Let me set the scene for you:
You’ve got a new cat, a lovely little thing, straight out of the cat shelter. Pulled her out yesterday.
Picture from post Avery’s Baby Pictures
(I’m cheating – as these are pictures of my male cat, but you get the picture 😉 ).
She was so cute when you found her – you absolutely love the way she came straight up to the front of the cage and meowed at you as if to say, “You – you’re the one! You’re taking me home!”
So you did just that, took her home. She’s adapting to her new, cushy life quite well. She had her dinner and is now settled into the bed of blankets that you made for her. Used her scratching post earlier. You’ve even played with her a little with the laser toy you bought from a pet store. Life is swell – for both of you.
Guilty as charged – you have all too many cute cat pictures on your phone now. Yes, already; yes, it’s only been a day. Actually, you’re more guilty than you let on – the pictures of your cat have already outnumbered the rest of the photos you’ve taken this month (and it’s already half way through the month), so it seems you’ve with one cat in one day managed to become a crazy cat person. Of course, you don’t mind one bit.
Aww, how cute. Kitty’s shifted, and is now sleeping curled up in a ball. You go to pet her and she’s happy. Starts to purr. How much better could life be? Okay, but now it’s human dinner time, and you need to get you some grub. So time to fire up the stove and start cooking the steak you got yourself. One of your favourite meals for such a special day. How could life be better?
Then all of a sudden, oh what’s that? Kitty seems to have smelled the steak cookin’ and has woken up. In a flash, she’s at your feet, not just looking at you, but actively meowing, beggin’ for some of your grub.
You finish cooking your steak, all the while trying to hush your kitty, assuring her she’ll need to hold on until you’re done. All to no avail, she keeps meowing. You assure her she’ll get some, you’ve gotta make sure it’s cooked all the way through! Then before you even get a chance to take a bite yourself, you plate the steak, cut off a small piece, and give it to your still-begging cat.
Any issues with this picture?
Well your steak had no seasoning on it, and it was nowhere near raw, so no, it isn’t particularly unhealthy for your cat to be eating it. That’s not it.
But that wasn’t what you guessed, anyway, since you read the title of this post (Clever you 😉 )
What you’ve guessed is just what’s been done in this case: essentially what’s wrong is you’ve trained a cat to meow and whine – to beg for food!
Why’s that, you say? You’ve just given her some food because she wants it, and you’re happy to share. She’s happy, you’re happy, so where’s the crime?
Imagine this goes on for months or even years. Each time your cat whines, you give her a little piece of food – whenever she wants. What happens when you can’t give her food – because it’s not healthy to give a cat what you happen to be eating? What happens if you have guests over for dinner?
No change of course, she’ll still whine and beg until you give her the food she’s after.
Well no problem, you say. You’ll just hold out a long time and won’t give her food when she’s not supposed to have it.
Great, sort of. If you ever give in (which I’m sure you will – cats are quite often far better than we are at the waiting game, and they’re very convincing when they want to be), you will have made things enormously worse.
Why? If your cat begs a lot and then is eventually given what she wants, your cat is going to assume in the future that the only way to get food is to whine for long enough. You’ve essentially trained your cat to whine and whine – consistently, insistently, and as annoyingly as possible – until she finally gets what she wants. After all, it’s worked in the past.
In her mind, if you haven’t given her what she wants yet, it’s because she hasn’t cried and begged enough for it yet. She’ll have to be even more annoying and then eventually – yes, you’ll give in!
So now you’ve trained your cat not only to beg whenever she wants and thinks she can get food (all the time apparently!), but to whine long and hard until she has what she wants at last. She’s not going to give in before you. Why should she? She’s worn you down in the past and she knows she’ll be able to do it again.
Not fun for our poor human ears.
How can you remedy this issue? How can you make sure your cat doesn’t beg so much for food anymore? How on earth do you train a cat to stop crying and meowing for food constantly? And, after all these years, is it too late?
Lucky for you, it’s never too late. You might not be able to teach an old dog new tricks, but you almost certainly can teach an old cat some new ones.
All you have to do is train yourself first.
How?
When your cat begs for food – do not let her have it.
Period.
Okay, great in theory but how does this work in practicality?
How to Un-Train a Cat Who’s Already Been Trained to Beg for Food
- When your cat whines and cries for food, make sure you do not give her food.
- Say, “No!” repeatedly to the whining. If the meowing persists, ignore. Rinse and repeat this step.
- If your cat is quiet for a moment, congratulate her with a “Good girl!” – then some petting – and finally, if the silence goes on long enough, even a piece of kibble that you conveniently brought to the table beforehand just in case she was good.
