He's a bit chubby but he's not OH LAWD HE COMIN' or anything. I agree with the poster who said try to keep him from gaining more weight tho because a lot of vets will mercilessly bully you as a pet owner if your pet is overweight.
Not that easy when they are climbing all over you and your keyboard, screaming the house down because they are ‘starving to death’ having not eaten in the last 2 hours…
yeah, they can, and just as with a human, behavioural work is required. a cat destroying things because it wants food is not just a normal quirky thing.
Sorry, I think something has got lost in translation. I didn’t say she destroyed stuff.
When it gets close to food time, she will sit in front of me (usually on my keyboard as I WFH) and shout for attention, but if I try to cuddle or play she will walk off towards her food bowls.
She had a thing with her mouth when she was young (before I adopted her) and I think she worries about not getting fed, but she has been consistently fed the same diet for the last 2 years. If we feed her any more she gains weight, she would eat endlessly if given the chance.
It is hard because it is sad to see her begging for food, so keeping her on a good diet isn’t easy. I was just pointing out that giving cats less food isn’t always an easy thing to do.
This is why I don’t normally comment on cat subreddits.
I grew up with cats, have rescue cats, they have regular vet checkups, multiple cats trees, tons of toys, I WFH so they get loads of playtime and attention. But people here will always assume you are a terrible cat owner.
Putting a cat with food issues on a diet isn’t easy. Even a normal cat that has gained weight won’t usually eat less without some complaints.
But hey, I think this was my last attempt at engaging here. I didn’t say my cat was destructive, I thought keyboard sitting was pretty normal. Who hasn’t had a cat shout at them around food time or climb on them? I assumed people could relate to that.
Much more fun to suggest I can’t look after my cats I guess.
Sigh. I hear you. Its like some weird virtue posturing that ignores reality and invalidates how challenging it can be. I learned the hard way about how important portion feeding is after an overweight cat developed diabetes and I was doing daily blood tests and insulin injections for years! I portion feed now and spread it out throughout the day. I'm lucky because my cats aren't whiny like some I've seen that go absolutely crazy for food. Mine just sit on my keyboard and stair at me or gently paw at my arm.
Well for what it's worth, I have your back. People saying you can "train" cats haven't lived with enough cats in their lives. You can try to train them, and redirect the behavior you want to prevent, but at the end of the day, they're gonna do what they want.
They're also built different than pets like dogs are. Dogs have an inmate desire to please their owners and not upset them. That's why they obey quickly when training them. Cats, as much as they love cohabitating with us, do not give a fluff about pleasing us. This is why some ppl joke that cats are only in Egyptian hieroglyphics because they forced humans to worship them. 🤣 But it's true, cats just do not people-please the way dogs do.
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u/trixie_sixx21 2d ago
He's a bit chubby but he's not OH LAWD HE COMIN' or anything. I agree with the poster who said try to keep him from gaining more weight tho because a lot of vets will mercilessly bully you as a pet owner if your pet is overweight.