Chelsea asked:
So I have a question. My boyfriend and I rescued a kitten from outside about two months ago. We’ve had him checked and all that stuff. He’s about 5 months old. He’s a great cat except for one thing. Whenever we eat food, he sits and meows insistently. He’ll crawl around trying to get on the table and chairs and stuff to get our food. We feed him lots, both wet and dry food. It doesn’t matter what we eat- cereal, chicken, pasta, a sandwich, a salad- he’ll sit there and meow like he’s never eaten.
How do we get him to stop meowing? Aside from locking him out of the room when we’re eating, we can;t think of anything. It’s annoying. And we worry about people who come over and hear his meow and feed him. We don’t want them to encourage him. We never feed him from our plates. He’s done this since we got him.
My response was:
Chelsea, I’d suggest keeping a can of compressed air or a spray bottle of water at the table with you while you eat, and the instant he starts howling, shoot it at him. Be consistent, don’t put up with the howling (I know, it’s hard to be mean to them when they’re so darn cute) and eventually if you’re consistent, he’ll get the message.
And then smack anyone who feeds him from their plates!
But then I thought that maybe y’all would have other suggestions, so if you do feel free to share!
I don’t put up with any of the cats howling for food when we’re eating. Occasionally, if we’re having something that smells really good to him, Spanky will sit next to me and rest his cold, cold nose against my leg in hopes that I’ll offer him my plate when I’m done. I put up with that because he’s the old man of the house and age has its privileges, but any other cat who harasses me gets a squirt from the can of compressed air immediately. Do I come howl at them when they’re bellied up to THEIR food? I do not. I expect the same consideration from them.
(If I must be honest, if I DID howl at them when they were eating, they’d probably just move over so I could eat out of the bowl. But that’s beside the point!)
Remember Greg Brady? He was adopted by a family who loves him to death – his new name is Riley – and here’s how he looks these days:
To all of you at Challenger’s House…a big Thank You! We adore our Challenger’s House kitties (Riley aka. Greg Brady and Cheeto). J We adopted them at separate times, but they get along wonderfully.
I love seeing my fosters go to such great homes!
Cavorting Time
(with George and Gracie)
Juuuuust hangin’ out. Watching chickens.
Chillin’. And then, suddenly…
LET! THE CAVORTING! BEGIN!
Oh, how Gracie loves to grab George’s tail because it drives him NUTS.
“You come over here, I bite you face.”
::chomp::
Playing dead. But Gracie’s not fooled.
George considers his next move.
“Your breath stinks.”
“Well, your mama dresses you funny.”
“Dude, seriously. Your breath.”
“It’s knocking me out.”
“It kills me like this.”
“You better run, ’cause I’m coming to kick your butt!”
“Long as you don’t breathe on me!”
Crazy pups.
I love it when they run around like wild things.
Jake and Alice, kinda snuggling. What I think happened is that Alice was in the bed, asleep, when Jake climbed in with her.
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Previously
2010: Moxie has a crush.
2009: “Halp! Halp! CALL 911!!!”
2008: No entry.
2007: Again with the crazy orangutan arms.
2006: POOP IN THE LITTER BOX!
2005: So for the rest of their stay at Casa And3rson, Sad Eyes is going to become Sugarbutt, Little Cal is becoming Callie, and Barrett is becoming Bear, because he looks like a little bear. Smitty’s going to remain Smitty, ’cause that’s a pretty good name.