- If your cat meows again, be sure to go back to saying, “No!” and ignoring her – until the point where your cat is quiet. Then (when quiet) shower her with accolades, affection, and finally, food.
- Rinse and repeat. Forever.
So the rules are:
- Do not give your cat food when she begs.
- Only give your cat food when she is quiet.
Again. Rinse and repeat forever.
Your cat will most certainly behave if behaving is rewarded in such a positive way. What cat doesn’t love treats and affection and verbal congratulations on his or her behaviour? If you switch from giving your cat food when she is noisy to giving your cat food only when she is quiet, you’re in for a very well behaved cat in your future.
Now, if your cat is meowing way too much initially, and you absolutely cannot handle it and you nearly want to give in just to make her stop (yes, it does happen, don’t feel too guilty about it) – give kitty a time out by picking her up and placing her in another room with the door shut until she gives up and goes quiet, then open the door (only when he or she is being quiet), petting her, and letting her re-join you amongst the food to let her know that the meowing and begging is the problem and nothing else.
Is it really that simple? Yes it really is. But it’s not easy. It will it take a lot of hard work on your end – resisting the temptation to give in: absolutely.
We all know just how utterly irresistible a cute little meep from a pretty little feline can be. We all love giving our cats what they want. It’s so lovely to spoil them, makes them happy and makes you feel good. But if you’re not careful, and begin to give in to begging, you’ll be training your cat to whine for food all over again.
Have You Accidentally Trained Your Cat to Beg for Food?
Have you ever accidentally trained your cat to beg for food over the months or years you’ve had him/her? Have you ever tried un-training your cat so that he/she wouldn’t beg when food was around anymore?
Think you might try the technique suggested above? Ever done anything similar with success? Please let me know in the comments!
I used to really like cats. For decades I liked them and had 4-5 of them at varying times. Then, I adopted one that I didn’t like at all. I liked it initially, but it became a huge problem. It was always pestering me for food, destroying things if I didn’t give it some (after it had already eaten a ton), and overall, just didn’t make a good pet at all. It had other behaviorial issues but was in good health. I think, sorry to say, that in the end, some cats just don’t make good pets. You do everything you can for them and work hard at it but to no avail. This is often why many cats are brought to shelters, rehomed, or just plain abandoned. Sometimes it’s indeed the cat’s fault and not the owner who may be trying everything under the sun. That last statement refers to me. I tried everything and more, but in the end, the cat was a huge problem, and was never going to grow out of it or change. Now, I am not the cat lover I once was, all due to this one problematic cat. I won’t adopt another, fearing I could get one like the one that caused all the issues and problems. Do I feel guilty about all this? Why should I?
I bent over backwards for this cat (also contacting a cat behavioral specialist and referencing dozens of websites like this one). Some cats just don’t make good pets. End of story.
Crying and whining for food? I wish that’s all my cat did. She destroys everything in the house. Scratches the walls, furniture, everything to get food. Usually at 4am. Ignoring her literally means my house gets destroyed!!
i had a scorpio girl named mewmew. sister brought over catnip treats on her 17th birthday. mewie was relentlessly demanding about these. stopped eating regular food and would only eat treats. hours of telling her “no!” ended with her winning. until she staggered in off the roof with dilated eyes in january, walking on her heels. an emergency trip to her vet and the ER revealed a blood sugar of 600!!!! hospitalization and insulin brought itback down. i had to log and time her feedings by the clock. inject insulin after every meal. she still insisted on howling for treats, so i replaced th catnip ones with hill’s m/d kibble in a jar she could claw them out of. the diabetes ended in 9 months— but her kidneys were permanently damaged. she needed sub Q lactated ringer’s, 100cc’s every day, for the rest of her life. my lovey boy, Romeo, 15, trained me to share my steak with him— and the day he died, he was so anemic from the garlic and onion flavoring, he had a hematocrit of 6 [should be 45] and lymphoma of his small intestine. SO YES—you really CAN KILL THEM WITH KINDNESS
🙁 Oh my god 🙁 🙁 🙁
Poor babies; they want what’s not good for them so often 🙁
Thank you for sharing your story. I hope people understand there’s more kindness in withholding many times.
My cat, Charlie, is 12 years old and was extremely obese, due to eating much people food. He loved rotisserie chicken, tuna, yogurt and milk.
3 years ago, he developed diabetes and now takes insulin twice a day with a strict diet of prescription cat food and no people food at all.
He cries because of his strict feeding schedule which I do understand. He eats and then takes his medicine. All is good.
