She is hunting off our dinner plates!

by Barry & Brandy
(Edmonton Alberta Canada)

Our female cat we got off a farm had babies. We kept two of them, and now the kittens are four, almost five months old, it appears she is teaching them to hunt.

She is so bold, that as we are eating dinner, she will take an entire chicken breast off our plate..steal bacon as it is frying...and stealing the dogs food... when the dog, or any human tries to go near her or (god forbid) take the food back, she growls and runs away with food in mouth. If she only gets a tiny bit, she eats it herself...the big kill...she calls her babies to eat.
As much as I enjoy watching a completely natural instinct between mother and child..I am getting completely fed up with having to sit hunched over with my arms wrapped around my dinner plate protecting my food...What can I do??? Is this cat in desparate need to be back on her farm catching mice all day or is this just a short stint to teach her babies how to hunt?

Answer by Kate
You will have to shut doors on her when your food is around i'm afraid. The other alternative is to make a loud sudden sound when she approaches you when food is around but tjhis can be inconvenient too.

Also you may want to buy her some more interesting hunting toys which she can use to show her hunting skills etc. Please see my toys pages as there are lots of diffferent types of toys available that are not always available locally.

best wishes Kate

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