Expert: Karen Craft - 5/9/2007

Question
QUESTION: Hello, I have 2 kitties who are very precious to me, I love them to pieces. When it comes to food, they are not spoiled by any means; they have dry food available all the time, and get a small amount of wet food once in the morning and once in the evening. They are siblings who are 10 years old now (but they don't look or act old at all).

In the past several months, their meal-begging has become out of control. Anytime I even go anywhere near our kitchen, they run around like a school of fish, begging to be fed. If we're not in the kitchen, they often come in and do their staring-at-us-begging routine. In the past I've been successful at stopping the staring routine with a squirt bottle. Now I've had to use the squirt bottle so much that it's out of control, it's like a game for them now--I squirt and they run, and then come right back. Their recent behavior is making me furious, I love them so much but they are just putting a huge damper on things.

What could be the problem all of a sudden? It is because I'm pregnant? There is nothing that has changed otherwise. I try to stay affectionate during the brief times they're NOT begging, but it just seems lately that it's all they do. Please advise.
ANSWER: Hi Amy,

I have to laugh about the school of fish analogy. They stare most likely because you trained them to. I bet you  gave in and fed them when they did this. I know I have done the same. One thing you can do is to ignore them. If you don't give them food they will get tired of begging. But it's hard and it takes time. You have to break the training sequence. You can also try feeding them the wet food when you sit down to eat. This will break them of coming to you for the food and go to theirs. If they are doing an in your face staring, blow in theirs. Cats do not like air blown in their faces. That will also work. Good luck and let me know what happens.

Ciao, Karen

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thanks for your quick reply. I see now that I should have clarified that they're begging for their OWN food, not our people food. They never get people-food handouts.

Yes I guess in the past they only came and stared at us when it WAS time for them to eat, so that is why they still try to stare when they think it's mealtime, because in the past it WAS mealtime when they did it. But now the only time they DON'T try to beg for their meals is right after eating them.

It's funny you mention the face-blowing---I use that to try to stop my female kitty when she's grinding her teeth, and it does stop her after a couple tries. She definitely hates it!

We've had our kitties since the 1st year of their lives and this is just a recent problem (the last 5 months or so). I mentioned that I'm pregnant because I read that this behavior could be caused by a need for attention or by a change in "environment" or our human emotional state(s)...thanks again!

Answer
Hi Amy,

What type is the dry food do you feed them? Maybe it's time to try a different type. One that has a higher nutritional value in it. As cats get older their needs change. Let me know and I'll see what I can figure out for you.
Good luck.

Ciao, Karen