Don’t get me wrong, he still tries to get my dinner and I do lock him in the bathroom for a spell. This works even on an older cat. Don’t lose hope.
Poor Charlie! Glad he’s doing alright now.
I do feel like at first it’s incredibly frustrating for them when you stop giving people food over, but in the long run it’s easier on them since they learn to never expect it. Takes time, but I definitely agree even older cats can change!
I had a similar situation. I went to a cat shelter and met Paris, a Turkish angora tuxedo beauty. I adopted her on the spot. I got her home and she acclimated immediately. That evening I played her food and turned to get mine. At that moment I found out one of the reasons she was in a shelter. She sniffed at her food, turned to me opening her mouth wide as if to yawn, then let out a scream! Seriously! A scream! Then she flipped her dish. She didn’t want my food but she didn’t want what was offered either. Then Paris, aka Sarah Berncat, flopped on her side in front of her dish and slowly reached out with a paw and pulled ONE kibble off the plate dragging it to her mouth. Poor, weak, starving baby!
That was 7 years ago. She’s 9 now. Still bossy as he’ll and I couldn’t love her more.
Oh my goodness gracious! What an absolute princess!! Such a great story – thank you for sharing, died of laughter!
I’m a self proclaimed crazy kitty lady. I have four wonderful feline fur babies, all of whom I took in from life as strays or being feral. I LOVE my kitties!! My favorite (oops… I dont have any favorite kids. I love them all the same.) sits on my shoulder and eats off my plate or fork as I eat. Sounds kinda gross, but I really love this little girl!! She doesn’t have to beg. She just looks at me with her beautiful blue eyes and I offer my food like I’m brainwashed.
You absolutely are brainwashed – so are all the rest of us 😉
Have done exactly that with a 14 year old, grossly obese cat who – in spite of not ever receiving table food – would whine incessantly whenever she would see me to obtain her ration. After several weeks she got the hint: no food until quiet and sitting down (rather that walking around my feet and tripping me). She’s a joy to be around again.
By the way, the above scenario is exactly the way to train children to whine. Remedy is the same.
Very nice job – proof you can teach an old cat new tricks!
Your remark about training children to whine, too funny. I’m sure you’re completely right about the remedy, will keep that in mind. Guess my experience training cats can be extrapolated to humans. 😉
We rarely succeed in getting human food, and when we do, it’s a huge success ! Purrs
Oh I see 😉 So either no success or a windfall! Well! Must feel like winning the lottery then! 😀
We don’t usually get any human food except every now and then to lick the plate. But those some mighty good suggestions. It is hard not to spoil the cats or dogs. Why else do we have them. You all have a great day and glad you started blogging.
Offering a plate to lick at the end is actually a great idea because it means kitties will wait patiently until the end and realize that it doesn’t matter if their humans finish their meals – there still might be something nice for them at the end.
I completely agree – spoiling is definitely part of the pet-owned gig 😉 I completely approve of spoiling so long as humans & kitties are happy and healthy about it. I hate seeing cats become overweight because pet parents have a hard time saying no 🙁 Hope I can bring awareness to the fact that there are good ways to spoil cats and bad ways to spoil them (i.e. encouraging bad behaviour or bad eating habits).
Thank you so much for stopping by, Margie! And for the compliment on the blog 🙂 Have a great day too! You and your cats 🙂
Our cats don’t whine, they stare with pathetic little faces. Prancie actually paws at the food on the fork. Needless to say, we share with our cats daily.
Oh my goodness that must be adorable to watch. I love it when cats beg with their eyes – they are so good at suckering me in that way, haha. The pawing that Prancie does I would absolutely adore seeing – so cute!! I’m not sure I could handle the level of cuteness in your home 😉
We really have no interest in people food. Except for vanilla ice cream. 🙂
The ice cream is the best! Avery likes vanilla ice cream, too. And plain Greek yogurt for that matter. Especially nice in the warm summer months 🙂
I was looking up ways to train my cat. We rescued him from our upstairs neighbor and have him on a raw food diet now. He absolutely loves it and has been so much healthier! The only problem is that from the moment we wake up or get home from work(or any time we walk toward the kitchen) he thinks it’s time to eat. He starts meowing, then screeching, then licking walls. My SO is good at ignoring it but I can’t. I’m so tired of getting angry with him 😭. I’m going to try the alarm you suggested and putting him in a room until he’s quiet. It isn’t that he doesnt get enough but(even though I “overfeed”) if I give him less, it’s even worse. Thank you! You might have saved my life!!!
We never get any human food so we must have missed those training sessions!
Hahhaha. Your human parents are very clever 😉