Reptile & Amphibian Forums

First, some history. We have 2 cats at home. One cat is 6 years old and we've had her since she was just over 2 months old. The other cat is approximately 2-3 years old and we've had him for only about 2 months. I acquired the younger cat from my veterinarian who took in a couple of cats from an elderly woman who hoarded cats. She kept all of the cats in separate cages nearly all the time. She never starved the cats; they were well-fed (but not to the point of being overweight). After the veterinarian acquired this particular cat from her, the cat stayed in the hospital for approximately 7 months because he was relatively unsociable to strangers and prospective "adopters" were always turned off by his fearful attitude. He was fearful and shy, but never aggressive.

Since we've had him at home now, he steals and eats absolutely everything he can find. He'll even go so far as to steal food as you're putting it in your mouth. For awhile, he would take a couple bites of his food during mealtimes and then run to the older cat's bowl to steal her food. To stop this, they are now fed separately. However, now that we've been able to prevent him from aggravating the older cat (who is sometimes rather aggressive towards him and is not afraid to put him in his place), he is just a nuisance when it comes to our human food. Sometimes, he's even bold enough to try to steal the dog food out of the dogs' bowls before the dogs get a chance to stick their own faces in their bowls. He tears through saran wrap, he knocks off heavy pans and pots we put over plates, he even pushed away a huge wooden cutting board to get to the food, he eats so much food that I'm afraid he's going to make himself sick.

I absolutely love this cat. I volunteered at the veterinarian's office, so I fell in love with him before I even considered taking him home. But now the family is at their wit's end with the problem of stealing food.

To be honest, I know that the best solution is prevention. But my family is adament about not changing their habits because of some cat. Is there any other way to curb this bad behavior? Everyday I'm innundated with "send the cat back" or "we need to get rid of this cat."

Is there any advice out there? Perhaps a method of training that has worked for someone else? Any advice or help is appreciated.

I only know prevention, sorry. Why is it so hard for your family to put food in the fridge?

Lock him out of the room when you are eating and also when the dogs and your other cat eat.

This obviously is a reaction to being caged for such a long time. He might grow out of it once he realizes that he can have all the food, love, play etc he wants. It might take a year. My Tommy was very ill when he was little and became not much more than a sceleton. He pulled through and in turn became terribly greedy. Like yours he would steal whatever he could, anything that was left out, and from the other cats too. But his behaviour changed again after some time - can't remember exactly how long it took, a year, maybe longer. Today he's still the one reminding us it's time to feed, but he isn't stealing anymore.

You could try always having really delicious cat treats available for him, really spoil him, so that he prefers his food over human food. But somehow I doubt it'll work. I feel he's trying to make up for lost time.

You might also try feeding him slightly more than normal. Better he becomes a little too fat than having to go back to a shelter or something!

Poor guy. Talk to your family and try to make them understand that they have to be patient. Be adament.

Good luck!