Mental Around Food

[demonyara]

Hey hey!

Our new kitten goes bonkers around food. I used to think my other cat went crazy but this guy is next level in that it often takes two of us to feed them without blood shed (and sometimes that still fails).

I prepare the meal on the kitchen bench (only place he cant get up on easily .. yet) but he continually tries to jump or climb up the side. We repetativly say no in a firm voice and put him back on the floor but he is relentless. putting the food on the floor is also difficult- at the moment we distract him then place it down or he will jump and claw at it in your hands. I have tried teaching him wait with rewards but that is yet to pay of during feeding time. He is also relentless at stalking our food as we eat. We have concidered removing him from the room whenever we eat or prepare his food but would rather train him into better habbits than just avoiding the issue if possible.

He gets pleanty to eat so hes not starving he just frikken loooves his food
Just hoping you guys might have some good tricks or training methods for how to deal with crazy food obsessed kitties - my skin would appreciate it

Cheer! Steph

 

[Cat_mediator]

First of all, I'd like to know how often you feed him? Even though he gets plenty to eat each time, it doesn't mean that it is often enough. A cat in the wild normally hunts every two hours. Therefore, it is much better to feed him more often in small quantity than to give him tons of food twice a day. A cat can digest everything in two hours.

Second of all, his hyper reaction around food can be trained by clicker training. Check clicker training technique. I am pretty sure it will help him during meal time.

 

[demonyara]

Thanks for the suggestion!
We were feeding him 4 times a day but have just reduced to 3 as we will have to return to work in a couple of weeks. Have started to try out feeding him smaller meals every couple of hours today to see if he is any happier - so far still always on the lookout for food aha but will see how it goes.

We have a clicker and I have used it a bit to train my other cat but found using a high pitched key word instead to be more practical for me (always lose my clicker) so have been using that when training him to wait so will try that as I place the food. But when faced with a meal prepared on bench vs casual training time his intensity in desire increases immeasurably aha so i guess ill just have to be patient and give him more time!