Cat Obsessed With People Food!

[MeganLLB]

Luna loves to eat anything and everything. Always has since the day I brought her home.
But this is getting to be annoying as heck. She won't stay away from human food. She has climbed up onto my shoulder , taken her paw, grabbed my fork and pulled it toward her mouth. She has swatted away food in the process of going up to my mouth.

Right now I had a bowl of cottage cheese sitting on the table- I turn my back for a second and she is there with her whole head in the bowl gobbling it all down. She licks all my plates clean. She eats the dog food. She drinks out of my cups (again by putting her entire head into the glass) She has ripped open bags of bread, chews into bags of cat treats... there is just no end.

I had her on a self-feeder as she was under a year old, and I feed her wet food every day. She eats everything. I feed her Earthborn Holistic Feline and for wet I feed Dave's and TikiCat.

What is up with her? Does she have a problem? Does anyone else have a cat like this? She's worse than the dog!

 

[mokapi]

My Mrowmrow only gets REALLY demanding if I have ice cream, but yeah, he'll just try to redirect forks (and ice cream cones) to his mouth instead of mine. Sometimes it's very gentle, and other times he hooks his claws in.

Usually this behavior is our fault. I let Mrowmrow sit in my lap while I was eating, share the chicken out of chicken nuggets, share little bits of eggs and bacon, etc. when he was a kitten, and so naturally he thinks that I am under the same obligation to share all my food with him.

If it's bad enough, you could try locking her up when you eat, maybe? Or, rather, remove her from the area and lock her up after she tries to eat your food, so there's a cause and effect present.

 

[MeganLLB]

Usually shes always locked up when I eat dinner. But she is very persistent. I also have recently started having to put her away when I cook on the stove. I have an electric stove (I'd rather have gas, but oh well) and she jums right up on it while I'm cooking and sometimes the burners are still very hot. She could burn her feet if she were to step on them.

Also have to put her away when I wash the dishes. She wants to lick all the plates and she gets into the sink water trying to get the plates and cups.

 

[mokapi]

This really makes me wonder if there's a feline form of pica, LOL.

 

[Yenta]

I am wondering if my kitten, Kibbitz, is going to be like this as well. She is only 11 weeks old, have had her for 3 weeks. She has never been fed from a people plate, she doesn't get people food. She and her "sister" Schmutz, are being trained to come with cat treats. Kibbitz comes running when called and loves the treats. Now she is becoming aggressive, we were sitting on the couch with some takeout and she tried to pull the take out container out of my hands with her teeth.

 

[LTS3]

This really makes me wonder if there's a feline form of pica, LOL.

Pica does occur in cats Typically pica often occurs in cats who were weaned too early but it can happen because of stress and other reasons. A vet would be able to determine if a cat has pica or not.

MeganLLB are you feeding your cat enough calories? Sometimes cats who don't get enough calories daily will seek out food to eat. They'll explore the kitchen counters and eat what they find there, dig through the trash can, eat food off the dinner plate, etc.

Don't forget that many people foods are harmful to cats. Here is a list: People Foods to Avoid Feeding Your Pets The ASPCA lists raw meat and raw bones as a no-no but it is perfectly fine to give to a cat. Ask any of the raw feeders here on TCS.

 

[MeganLLB]

I have always free fed her dry food until just recently plus feed her wet. She could eat as much as she wants so I cant imagine that she is underfed. And vet said she is a healthy weight.

I didnt know about pica and i dont really know her history before i got her.

One day i just picked her up at a gas station in the middle of a thunderstorm and i had a kitten. People wanted rid of her and i was glad to have her

 

[MeganLLB]

And the dry food is very high calorie and she was eating a lot of it. Maybe she just likes food. Idk