We have a 7 y.o. male tabby, Spud. He’s about 11-12lbs and healthy.
He is NOT allowed on counters, tables, etc. Every now and the we catch him and he leaps of and frantically runs downstairs and hides before we can punish him. Hence, he knows damn well he isn’t allowed/supposed to be there.
About 6 months ago I bought some fresh buns. I left them in their bag on the counter. After I got home from work, I noticed that the bag was ripped open and chunks were missing out of a bun. I didn’t put 1+1 together, so I asked my wife, “Did you chew through the bag and eat part of that bun?” That was a mistake… (duh). Needless to say, the cat did. It didn’t happen again…
Forward 5 months. We always left our bread (in its bag) on the counter. We cannot anymore as Spud jumps on the counter (when we’re not around) and knaws into the bag and eats the bread. He is usually careful not to do this when we are there. 2 weeks ago when I was in Vancouver I called my wife in the PM. She just got home after doing some grocery shopping and layed the bags on the floor to answer the phone. While we were speaking, she heard a rustle-rustle and saw Spud in the grocery bag (which in itself is not a suprise as Spud likes hiding in any bag thats laying on the floor). She then remembers thats the bag with a loaf of bread in it. She yells “SPUD!” and he comes out, “HACK” spits up a chunk of bread. moves 5 feet, “HACK!” another strip of bread and runs downstairs and hides.
Fast forward to yesterday. I got home from lunch and noticed that there was kitty puke in the middle of the floor. That in itself isn’t too odd as he gets hairballs every now and then. I noticed when I cleaned it up there were some chunks of a white material in it. I thought of bread, but that was in the cupboard. I then noticed that the bag of leftover blanched almonds (from Arden Rangers’ Marzipan recipe) was on the floor in his hiding spot underneath the chair, ripped open and strewn about. He has now resorted to eating Almonds! I then put him in front of the almond bag and squirted him with a water pistol to punish him, but jeesh!
He never, ever ate strange things like this before. His regular diet hasn’t changed and the Vet says he is all fine (he had a check up a few weeks ago). Is this normal for a cat to do (eating bread and almonds)? Any idea of what we can do to curb this behavior?
From a cat-lover’s/owner’s perspective, it sounds like Spuds is just really pissed off at the moment. Interestingly, there was a thing in our newspaper about how since Sept 11, a lot of pet owners have noticed bad behavior on the part of their animals, which vets are attributing to the fact that their owners may be more tense (and therefore animals are acting out their own tension). Recommendation? Extra TLC/quality time, as the animals may be feeling “neglected” by our excessive attention to TV/newspapers.
I know Max eats things that he’s not supposed to or things that disagree with him when he wants my attention. I would note that both the items you mentions come in PLASTIC bags, which lots of cats have a fetish for (supposedly, the cheapo plastic used often contains animal fats, which attract the cat in the first place).
So, keep plastic bags out of reach and devote a little more time to cuddling Spuds…
Our cat also likes bread. In fact, he’ll chew through the plastic bag to munch on King’s Hawaiian sweet rolls if we leave them where he can get at them.
gatopescado, thank you so much for adding nothing to this thread. It never ceases to amaze me how certain cat haters will take anything resembling an opportunity to advertise their virulent antipathy, regardless how unwelcome or irrelevant their opinion might be.
No kidding. It’s really probably just a bad sign all around to hate an animal. The whole cat v. dog squabble is silly too, especially given the ranges of personality these animals can have.
Anyway, back to the point:
Maybe the cat feels it’s lacking something in its diet. We give our dog Brewer’s Yeast & Garlic supplements in his food and it’s supposed to work for cats too. (Good for skin & coat is what the product description says, also supposedly helps repel fleas. You can get it cheaper than at a pet store from http://www.NESerum.com plus they have other inexpensive useful pet stuff too.
Also, except that you mentioned your vet said the cat was OK, my vet told me to never let the dog get a hold of almonds because when they’re broken down in the stomach, cyanide is a by-product. My vet said that humans actually have a good tolerance, but dogs do not. And I would think that might do for cats, too. Maybe that’s why Kitty did a Bill the Cat (ack,ack) impersonation.
Good luck with the feline behaviour modification–you could try some Bitter Apple spread on some bread (or bread bag) as bait. Maybe that would help.
We think, “Kitty shouldn’t stand on the kitchen counter or raid the bread.”
