I have been a cat owner my entire adult life. With one exception (RIP Trix), all of our cats have been reasonably well behaved and somewhat trainable. Until now.
A few months ago, we adopted a 3 month old kitten from a shelter. We adore him, but he is the worst-behaved creature ever. I think he came from an ISIS training camp.
He is constantly hungry (yes, parasites have been eradicated and he is on probiotics to restore gut flora) and will literally eat anything. He is getting plump, but begs for food all day long. He jumps on the counter, on the (patient) dog, on the (less patient) older cat, on the curtains. Two days ago, I had to stop him from jumping onto the hot oven door as I was taking some muffins out. Muffins! (Cats are obligate carnivores.)
We have to use a system of airlocks at mealtime to keep him out of the other animals’ and our food. He literally stole a green bean off my plate at lunch and dipped a paw in the foam on my husband’s beer to taste it a few nights ago.
He never claws anyone and has an awesome chainsaw purr. He has great litterbox behavior. He isn’t mean, but the food thing is driving us all nuts. He has been neutered.
Any tips on training? Could he have a mental health issue? Or some feline version of Prader-Willi?
@Massmomm I screenshotted this and sent it to my daughter, who is having the same problem with her new kitten. I thought she should increase his intake thinking that he wasn’t getting enough to eat – since he’s still growing, but that didn’t do much. Only feeding him in the same spot, no people food at the table, etc.
She just got an automatic feeder that feeds him kibble at intervals, but it hasn’t helped much either. He’s now just obsessed with the machine.
If she has a snack on the couch, he literally tries to take it out of her mouth. She left a gruyere cheese rind on the counter for a second - he snagged it and raced around with it. Maybe they just need to grow out of it.
She says that he would definitely jump in the oven, lol.
We have an 8 year old kitty who really belongs to one of our kids. Right now, he is next to me on the couch sound asleep. He is cuddly and sweet.
BUT he still jumps…everywhere. He can jump from the floor to the fireplace mantle. He can easily jump onto the counters and walk around and he does. We toss him off numerous times a day. I was thinking about getting some contact paper and putting it sticky side up on the counters to discourage him…but…
Ours always is his naughtiest when his bowl has no food. Since he isn’t plump and he doesn’t seem to be gaining weight, we just keep food in his bowl. That seems to help.
Ours is interested in some people food, but prefers raw food. It is no fun trying to cook with him in the room.
At least yours purrs!
Disclaimer…he lived in a rural African village for 1 1/2 years before coming here. We blame his ill behavior on his early upbringing.?♀️
@gardenstategal , someone else suggested another kitten. The shelter where we got our older cat actually required you to take two kittens because the success rate was so much higher. But I am concerned that if we get another one and they don’t get along, things will get worse. The dog (Australian shepherd mix, so we’re told) does try to herd him, but he’s so fast and nimble he just runs off.
@thumper1@Gourmetmom I wanted to get an automatic feeder for him, but the vet say no to dry food, since cats with his eating style only get fat from kibble. But if I gave him wet food as often as he begs, he’d be obese, so I’m not sure this is working, either!
We have had three kitties, and all have eaten only dry food. Actually, we couldn’t even get them to eat wet food.
We feed our somewhat naughty cat on a schedule…measured out food. But we give him little snacks of kibbles if it’s between meals and he seems hungry.
ETA…we never give our cat kitty snack treats. Just kibbles of his food.
He is still naughty.
One of my relatives had one of those auto feeders. It was hilarious to watch their cat…who would sit by the feeder and patiently wait for it to rotate (that’s how theirs worked). It was like the cat could tell time.
@Massmomm is there an activity he really loves – other than causing world upheaval! – that you could substitute for food as a reward and kind of try to shape him towards? Or won’t he be diverted? Would an amazing cat tree with a patch of catnip at its penthouse tempt him away from your oven?
Also I do want to apologize for how hard I’m laughing. Good luck with the little guy!
@HouseChatte , why yes, he loves to pull pens out of holders and bat them around the floor until they fall down a disused heating duct in the kitchen floor. He will literally pick up a pen on the second floor and trot down to the kitchen with it in his mouth and bat it down the shaft. I think it’s some hellish form of kitten hockey. We’ve taken to hiding the pens.
And he has a tree. Two of them. And toys. And lots of lovely furniture to shred. Maybe I should get him an iPad?
@Massmomm Have you asked if the rescue would loan a kitten or kittens out to see if it would get better and if worse, could return it? Like a foster situation.
Poor baby! What chance the eating issue is survival instinct, that he was starved when younger?
Our rescue dog gobbled food for months, maybe the whole first year. I got her a slow bowl. (Had to try two different ones.) Within the bowl, it’s a labyrinth of channels, to slow down the eating. I would feed her on a fixed am/pm schedule, to build trust. Sometimes, split one meal into two, about 10 or more minutes apart. Now she’s more normal.
She still follows me around the house, whines if I do something and she can’t see me. Other behaviors hint her early years were tough.
I think you just have to control the overeating. Give him a treat or plaything when you’re at the oven or eating your own snacks, keep him out of the room when you’re having a sit down meal.
I had a cat with the exact same problem. He had it when I brought him home from the shelter at eight weeks old, and he had it until he died about 18 years later. The only “good” thing about it was that it forced DH and me to clear off the dinner table immediately after we finished.
This cat also figured out that if he bumped our elbow with his head while we were cutting something, chances were good it would shoot across the table and onto the floor. He was not stupid.
So we are talking about a 6 month old kitten? (a few months ago + 3 months)? If he is that young I would try leaving dry food out. If he gets too fat then I would cut back but for now he is a growing boy! I would at least try to figure out if he will eat constantly or is he just a big eater and really hungry. My current cat was found alone on the street trying to survive at about 4 weeks of age. She had food issues for a long time. We have dry food out all the time but she prefers wet and now only eats dry occasionally.
I would try puzzle feeders. My grand kittens have a Catit Senses 2.0 Food Tree Cat Feeder. They have to work to get their dry food. It has been a big help. They get wet food twice a day but one of them really prefers dry food. I am considering Doc & Phoebe’s Cat Co. Indoor Hunting Cat Feeder Kit for my cat as a supplement to her wet food. They are intended to be placed randomly so the cat has to find them.
If you ever watch My Cat From He!! on Animal Planet he really encourages lots of play time to tire cats out and keep them out of trouble. Also does your cat have any high places he is allowed to go? Cat tower or anything. The show does have good suggestions.
As for the jumping, it’s a cat thing as I am sure you know. We do remove our cats from kitchen counters and tables EVERY time we catch them. We also take any food they grab from them if possible in an effort to reinforce the idea that their food is not on counters and tables. They eventually learn to stay off (at least when we are around, who knows when we are not!) We have also used kitty solitary confinement when we need to keep them out of the oven and such. They survive!
Good luck, particularly if you are planning to put up a Christmas tree!
I volunteer at a rescue. He is still young enough to get a pal. WE often see people return after they adopted one (they had other animals at home such as a dog or older cat), and come back for a playmate. This would also give the dog a break. And kittens at a young age (4/5/6 months) will adjust to a dog fine.
Also at that age I would give dry food as well, and we love our automatic feeder. Still give the wet food in the morning and at night, but I believe having both dry and wet is good idea. Think about little kids, they are more grazers than meal eaters. kittens are similar. Oh and I had a cat that loved Snow peas.
