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raeanna74 · 12-24-2004, 03:02 PM

I feed our cat once a day about 3/4 of a cup of dry cat food in the evenings. She's content with it and if I happen to forget she'll go and sit beside her cat food bucket (I put it in t an icecream bucket cause she'll tear open the cat food bag otherwise) and whine at me. Once in a while I'll give her a treat of some specialty canned food or quality tuna or salmon. Otherwise we rarely even give her our food. If she's begging and we want to feed her out food we try to take it to her dish. She's still eating from her dish then and not from the table. It helps to teach them NOT to eat from the table. It worked for my parents cats and it works for ours.

She mostly stays off the diningroom table and the counters. I don't have many limits for her. When she gets pissy or tries to get into my food I'll either flick her nose or put her in the bathroom for a while. She is the type of cat that wants to be around people all the time and doesn't appreciate being locked away for a while. It's what works for her. She's always very glad to get out of the bathroom even if she's only been in there for 5 minutes. Mine stays off the counter mostly cause she got up there as a kitten, investigated a pot of boiling corn, and singed her wiskers off. She's not interested in the stove except from a distance to sniff the smells. She's not really interested in outside anymore now that we moved. She's gotten used to her new home and learned about the next door dogs. If she does sneak out she finds a corner to hide in and just watches the door next door.

She HATES when I leave. If I get my purse, or coat, or shoes on she'll start attacking my ankles and post herself between me and the door. When I get home she'll be at the door rolling, mewing, and literally groveling. She's a disgrace to independant cats everywhere.

My parents taught their cat to stay off the table and counters. They did this with more than one of their cats. One of them was difficult to train but Mom did it. Eventually the cat wouldn't even get on the counter while we were gone. She accomplished that by smearing a thin layer of vasoline on the edges of the counter all the way around every time we left. It was a wide enough edge to it that more than once we came home to find paw prints that landed on one side of the counter and just SLID all the way across to the other side and off. The cat would be licking her fur religiously.

Get creative and don't get worked up. Figure out what matters most to you - sounds like you want her out of YOUR food - and defend that religiously. Don't make an issue of how many times wifey feeds the cat but ask that she work to cooperate with your goal. If you don't worry about her babying the cat then she may be willing to help teach the cat to leave your plates alone. It really isn't sanitary to have their feet that were in the litter box on the table or counter. It's not so much an excuse but a reason. Hopefully she can see that.

12-24-2004, 03:02 PM	#55 (permalink)
raeanna74 I'm not a blonde! I'm knot! I'm knot! I'm knot! Location: Upper Michigan	I feed our cat once a day about 3/4 of a cup of dry cat food in the evenings. She's content with it and if I happen to forget she'll go and sit beside her cat food bucket (I put it in t an icecream bucket cause she'll tear open the cat food bag otherwise) and whine at me. Once in a while I'll give her a treat of some specialty canned food or quality tuna or salmon. Otherwise we rarely even give her our food. If she's begging and we want to feed her out food we try to take it to her dish. She's still eating from her dish then and not from the table. It helps to teach them NOT to eat from the table. It worked for my parents cats and it works for ours. She mostly stays off the diningroom table and the counters. I don't have many limits for her. When she gets pissy or tries to get into my food I'll either flick her nose or put her in the bathroom for a while. She is the type of cat that wants to be around people all the time and doesn't appreciate being locked away for a while. It's what works for her. She's always very glad to get out of the bathroom even if she's only been in there for 5 minutes. Mine stays off the counter mostly cause she got up there as a kitten, investigated a pot of boiling corn, and singed her wiskers off. She's not interested in the stove except from a distance to sniff the smells. She's not really interested in outside anymore now that we moved. She's gotten used to her new home and learned about the next door dogs. If she does sneak out she finds a corner to hide in and just watches the door next door. She HATES when I leave. If I get my purse, or coat, or shoes on she'll start attacking my ankles and post herself between me and the door. When I get home she'll be at the door rolling, mewing, and literally groveling. She's a disgrace to independant cats everywhere. My parents taught their cat to stay off the table and counters. They did this with more than one of their cats. One of them was difficult to train but Mom did it. Eventually the cat wouldn't even get on the counter while we were gone. She accomplished that by smearing a thin layer of vasoline on the edges of the counter all the way around every time we left. It was a wide enough edge to it that more than once we came home to find paw prints that landed on one side of the counter and just SLID all the way across to the other side and off. The cat would be licking her fur religiously. Get creative and don't get worked up. Figure out what matters most to you - sounds like you want her out of YOUR food - and defend that religiously. Don't make an issue of how many times wifey feeds the cat but ask that she work to cooperate with your goal. If you don't worry about her babying the cat then she may be willing to help teach the cat to leave your plates alone. It really isn't sanitary to have their feet that were in the litter box on the table or counter. It's not so much an excuse but a reason. Hopefully she can see that. __________________ "Always learn the rules so that you can break them properly." Dalai Lama My Karma just ran over your Dogma.