Cats interpret the situation as, “The humans won’t like it if I stand on the kitchen counter and raid the bread.”
It sounds as if your little guy has learned the house rules quite well…according to his understanding. Cats’ tastes can change over the years, just as human tastes can change, and until now he never had much motivation to root around in the kitchen. Yours isn’t the first to take a liking to starchy foods.
It’s possible to train a cat with an appetite to refrain from eating something yummy while your back is turned. That takes incredible consistency and patience. What’s simpler is to start storing your bread in a more secure location (freezer or bread box). When he stops finding snacks on the counter you’ll have more success at discouraging him from leaping up there.
Meanwhile you might try adding more variation to his regular diet. It might be that he’s bored with the same old cat food day in and day out. You don’t necessarily need to spend more. Just keep two or three different brands in the house and alternate between them.
Two of my cats have had the baked goods fetish. (Strangely enough, both are/were tabbies, too.) Anything baked is fair game, but especially fresh bakery rolls. (They will gnaw into Wonder Bread in a pinch.) I don’t know why they do it, I always assumed it was the butter or margarine in the rolls they were after. The almonds are a new one to me, although I have one now that loves mushrooms. When I open a jar or start slicing into fresh mushrooms, she appears, rubbing my legs and begging.
The bread has been kept in the cupboard lately unless we forget
HOWEVER,
We do keep his food in a sealed (closed) ice cream bucket in the counter. Little fella decided he would try to open it sometime last night. He suceeded. He gorged himself and promptly got sick. Ugh.
I guess we’ll be keeping that in the cupboard now, too.
Thanks for the ideas folks. At least we know he’s not alone with his bread fetish.
Hmmm, my kitty will go nuts for minty stuff - gum, candy, she’ll even try to eat the toothpaste. You can’t leave anything remotely minty out or she’ll eat it. Are catnip and mint in the same family or anything?
Mine goes for olives. Black, green, whatever, it doesn’t matter. The second the jar is open, he will meow crazily and dance about on his hind legs until he is granted one. Then he rolls them around on the floor, eating them after 5 - 10 minutes of play. Then he carefully rolls in every place on the floor where the olives touched. He’s a mutant, I am convinced. Don’t even start me on his Kraft cheese slices obsession… I have another cat, she doesn’t do this with any food. Freaks.
cat#1: psycho calico who fiendishly attacks any plastic bag. She will rip through any pb to get to baked goods. We have to store all breadstuffs in the microwave. I have left cakes out to cool and she’ll chew the corners off~
cat#2: psycho dsh who is an extremely finicky mommas boy but LOVES peanut butter (and is frightened of plastic bags - go figure). Cat eating a mouthful of peanut butter is pretty funny to watch.
Mine is insane for broccoli for some reason. I was cooking the other day, and had some broccoli sitting in the sink in a strainer. I turned my back on it to finish cooking something else. When I turned around, I saw my Tonkinese run off with a piece of broccoli in his mouth. He will also pick broccoli out of Chinese food. Maybe he wants to be a vegetarian?
One way to look at it is that what’s got into your cat is a very tasty stuffing! The trick is to add sage and minced onion to the bread first…
Has your cat always been of the gorging kind? I’ve never been around one like that - the cats I’ve known were nibblers, so you could leave food in front of them all day long and they never overate. I’d be concerned if that kind of basic behavior has changed.
If, however, he’s always been food-centered and it’s just his preferences that have gone weird I wouldn’t worry. Every cat I’ve known has had some strange food obsession, which often appeared only later in life. (My grandmother’s cat developed a passion for canned peas. Ours snarfed Cheez-its.) And I think most cat owners have had the experience of a cat who wouldn’t eat anything but X-flavor Friskies Buffet for 8 years but suddenly won’t eat it at all (what a guarantee for attention!).
Spud’s always been a gorger. The 1st half of his life, he lived with his brother at my in-laws (while my wife went to University). His brother was a mammoth animal. At his largest he weighed 25lbs and was HUGE. He would open closed doors that were latched by head-butting them. I swear I’m not making this up or exaggerating in the slightest.
Whenever Spud would try to eat, Fluffy (big bad bro) would bully him out of the way and eat all his food. Hence, he would eat as much as fast as he can. He hasn’t had to worry about fluffy for a few years now, but I guess that habit is ingrained into him pretty deeply and not going to change.
