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A little bit of his back story. We've had him since adolescence, he just sort of adopted us, that was about 5 years ago. We have an older cat in the house, she was about 5 when he adopted us. They've never gotten along terribly well, lots of hissing and some actual fighting, but as far as I can tell they've never actually done damage to each other. They'll touch noses all the time, often initiated by her, but then she'll immediately hiss at him.
He is a little piggy, he hit 18 pounds before we learned to measure their food. If we put out an auto-feeder and left over night I have no doubt it would be empty when we got back (and she would be starving). So we limit their food to 1/2 c of dry in the morning and 1/2 each a small can of wet at night. If they're still begging after that, then we'll give them each 1/4 c of dry before bed. Very rarely is there food in any of the dishes when we get up in the morning. And if we don't keep a close eye on her dish after feeding the wet, he will steal her dinner (she'll take a couple bites, walk away, take a couple more, walk away again most of the time). He is also fairly dim. He's a sweetheart and a love, but I would never be able to say he was intelligent.
So, the issue... yesterday evening, it was dinner time and I was sitting at my desk eating dinner. Dh was not home yet from work. I had (foolishly) left the roast chicken sitting on the counter while I ate my dinner, and next thing I hear is roast chicken hitting the floor followed quickly by a cat. He immediately got picked up and tossed in the glass-walled bathtub while I cleaned up the mess (the one place he can't escape and can't destroy anything). I let him out after about 10 minutes and waited another 10 or so to feed them their dinner so he didn't associate dinner with bad behaviour. Just minutes after feeding them their dinner I hear hissing at the door of the office. I look over and there's one cat on either side of the closed door (it's an auto-closer so they can get in and out), and he has a mouth full of her fur. <sigh> I remove the fur, tap him on the head and check on her (she's fine but sulking). So I pick him up and put him in the other room since he's keeping her from her dish. About an hour later (after DH gets home), we're sitting in the living room watching TV, I get up to pee and I hear the tell-tale thump of a cat jumping off the kitchen counter again (there was nothing up there for him this time). This time I locked him in the spare bedroom with a litter box and a bowl of water for the rest of the night, I was so angry.
Him getting on the counter is, unfortunately, not that unusual. I can't figure out a way to keep him off of it. (He knows he's not supposed to be up there, so he'll jump down if he hears me coming.) Him getting on the counter twice in one night, after already being caught, already having had his dinner, etc. is VERY unusual. For the life of me I can't figure out what got in to him last night. Obviously he was telling me he was still hungry... I can figure that much out. What I can't figure out is... was that all there was to it? Was he acting out for some other reason, or was it just hunger? If it's hunger, how am I supposed to tell when it's really hunger or just this drive to eat he has? And why was he so hungry last night when there was nothing to differentiate yesterday from the day before?
<sigh>
I've never had such a complex cat before. All the cats I've ever had before took training beautifully, never fought, ate what they needed, etc. Dealing with this one though makes me question why I have cats. Any advice appreciated.
He is a little piggy, he hit 18 pounds before we learned to measure their food. If we put out an auto-feeder and left over night I have no doubt it would be empty when we got back (and she would be starving). So we limit their food to 1/2 c of dry in the morning and 1/2 each a small can of wet at night. If they're still begging after that, then we'll give them each 1/4 c of dry before bed. Very rarely is there food in any of the dishes when we get up in the morning. And if we don't keep a close eye on her dish after feeding the wet, he will steal her dinner (she'll take a couple bites, walk away, take a couple more, walk away again most of the time). He is also fairly dim. He's a sweetheart and a love, but I would never be able to say he was intelligent.
So, the issue... yesterday evening, it was dinner time and I was sitting at my desk eating dinner. Dh was not home yet from work. I had (foolishly) left the roast chicken sitting on the counter while I ate my dinner, and next thing I hear is roast chicken hitting the floor followed quickly by a cat. He immediately got picked up and tossed in the glass-walled bathtub while I cleaned up the mess (the one place he can't escape and can't destroy anything). I let him out after about 10 minutes and waited another 10 or so to feed them their dinner so he didn't associate dinner with bad behaviour. Just minutes after feeding them their dinner I hear hissing at the door of the office. I look over and there's one cat on either side of the closed door (it's an auto-closer so they can get in and out), and he has a mouth full of her fur. <sigh> I remove the fur, tap him on the head and check on her (she's fine but sulking). So I pick him up and put him in the other room since he's keeping her from her dish. About an hour later (after DH gets home), we're sitting in the living room watching TV, I get up to pee and I hear the tell-tale thump of a cat jumping off the kitchen counter again (there was nothing up there for him this time). This time I locked him in the spare bedroom with a litter box and a bowl of water for the rest of the night, I was so angry.
Him getting on the counter is, unfortunately, not that unusual. I can't figure out a way to keep him off of it. (He knows he's not supposed to be up there, so he'll jump down if he hears me coming.) Him getting on the counter twice in one night, after already being caught, already having had his dinner, etc. is VERY unusual. For the life of me I can't figure out what got in to him last night. Obviously he was telling me he was still hungry... I can figure that much out. What I can't figure out is... was that all there was to it? Was he acting out for some other reason, or was it just hunger? If it's hunger, how am I supposed to tell when it's really hunger or just this drive to eat he has? And why was he so hungry last night when there was nothing to differentiate yesterday from the day before?
<sigh>
I've never had such a complex cat before. All the cats I've ever had before took training beautifully, never fought, ate what they needed, etc. Dealing with this one though makes me question why I have cats. Any advice appreciated.
