Food thief - help!

[harrietm87]

We've had our cat since he was 8 weeks old. He's now 7. We have never allowed him to eat our food but he has always tried. In the past we could stop him by shouting "no" if he approached the table etc. However, it's got really bad recently. I had a baby in April but it started to escalate when I was pregnant. We can't have him in the same room as food as he will literally try to snatch it out of our hands and hisses if we try to stop him. It's anything and everything - even vegetables and olive oil. He's a perfect weight for his size and not underfed. I just don't know what to do because we're increasingly just shutting him away which feels really mean, as I can't prepare/eat a meal, watch the baby and protect everything from the cat at the same time.

I have no answers for this but watching with interest as my little cat is becoming like this! He jumps onto the table when we're eating and if I'm preparing food he's straight on the work tops. The only thing that works is the a spray of cold water which deters him for a few minutes then he's back! If I left anything out it would be gone. I currently feed him a bit more than the guide amount as he's come from a rescue and and is on the skinny side so I know he's not starving.

I've read that it can be a sign of thyroid issues but my boy is only 2 so bit young for that. My downstairs is all open plan so really struggle to keep him away from the food

Does he have a varied diet? Could he be looking for something different to eat? Maybe he'd like a bit of chicken, ham or tuna. Some cats do like veggies as well.

I don't think so - I think it's sheer greed. We used to have a feeder on a timer and he broke into it and ate the lot before we'd even left the house. We give him pouches plus dry food and water. He stole half a cake the other day. I know the simplest thing is probably to keep him away from all food but it's so wearing not even to be able to have a pot of tea in the living rm because he's straight in the milk jug etc

Maybe ask the vet if they've got any idea what it could be. Does he have access to his own food all day? I've found over the years that most of my cats have been grazers and like to have dried food to snack on during the day.

He eats everything immediately! It's like he's constantly starving, but he's a healthy weight as I've asked the vet previously. He basically just said that cats are like this. It's been annoying but tolerable for years but just recently he's become really aggressive with it - he never used to hiss and now does it all the time.

I wonder if there's a little interloper hanging around who he might feel threatend by? Maybe a little furry coming into his home whilst you're out? Have you tried a Feliway plug in to help calm him?

I have had assorted cats over the years and one was a food thief. She was the only one I had from a kitten and would eat absolutely anything - curry, cucumber, baked beans, olives, bead...
Like your cat, she would snatch it from your plate or hand.
Not treated any differently to the others but she was the only one like this. I tend to think it's genetic. She was tiny, too, about 2Kg in her prime. Longest lived of the lot, PTS at 20.
Current boy will.eat one flavour of one brand if dried cat food, end of. Ironically he's the one that can open the fridge and cupboards. Not to steal food, just because he can!

want2beme he's chipped and our cat flap only lets him in so definitely no other cats in the house. We moved house in September last year and there was initially a bit of a turf war with next door's cat but they seem to be best of friends now. She's tiny and he's a big boy so I doubt he feels threatened. We had feliway when we first moved in but I really should try some more - thanks for reminding me.

When you say interloper though, the obvious one is the baby. His behaviour started getting really bad while I was pregnant, but he definitely gets less attention now than he used to so perhaps it's an attention seeking thing too? It's so sad because it's having the opposite effect - if he didn't do this he would be able to be around us a lot more but increasingly I'm having to shut him out of whatever room we're in.