Mooching constantly

[el60]

Our little guy Mittens who I am about to change his name to Moochy cause that is what he does most of the day. He approx 16 wks old. He ate that crappy Whiska's when we got him from the previous owner. They gave me some to take home . I went to a pet food store PetValu and they suggested putting him on a high quality food called LIfetime which is a Canadian made wheat free,corn free chicken and turkey and oatmeal food along with herring and flaxseed oil vitamins etc. etc

I started mixing the Whiskas with the Lifetime and he ate it . As I gradually decreased the Whiska's his mooching got worse.Seems he liked the junk food better. He is completely on the new food and he just seems to hate it. Of course he will eat some to stay alive and he is not losing weighs . He wanders the kitchen constantly looking for crumbs and crying . When I make anything to eat he is so bad we have to put him in another room where he crys and crys to get out. He will try to climb up our legs and jump on the table or counter crying the whole time if he stays in the kitchen..

I have had many cats in the past and not experienced mooching to this degree. I am thinking I will have to change his food to something he at least likes. Nobody wants to go through life hating their food.

Any advice on the would be a great help thanks

Elinor

 

[cat person]

I am not sure, if, it is food/diet related. My two DSH's are eight and fourteen years old. When they where younger, they where terrible mooches. They would eat out of the garbage (inside) and steal food off your plate. As they got older, it improved and eventually stopped. My DLH, when, she was alive was a terrible mooch. But, unlike my DSH's who ate the human food, the DLH never did. Just had to sniff it and eventually left. My F3 Savannah, at three years old is impossible to eat around period. So, he just gets put into his room at dinner time 

. You might want to put your kitten in a room with his/her: food, water, and litter box, when, you are trying to eat. I have no idea, if, it will help. But, it might.

 

[minka]

At 16 weeks old, your kitten should be allowed to eat As Much as he wants. :nod:
So if that means you have to put out 2 or 3 times the food you have been putting out, so be it. :nod:

He may also have been allowed to eat food off of plates and given treats by his previous owner. I would try adding some wet food to his diet that you give to him after he eats his dry so that he thinks it's a 'treat.' That should help a lot. :-)

 

[txcatmom]

I know that this is not always the case, but at our house the only time I've had trouble with the cats getting overly interested in human food was when they weren't getting enough cat food to eat.  My Eko did this at about 7 months of age.  I re-read the labels on the cat food I was giving him and realized I wasn't feeding enough.  I fed him a little more and problem solved.  Maybe feeding a bit more will help. 

 

[arlyn]

All of the cats that I've gotten as young kittens were beggars and thieves, they all had to be taught that it wasn't tolerated.

Some were worse than others.

Never punish, always redirect, and praise good behavior.

In the case of food, redirection becomes difficult, as you don't want to teach them that this behavior will get them a food treat.

Free feed until around 7-8 months, kittens eat tons!

And I second the suggestion of adding wet food.

 

[el60]

Thanks to all for the advice but my kitten has food in his dish ALL  day . He is NEVER without food!!! He just doesnt want it. I have gone out and bought another high quality kitten food for him to try.

 

[socksy]

Maybe he needs less of the higher quality stuff to maintain his weight, but he was used to eating more and so feels like he has to keep eating even after he's satiated.  I wouldn't think it's because he's genuinely hungry, because if he's THAT hungry, he'll eat the food.  You could try another food and see what happens, though.  Or just wait it out.  I wouldn't go back to junk food.

The three kittens at my house are notorious beggars and thieves!  Zapp is the WORST!  One has to be very careful when preparing food, eating food, or standing in the kitchen.  Sometimes I'm afraid to think of food around him, lol!  He will start meowing and then jump up, climb all over me like a spider monkey and steal whatever's in my hand.  It doesn't even matter what it is with any of these cats; they eat anything from popcorn to lettuce to cereal.  We brought in groceries the other day and before we could even blink, Zapp had ripped open the ground beef and was chowing down.  The kittens get as much cat food as they want (and they love it), so that is not the issue.  

I've had such a hard time with feeding Zapp, too.  He would basically come running as soon as I reached for the can.  When I opened the can, he flew at me and climbed me like a tree.  My legs have little climbing claw marks all over.  We're improving, though.  I'm trying to teach him to sit politely on the floor and wait for his food.  I block him with my hand when I know he's about to jump on me and I have a ssscat can I put on top of the garbage can (that's how he gets on the counter).  I think he's figuring out that he gets his food faster when I'm not fending off cats flying at me from all directions.  I might even try clicker training him, but I did have a little session with some chicken where I'd give him a piece every time he put his butt on the ground and waited for a second.  Now he "asks" for food by planting his butt on the ground.