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Cats love the smell of human food and some will do anthing to get into it. I have one that does. I've had to go through and keep items up in closed tight or locked cabinets. I even have lids on stuff this cat can't get at.
What we're all saying here is.....keep the food out of the cats reach. Find containers with lids cats can't get off and cover up food at all times. If you can get at the food easily, so can the cats with a greater ease. Cats can knock off foil easily. So put lids back on pots and lids on meat dishes.
i second the idea of covering the food.... even if it is left out for people to get seconds, covering is a good idea and would be a simple solution to discourage the kitties.....
i know my max-cat ADORES butter..... it is like crack for him..... and i have had to replace butter dishes 3 times so far.... walked out into my family room the other morning and found the bottom half of the current dish on the floor.... found the cover / top half in my bedroom later in the morning.... best i can figure is max knocked it off the counter and the dogs came in and helped him eat the butter...... ......
long story finally over.... this was my fault for leaving the butter on the counter.....
I cannot believe the negativity in this thread. At least SLT's cats have a loving home where they are fed and cared for and loved. They could be stuck in a shelter or dead or starving. An outside cat who is happy and loved is better off that a cat stuck in a tiny box in some shelter or starving out in the woods, IMHO. Even though a cat living outdoors is by no means ideal, it's far better than some other options.
I thought of something after I left my other post, which is why I came back on to this thread. I was thinking, an outdoor enclosure could easily be built for house cats and it probably wouldn't cost too much. It could be a fun area for active cats to play and enjoy the outdoors w/o being in danger of getting hit by cars or attacked by other animals. They could still come inside to sleep & play too. Now that the idea has poped into my head, I am thinking about doing this for our own crazy kitty.
I cannot believe the negativity in this thread. At least SLT's cats have a loving home where they are fed and cared for and loved. They could be stuck in a shelter or dead or starving. An outside cat who is happy and loved is better off that a cat stuck in a tiny box in some shelter or starving out in the woods, IMHO. Even though a cat living outdoors is by no means ideal, it's far better than some other options.
I thought of something after I left my other post, which is why I came back on to this thread. I was thinking, an outdoor enclosure could easily be built for house cats and it probably wouldn't cost too much. It could be a fun area for active cats to play and enjoy the outdoors w/o being in danger of getting hit by cars or attacked by other animals. They could still come inside to sleep & play too. Now that the idea has poped into my head, I am thinking about doing this for our own crazy kitty.
I think that the negativity that you are sensing was due to the OP referring to his cats as (possibly) "too stupid to train." Much as he may not have meant any harm by the comment, anyone (myself included) who has and loves cats is going to get angered by that remark.
However, I do agree that the OP is probably providing a nice home for his kitties, but enough already about the cats jumping on the counters because food is left there. How many people have advised him to simply cover the food or put it away and, yet, the OP is still complaining, apparently refusing to solve a very easy problem with a very easy solution. I'm totally flabbergasted as it seems like a no-brainer to me--the OP just wants to have his chicken and eat it too If that's the case, then perhaps building the outside enclosure is a good idea, although I think that the much simpler solution is to simply cover the food. In fact, all of my further posts on this thread will be "cover the food."
This is so sad the idea of putting your kittens out in the cold just because they steal food. I mean no disrespect at all but do agree that the food should not be left out to tempt them. My husband tells a story about a dog he had for many years named Ginger. One day my DH was making a steak. He put it on a plate and put the plate on the table. He went out to the garage for a couple of minutes and came in to find a plate completely clean, not one hint of a steak anywhere, and Ginger looking very guilty.
It just seems like common sense to put a lid on the pots, or foil on a casserole dish, to avoid tempting your pets. They are only very pleased and enticed by your cooking!
Please try covering your food and letting the kittens stay!
We put the food away pretty early tonight. The kitten that is more of a problem has been sleeping most of today. I did give her a scrap and tonight she has gotten plenty of positive attention rather than negative attention.
Hopefully this is the start of a new behavior, but you have to take each day as it comes. But all is quiet here tonight, except for the basset getting in the garbage. He's a work in progress.
EDIT: She did put her front paws on the counter (her back paws were on a cabinet), but we told her to get down and she did. There's no food up there right now, anyway, so she may have had less incentive to ignore us.
Last edited by STLCardsBlues1989; 01-22-2010 at 08:23 PM..
As far as cats not jumping on counters, I think it's an individual thing. My 2-year-old never really jumped on counters much and he still doesn't. My sister's cat likes to sit on the table, but he rarely gets on the counters. I don't think he wants food on the table, he just likes to sit up high. My two kittens get on the counter/stove fairly often, one is worse than the other, though. We don't like them to be on the table, but we rarely use it and there's no food up there. It just has clothes on it. So it's not as big of a deal if they get on the table. The main problem with them getting on the counter/stove is that they would bring food down. One of the kittens has also been pretty greedy. The other kitten (who was the runt) didn't seem as worried about getting food first. They were born strays, but I found them at 3 weeks and started feeding them and their mother (of course she was also feeding them). The mother is a feral. She's spayed now and she waits outside in the morning for me to feed her.
Apparently she knew I was bragging on her and she had to prove me wrong. She was just caught on the stove again. We told her to get down and she ran off. She's just stubborn.
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If that's the case, then perhaps building the outside enclosure is a good idea, although I think that the much simpler solution is to simply cover the food. In fact, all of my further posts on this thread will be "cover the food." 
