Expert: Jessica - 10/27/2009

Question
I rescued a beautiful Calico kitten in July and named her Ruth aka Ruthie, Dr's say now that she is between 4-5 months she was starving when I found her at about 5-8 weeks of age. She eats every meal as if it was her first and will be her last. She growls while ravenously eating, begs for food, jumps on kitchen table ( without regard to scolding), prefers to sleep in the kichen and hordes the water bowl from my first cat Barnabas. Barnabas is a one year old dom.shorthair/siamese mix with a very mild temperment and enjoys playing with Ruth, however she creates an extremely stressful environment for the whole household with her extreme behavior. When not begging,eating or guarding food she's completely loveable. I am saddened to think that I will have to give her away due to her inability to gel with the household norms, I cannot tolerate the jumping on tables, she will even eat out of the garbage can if we are not careful. She was gaining weight so very fast that now during the day, between dinner and b'fast I feed her only veggies (fresh broccoli,carrots,string beans,cauliflower) that i cook and keep ready to serve. The Doctor said she has "girth" I say she's on her way to obesity so I adjusted her diet. Ruthie will eat ALL day if allowed....she knows no boundaries and appears as if she's refusing to learn or adjust. We love her,is she capable of changing these behaviors?
Sincerely, Lee

Answer
Hi Lee.  I’m sorry you are finding Ruthie’s behavior so overwhelming.  Because cats, like many animals, are territorial creatures by nature, behavioral problems tend to arise when they are expected to share items such as food bowls, beds and litter boxes.  Generally, the best way to avoid food competition is to provide cats with separate feeding stations.  Each cat should have their own food bowl and water bowl, and if one tries to dominate them all, place them in different areas of the house.  If the cat makes rounds to finish her meal and then proceed to the other cat’s feeding station and bully him away from his meal, keep her in a separate room until he’s finished, and remove any uneaten portion afterwards to prevent her from overeating.  You should feed the cats a few times a day on a regular schedule to further reduce her food insecurity and competitive nature.

Providing dogs with low-fat vegetable treats can be a good way to keep them satisfied between meals without leading to a lot of weight gain, because dogs are omnivores and can benefit from both meat and vegetables.  However, this could be worsening the situation for your cat.  Cats are carnivores, and their bodies are created to use protein adequately.  Vegetables are almost all carbohydrates.  Carbs not only provide very little energy for cats, leaving them feeling hungry sooner, but are also more easily stored as body fat than protein is.  

Today, weight loss diets for cats are generally shifting toward high-protein instead of high-fiber/low calorie, since cats efficiently use protein to build lean muscle.  Your best bet would be to feed her a high-quality cat food with a good protein content.  Most grain-free foods have pretty impressive protein percentages, and this keeps cats satisfied for far longer than grain-filled, carb-rich foods.  I use Taste of the Wild, which has 42% protein.  My cats eat about 1/3 as much of this food as they do of the foods that contain a lot of corn, rice or wheat ingredients.  Another good idea is to boil a chicken breast and keep pieces of chicken in the fridge for between-meal snacks.  

As for her table manners, this can be a little difficult to discourage.  Be sure to never, ever feed her scraps directly from the table and never to leave tempting food items on the table for her to discover.  Keep her locked away in another room whenever you’re eating.  You could consider an ultrasonic barrier to keep her off the table when not in use (see http://www.hitecpet.com/soundbarrier.html).  However, Barnabas would also be able to hear the sound emitted if she triggered it, and this may be confusing and uncomfortable for him.  You might line place mats with double-sided tape and place them along the edge of the table when you’re not using it, as cats don’t like the feel of this on their feet, and this should make walking on the table an unpleasant experience for her (see www.stickpaws.com for an easy-to-use double-sided tape).  I don’t recommend scolding or using a squirt bottle, as this only teaches the cat to avoid you, not to stop jumping on the table.

Hope that helps!

Jessica