# Kitten begging for human food



## kerfuffle (Nov 23, 2010)

How on earth do you stop this?

I've had my kitten for around 4 weeks now and I've never fed him human food, but he just keeps begging and crowing when I'm cooking and trying to get all over my lap and climb onto the table when I'm eating.

The problem may stem from the previous owner who had been quite lax with him and let him snack off her plate, and she laughs about how he'll eat "beans on toast". To me, that's just unhealthy for the kitten so I've been trying to train him out of it. So far, no luck. Every evening he still test my patience when my fiance and I sit down for our dinner.  I always feed him his food first (approx 20 minutes before we eat), so it's not like he's hungry.

Has anyone ever managed to get a cat to stick to their own food successfully?


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## Taylorbaby (Jan 10, 2009)

I make the noise they make to eachother, they still sit by me, but dont try anything, if they do i have daddies sauce on my plate i put a bit on a fork and let them smell it  they All run off as its spicy! the bengals put their paws in the air and my old boy taps me!!! 

his nearly 14...so no ive never stopoped it!!

they all sit watching me to... i really hate it, sometimes i put them out the room to get some dinner in piece! 


I shouldnt laugh but 2 bengal kittens jumped up and knocked 2 bits of toast of the partners plate....I laughed soo much i actually cried!


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## CDC (Jul 20, 2010)

Our furbaby used to do this - he would try everything to get at the plate - purely because he wanted to know what I'd got that he hadn't lol. 

I just kept pushing him away or putting him on the floor and if he persisted, I put him out of the room until I finished eating. After about 2 or 3 weeks of removal, he got the idea and left me alone to eat in peace. 

You could also try and feed him at the same time you eat so at least you'll have a head start.


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## kerfuffle (Nov 23, 2010)

CDC said:


> Our furbaby used to do this - he would try everything to get at the plate - purely because he wanted to know what I'd got that he hadn't lol.
> 
> I just kept pushing him away or putting him on the floor and if he persisted, I put him out of the room until I finished eating. After about 2 or 3 weeks of removal, he got the idea and left me alone to eat in peace.
> 
> You could also try and feed him at the same time you eat so at least you'll have a head start.


Thanks for the suggestions. I tried feeding him the same time, he just ignores his food and comes after ours.

I may have to employ the trick of putting him out of the room everytime he makes for our food and see if he learns. We've done it a few times and everytime we think he's finally getting it because he didn't seem to be interested, his resistance crumbles after 10 minutes.


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## Milly Cat (Nov 20, 2010)

We have the same problem with our 7 month old kitten Milly. She's mostly stopped begging from me as I shove her away from me (not too rough though). My OH has not grasped the concept of this so she regularly 'mugs' him - particularly if he's eating yogurt or cereals with milk. You'll be eating and if not keeping an eye on her a paw will swiftly knock food off your plate. We had a chinese takeaway a while back and ended up putting the spring onion from the shredded duck in a ring round our plates to keep her away.


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