Kitten bothersome at meal time.

Question
My kitten is about 15 weeks old. He tries to get in our plates every time we sit down to eat or just whenever we have a plate/bowl/glass in our hand. We sit on the couch to eat so this becomes a serious problem because it's easy access for him. We have never hand fed him or fed him from our plate. His original owner didn't either. He is very persistant. We push him away, move hime across the room. Nothing stops him. It's a major annoyance every time we sit down to eat. We don't know what to do. I really don't want him to become a permanent outside cat just because of this. Please help.

-Megan

Answer
HI Megan,

Your kitten just wants to share the food you are eating - he can't understand that humans have rules about these things. You can start out by always feeding him right before you eat - so he's distracted by eating his own food. You could also close him in a bedroom or bathroom while you eat.

He may be craving something that is missing in his diet - is he getting good nutrition? Here is a website with plenty of info on cat nutrition:

http://www.catinfo.org

http://maxshouse.com/feline_nutrition.htm

(also many other good articles at www.maxshouse.com)

A good way to discourage your cat from coming up on the sofa while you eat is to keep a clean spray bottle (never contained cleaners) fileld with water - spray him with water when he approaches. Soon he'll run off if he even think you are reaching for the bottle.

Also I highly recommend the book "Think Like a Cat: How to Raise a Well-Adjusted Cat--Not a Sour Puss" by Pam Johnson-Bennett:

http://www.amazon.com/Think-Like-Cat-Well-Adjusted-Cat-Not/dp/0140288546/ref=pd_...

for more tips.