would it be cruel to lock kitten in the kitchen while i eat.

[HadABadDay2014]

she keeps trying to pounce on my food.

she has a good diet, has biscuit specifically for kittens as well of junior kitten pouches. Plenty of clean fresh water. So she is not hungry.

I don't want to be cruel by locking her in the kitchen, but what else can i do.

It isn't cruel, it is sensible!

I do this with my cat most days and have done since she was very little.

Actually, I have let her out some times, she was good at first and held back when I said no, but then she got braver, so ended up being put in the kitchen

I would eat in the kitchen for a short while and refuse to allow her up - locking her outside the kitchen if she was recalcitrant. That would reinforce a kitchen surfaces rule. You can then extend it to you eating outside the kitchen once she's learned that first properly.

It's not cruel by the way - if you're going to co-exist, she'll have to have some rules to follow and that would be one of yours.

The kitten would think it cruel, I wouldn't.

Thank you. I have never had a pet cat so learning very quickly.

When our cat was a kitten he would walk up your chest & take the food off your fork. He was fast too so it was like being attacked by a food ninja.

my half siamese thug gets put out the house when im eating because by hook or by crook he will do everything he can to get to my food so no its not cruel to teach the kitten that you dont touch his food so he dosent touch your food when you are eating

We did this with Cat 2 who did protest poos in return. Just make sure you have a litter tray with kitty!

we have a new kitten and are teaching him to leave us alone when we eat - they need to learn or they'll be a pain in the backside forever.

a very firm "NO" and a finger wagged at him in a patronising manner seems to do the trick he's learning...

getting him off the kitchen counters is another matter entirely