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Old April 4th, 2008, 12:33 PM
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phoozles phoozles is offline
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This cat will eat ANYTHING..

And I mean anything..

I'm talking about Alley, of course.. You've seen the pictures of her going after tomatoes and bananas (http://www.pets.ca/forum/showthread....ht=alley+devil) but she doesn't stop there!

The other day I went to make a sandwich. I put two pieces of bread on the counter and went to get the peanut butter (yes, sometimes I eat like I'm 12).. I heard a noise, and figured she got up on the counter but got spooked. No dice. When I went back to my bread, I noticed there was only one slice on the counter. I went around to the living room, and there she was chowing down on a piece of bread! I then had to chase her for a bit, as she carried it around the room - the slice was bigger than she is! Needless to say, I had to get a new slice of bread.. (who said that cats don't eat grains? )

That's not all - if we leave the fridge open for a second, she's learned how to puncture bags of milk to get the milk out. I was eating cereal the other day and she snatched some of the cereal out of the bowl and took off.

We have to lock her up every time we eat dinner, or she'll snatch whatever we're eating (and I mean WHATEVER) off of our plates. And she snatches it so quickly and takes off - as if she hasn't eaten for months and has to horde it. We feed her canned food 4 times a day, so it's not like she's going hungry or anything. She'll do it right after she's finished eating, too!

I've tried saying No, I've tried the water bottle, nothing works and now I have no idea what to do. The Ssscat keeps her off of THAT part of the counter, but we can't use it at the dinner table - we end up getting sprayed more than her!

HELP!!
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Old April 4th, 2008, 12:41 PM
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Love4himies Love4himies is offline
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Oh what a resourceful kitty . She would be a survivor out on the streets, that's for sure .

Just out of curiousity, do you have any info on her background? I wonder how she recognizes items such as tomatoes as food?

I can't offer any suggestions because my cats don't even jump up on the counter let alone steal food. Puddles will eat banana toast (probably more so the bread she likes) and strawberry shortcake (whip cream), but the other two will only eat cat food and some human meat.
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Rose semi feral, a cpietra rescue, female tabby (approx 13 yrs)

Jasper RIP (2001-2018)
Sweet Pea RIP (2004?-2014)
Puddles RIP (1996-2014)
Snowball RIP (1991-2005)

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Old April 4th, 2008, 12:52 PM
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luckypenny luckypenny is offline
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Excuse me a minute....
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....I don't mean to laugh at your...umm...misfortune? I can just envision her whizzing around snatching food .

I wish I had some advice to offer you. Putting her in another room while you eat is the only answer I can think of .

*giggle*
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Old April 4th, 2008, 12:58 PM
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phoozles phoozles is offline
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I always think of what a tough cookie she would be if she had to take to the streets

It's funny seeing her trotting across the room with something bigger than her in her mouth, but very frustrating at the same time!

I got her when she was about 8 weeks old from a cat rescue. I went to pick her up from their "nursery", which turned out to be some woman's house - she had about 5 adult cats that were hers, and then all I could hear was tons of little mews from her basement.. I guess that's where she was keeping all the kittens - it sounded like a lot of them, but she just brought Alley up to me, so I never got to go down and see them.

I do remember that while I was filling out the paperwork I had Alley in my arms and the woman had some sliced cucumber on her table. Alley went right for it - I should have known then!

She'll pretty much eat anything - especially stuff in bags - I think it's not a matter of her knowing that tomatoes, etc., are food - I think she thinks EVERYTHING is food.

She's also turning my good guy Jake into a beggar too, which isn't cool.
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Old April 4th, 2008, 01:03 PM
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luckypenny luckypenny is offline
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Other than the cucumber incident, has Alley been like this since you brought her home? Maybe she had to learn quickly how to be resourceful in terms of food when she was a wee kitty if there were so many in the woman's basement .
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Old April 4th, 2008, 01:14 PM
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phoozles phoozles is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by luckypenny View Post
Other than the cucumber incident, has Alley been like this since you brought her home? Maybe she had to learn quickly how to be resourceful in terms of food when she was a wee kitty if there were so many in the woman's basement .
It's hard to say if she was like this from the beginning, because when we got her, she was too little to get up on anything - she couldn't even jump up on the base of our fireplace, which is less than a foot above the ground.

It's definitely been bad for a long time - and much more noticible since she's gotten bigger - it could have been a battle she learned when she was little, but you'd think she'd grow out of it by now.. Jake's not food agressive by any means, and never tries to eat her food - she of course, tries to eat his though, and he just lets her - never battles her at all.
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Old April 4th, 2008, 01:17 PM
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luckypenny luckypenny is offline
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If she's not overly tubby, have you tried feeding her more? When she is fed, does she eat everything with gusto?
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Old April 4th, 2008, 01:27 PM
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sugarcatmom sugarcatmom is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by phoozles View Post
It's definitely been bad for a long time - and much more noticible since she's gotten bigger - it could have been a battle she learned when she was little, but you'd think she'd grow out of it by now.
Cat's eating habits are set when they're very young, like by 7 weeks of age, so it could just be an ingrained thing with her. She may mellow over time, or maybe not.... But luckypenny's suggestion of feeding her more is also a good idea.....
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Old April 4th, 2008, 01:29 PM
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Love4himies Love4himies is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by phoozles View Post
Jake's not food agressive by any means, and never tries to eat her food - she of course, tries to eat his though, and he just lets her - never battles her at all.
Jake sounds like Jasper, Sweet Pea who was a stray for at least 4 months and had to battle toms for food at a feeding station, battles him for food, don't know why he lets her eat first anyway .

I was asking about her past because I was told by my vet that if a cat has been extremely hungry once in their life they don't generally forget, and will have eating issues in their life.
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Rose semi feral, a cpietra rescue, female tabby (approx 13 yrs)

Jasper RIP (2001-2018)
Sweet Pea RIP (2004?-2014)
Puddles RIP (1996-2014)
Snowball RIP (1991-2005)

In a cat's eye, all things belong to cats.-English Proverb

“While we are free to choose our actions, we are not free to choose the consequences of our actions.” Stephen R. Covey
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