Help! I fed my cats tuna and now they are following me around the

[applegrove]

house, room to room, purring. How do I put an end to such behaviour? And what happens if i have to open a can of beans tomorrow with the same can opener?

[irresistable]

1. Keep feeding them tuna until they fall asleep.

[applegrove]

2. They slept while I had a bath. Now they are back to following me. I'm all

of a sudden very interesting to monitor.

[irresistable]

3. You still have a chance to change your destiny...

...but if you feed them Tuna one more time......the next time that you feed them something else, they will sniff it, then stare disapprovingly at you.

[applegrove]

4. I will stay away from the can opener. I will hide it somewhere. I will win.

[irresistable]

6. Pavlov's cat

[applegrove]

9. Ha! My cats know exactly when dinner hour is. They are on the case an hour

before i feed them regular cat food at 5 PM. They would never be asleep at dinnertime. But with tuna they are on the case 23 hours and 56 minutes before. They will stare at me as I sleep all night. Just in case.

[rampartc]

5. sorry, charlie

the starkist chunk light on sale is cheaper than fancy feast.

when mine bring me a special present i give them tuna and lukewarm catnip tea. then we dance the "dead rat" dance and hug.

[applegrove]

7. Yes. Tuna can be cheaper. But it is full of mercury so I only give it rarely

to my furry friends. I wish they understood the word 'mercury' as well as they understand the sound of a can opener.

[EveHammond13]

11. same. sometimes I just give them the liquid from the can.

a lot of times they just barf up the tuna. yuck. don't know why.

[applegrove]

12. I get flaked tuna in a broth. Then I put it in a sieve and rinse it off the tuna.

Nobody get sick on tuna here.

[Rhiannon12866]

47. I give them that, too.

They really should drink more and they love the tuna water! They're more interested in that than the actual tuna.

[MontanaMama]

19. OMG.

That’s the cutest thing I have ever heard. For real. The “dead rat”dance?

Question on your cat nip tea...tell me more about that?

[rampartc]

29. catnip tea

no problem, just like you'd make loose tea with a "tea ball" in boiling water. let it cool (they don't like hot) in a bowl sized to your herd (i call them my "pride of felions" ) .

the dead rat dance is hard to describe, but i've got a little ginger tabby who plays the bongos.

oh, fresh catnip is best. but there is a trick to growing it before the little baztads can tear it up. use a hanging pot until they figure out how to get there, then a pot inside a cage of chicken wire will work for a while, then my neighbor with the big dogs let me grow a pot inside his fence............

[Aussie105]

8. My cat loves variety.

Pigs out on one food one day, turns up his nose at the same food the next.

Only thing that is a constant hit though, is chicken breast, raw or cooked.

Damn uppity for a stray cat that wandered in one day and decided to stay, I must say.

But, he is learning. Used to wake me up at 5 am for a feed by gently biting or tapping me on the face with his claws extended. Now, he just licks my face. Progress of sorts, I guess.

[applegrove]

10. You are chosen. Strays can be the best pets.

[Aussie105]

13. True.

Very true.

Post #6: Hey! You stole my cat!

[Arkansas Granny]

20. Or they can eat your cat food on the back porch for years and remain untouchable.

Years ago I fed a poor little feral kitty who was obviously pregnant and underweight. After she had her kittens and they got old enough, she brought them for meals on the back porch.

Years (and generations) later I'm feeding her descendants and they still act like feral cats. They're waiting for me when I get up in the morning and they're waiting when I get home from work. One of them will occasionally rub against my ankles while I'm putting food down, but she shies away if I reach toward her. The others won't come within arms reach.

I've befriended and tamed feral cats before, but these kitties remain aloof. Beats anything I've ever seen.

[applegrove]

21. To be so close to and not get affection from cats must be heartbreaking. Especially since you do so.

Good on you for feeding them and showing them kindness. Think how happy you make them even though they can't quite tell you. Think how great it is for a mamma cat to have a place to feed her babies.

[Snackshack]

14. Lol

Every once in awhile I will give Nico a small shot of milk...he then follows me around for several days wanting another shot. It takes about 3-4 days for him to realize it was just a treat and not a regular thing.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

15. I have the same problem with pulled chicken and a cat.

One of my cats just goes nuts for it. He's fifteen so I spoil him, and this all started when I gave him a bit of pulled chicken I'd bought for sandwiches (the grocery store sells it, already cooked and pulled). So I kept buying it for him because he likes it so much. The problem, though, is that now he hangs out by the refrigerator, just waiting for me to open it for any reason because that's where the chicken is. He sometimes sleeps on a scatter rug by the back door at the entrance to the kitchen, just in case I might go into the kitchen for some reason not related to chicken; but now I can't even sneak into the kitchen to make a cup of tea because he's blocking the entrance and if I step over him he wakes up, runs to the refrigerator and howls until he gets chicken.

