendency to steal our vegetables - she gets fed very good quality wet food and meat, but for some reason, she steals our food anyway (me and my parents eat vegetarian so we are shocked she is interested in our food. Usually it’s clear that meat=cat food).
The other issue is that she picked a particular piece of furniture in the house — dining room table— and she loves throwing the table cloth off of it. If there is anything on top like a flower pot it will not stop her, it will just fall off along with the table cloth.
> I would like to know— what can I do to show her that there are more fun ways to spend time than wrecking the table? Also how can I make her not interested in our food? Thank you so much in advance.
>
> Have a great day!
Pumpkin was taken in to the foster home when she was around 4 weeks old with her brother and mother. They were all found lying in a hole near one of the main roads in the town I live in. Her mom got adopted before I came along, and as for her brother — the owner of the foster home got so attached to him she adopted him herself, so only Pumpkin was taken in.
> The first week was tough for Pumpkin, she was very anxious and refused to leave her safety spot behind the couch. Luckily, some pheromones and patience helped her get through that and now she is a very outgoing cat! (And by ‘outgoing’ I mean she always runs to greet me when I come home, follows me around, sleeps next to me on the bed). She is very brave and curious and it’s beautiful to see how much progress she made in less than two months.
> So, now that I sugar-coated her, time to move to the main issue — what is bothersome. So, she has a tendency to steal our vegetables - she gets fed very good quality wet food and meat, but for some reason, she steals our food anyway (me and my parents eat vegetarian so we are shocked she is interested in our food. Usually it’s clear that meat=cat food).
The other issue is that she picked a particular piece of furniture in the house — dining room table— and she loves throwing the table cloth off of it. If there is anything on top like a flower pot it will not stop her, it will just fall off along with the table cloth.
I would like to know— what can I do to show her that there are more fun ways to spend time than wrecking the table? Also how can I make her not interested in our food? Love to know your thoughts?
 

Furballsmom

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Hello!
Can you provide her with more of her own food? Sometimes it's really a situation that a young cat is hungry, there is a lot of growth happening and your baby needs fuel for that. Feed several small meals throughout the day with some kibble out for freefeeding, until she is at least a year old if not longer.

I would suggest removing the tablecloth entirely for a while, until she moves on to something else :)
 

FeebysOwner

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Hi. Ditto Furballsmom Furballsmom ! Temporarily, take the stuff off the table. She thinks of it as a play opportunity. If there is nothing on the table, there is nothing to play with... Set her up with some 'stuff' she can knock around safely on a perch, cat tree, floor, etc. And, whenever possible, redirect her attention to those acceptable play spots.

Secondly, what is she eating now (i.e. cat food)? She is still a kitten and needs a lot of food - as much as she want to eat right now until she reaches at least 1 year old. If you feed her canned kitten food, do you also leave dry kitten food out for as well? My guess if she has enough of her own stuff to eat, she will opt for that over vegies. Of course, that also means not leaving your food out on countertops/etc. where she can get to it/smell it. You can also distract her from this by offering some yummy treats - away from where ever it is that she is getting to your food.
 

ArtNJ

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Our 4 month old kitten started doing this in our formal dining room a couple of weeks ago. We put the table cloth back a few times, did the "no!" thing when it happened when we were around. The table cloth sat on the floor for . . an embarrassing long time. We left it off for a bit. We put it back. She seems to have found other games.

If that seemed a little rambly...well yeah, because we just kind of said "kitten, doing kitten stuff" and just dealt with it on an ad hoc basis. It didn't occur to me to make a plan per se, other than my default behavior modification tool, the loud "no!" I'm not real sure a more detailed plan of action is needed. There are some things that cats tend to do for an annoyingly long time and can be difficult to train away, like scratching the couch. Got to work at that one. This falls more into the temporary kitten stuff category thing I think. Like we had one that had a phase of unrolling the toilet paper roll and had to keep the bathroom door closed. You just sort of deal with this stuff with the loud "no!" and however seems to make sense.
 

danteshuman

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I would tape the table cloth down to the bottom of the table or attach Velcro tabs to secure it under the table. I would also build her a fort somewhere high and give her a sheet to hide under (or a sheet draped over a box on it’s side.)

About the food, I suggest you leave a small bowl of dry food (I give my boy 1/4 cup to 1/2 cup in his bowl max at a time) so he can nibble between meals. He might keep growing to 2-2.5 years since he has some rag doll in him. Yes I wish he only ate wet, but some battles are not worth fighting. Also your girl Pumpkin may have gotten a taste for people food by dumpster diving when she lived rough on the street. 💕💜Sarah loved broccoli & all people food. My current cat Jackie loves wheat thins & tortilla chips & crockpot chicken (which he is getting for Christmas Along with maybe chicken liver) & cheese cake & apparently my fried veggie rice with egg in it. 🤦🏻‍♀️ Dante loved potato chips & cheese cake. Salem loves butter, cheese cake & tuna juice. Quasi LOVED ham/piggy and tortilla is chips.💜💕 So I suggest along with feeding her more and giving her some dry food that you give up and give her a taste of her favorite people foods. Just give it to her on a saucer in the place where she eats her wet food. Honestly their quirks of favorite people foods just make you love them more. I miss laughing at Sarah’s antics as she tried to steal people food..... like the time she tried to steal ham out of the pan!
 
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