My new kitten, Shilee, seems to think that when I sit down to eat, she's supposed to steal my food. Two days in a row, I have lost part of my dinner to her shenanigans. Last night, I had just gotten my Lean Cuisine dinner of Herb Roasted Chicken prepared and put it on the table next to the computer and had cut a piece of the chicken off to eat. Before I could put the bite in my mouth, the buzzer went off alerting me that my rice was ready. So, I got up to put the rice in a bowl and prepare it. When I came back to my desk, the fork and my piece of chicken had disappeared. I found it a few moments later and discovered Shilee running for cover.
Yesterday morning, I had put my Cheerios on the table next to my bed while I took a sip of my coffee and Shilee was in the laundry basket next to the table. All of a sudden, I see a Cheerio flying onto the floor and then another. I quickly grabbed my bowl out of her reach. She just thought it was a fun game to grab the Cheerios.
This evening, I got my dinner at El Pollo Loco and was careful not to leave anything within Shilee's reach. Or, so I thought. I was actually sitting right next to my food when Shilee snuck up behind me in my chair and tried to take one of my pieces of chicken. I grabbed her just in time and spent half of the rest of the meal shooing her away from my food. The little bugger thinks she's supposed to eat whatever I am.
I definitely have to keep an eye on her.
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Comments: 12
Maybe she is hungry?
Just thought I'd offer that up. Mind you, my cats weren't all that impressed with squirt bottles or water pistols--they'd give me dirty looks and maybe back off a little, but it wouldn't stop them if they thought shrimp might be their reward for persistence or even a tag-team effort--but the 'can of hiss' really seemed to impress them with my powers of foul feline language. I highly recommend setting the table with a side of 'hiss'.
Don't ever leave your meal unguarded--if you have to leave the room, either cover the plate somehow, pick up the plate and put it inside the microwave to keep it out of her reach until you are ready to return to it, or pick her up and carry her with you when you leave the room.
I love cats; I've had them as pets my entire life and wouldn't dare try to keep house without at least one...and I am long past being surprised at anything they do--but they still fascinate me. I've had 'normal' aloof cats and cats that were incredibly neurotic, cats who were so jealous they would bite the human petting them if another cat approached, and cats that were so loving they would literally leap into my arms. (I have one of those now, we call him 'the dog with really great karma').
Enjoy your new baby....but get that habit of 'you eat your food, I eat my food' established now; life will be much simpler in the years to come if you can make it stick.
My three 'children' have me thoroughly wrapped around their paws; using the 'hiss' was an act of desperation on my part as I tried to deal with the same issue--and fortunately for me, it worked. Now they come running whenever they hear the can opener running but they don't actually try to climb my legs to get at tuna.
Something mine do I've never seen before is form a 'committee' to let me know when something is not right in their world--food or water bowls are empty, litter pans need changing, a door is closed that they want opened....they get together in a group, sit down around me and stare intently. When I get up, they walk in front of me slowly until we get close to wherever the problem is, and then they get out of my way and sit down. Since my son is the one who deals with these things, I tell him what's needed and he takes care of it...somehow the social structure in my household runs like this: the cats rule, I am the procurer/butler and my son is the footman (doing the grunt work). They tell me when there's a problem, they don't tell him.
Thanks so much for sharing with my group.