I have created a monster.

[applegrove]

17. My cat goes into my fridge. He literally runs in. He thinks it is great. I lunge

at him to grab him before he makes it in. He doesn't do it every time. He's never had the chance to eat anything in there. He just does it because it gets a reaction out of me.

[happybird]

16. I feel your pain

Last edited Fri Mar 1, 2019, 12:11 AM - Edit history (1)

Our newest cat (the dumb one who's been with us for nearly a year) still hasn't figured out what the can opening sound is.

The others come running as soon as I take the can opener out of the drawer. Then I get hours of attitude for daring to open any non-tuna cans. It's ridiculous.

Poor Ziggy has picked up on, "yay! we are all congregating in the kitchen!" but hasn't yet connected the sudden migration to food or the can opener sound.

He's lucky he's so darn cute and sweet cuz he is dumb as a rock, lol!

[applegrove]

18. Short memory, happy life.

[area51]

22. You may need

to go into the Witness Protection Program. j/k

[applegrove]

23. You mean the Whisker Protection Program. Ha!

[SoCalDem]

24. My cats turn up their noses at tuna

They go NUTS over popcorn & french fries & vanilla ice cream though

[applegrove]

25. French fries? I know of seagulls liking French fries (when you are a smoker

in a port city the seagulls will divebomb your cigarette..i guess it looks like you are eating French fries to them). But cats? Mine would bat it down.

[SoCalDem]

45. I always get three gentle taps on my arm

each one has a bit more claw..until I hand over the fries

[applegrove]

46. The claws. I know that tap sequence.

[lilactime]

28. My cats go nuts over vanilla ice cream too. They also love any kind of

chips (vet said it's the salt, but that doesn't explain why they love ice cream).

[rampartc]

31. try the vanilla yogurt. they lick it off of a spoon

my fat siamese likes peanut butter the same way. just a little.

[lilactime]

35. I have a friend whose cats likes peanuts!

[rampartc]

38. my little lotus blossum wull try anything i eat

you really never know what they will like. not crazy for chocolate or spicy food.

california roll, i;ve got to fight for my 1/2 of a dozrn.

[lilactime]

39. Chocolate is toxic to cats (and dogs).

[rampartc]

40. the cats just don't eat it

[KT2000]

26. they will remember this forever

give up! You live in their house.

[applegrove]

27. They've been the boss of me for a ling time. I had a big cat named Monster

at one point. My brother had to tell me to lay down the law with him. Now Captain Morgan will nip me to keep me in line.

[DetlefK]

30. There is a life-hack to actually take advantage of this:

If you have to take medication a special time of the day, always give your cat a special treat before.

Over time, you might forget to take your medication, but the cat won't forget to remind you of the treat.

[applegrove]

32. Great plan.

[Arkansas Granny]

34. Isn't that the truth? I once had a kitty who would come lay across my neck 5 minutes before the

alarm went off. Problem was, she didn't recognize weekends.

[Dale Neiburg]

33. One problem with tuna packed for human consumption:

It's a negligible source of taurine. Humans don't need taurine in our diets, because our bodies can make their own taurine from other amino acids they do get. Cats can't do that -- they have to get taurine in their food or they develop deficiency, which causes irreversible blindness and then death. Tuna packed as cat food should have taurine added to it.

OTOH, cats don't need vitamin C in their diet because, unlike humans, their bodies can produce their own vitamin C.

[crazycatlady]

36. don't feed them the can of beans

Unless you're prepared for litter box surprises.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

41. Or Reddi-Wip.

[applegrove]

42. I meant I could be opening my own food with a can opener and the sound would cause

them too circle me and then attack.

[crazycatlady]

37. I used to give my kitty the water that tuna was packed in

He devoured that stuff.

[3catwoman3]

43. One of our 3 goes absolutely bonkers for spinach...

...and arugula, especially arugula. He recognizes the crinkly sound of the bags the green come in, and the moment he hears that, there he is, with an anticipatory look on his handsome tabby face.

[panader0]

44. Our three cats will wake from a deep sleep if they hear

me scrambling eggs. I set the bowl on the floor and they have a standoff
to see who gets first licks.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

48. Try a can of sardines. No can opener needed.

And, the cats will happily watch you eat all the sardines without giving them any.

Cats hate sardines.