Kitten - advice please

So we got a new kitten over the weekend and I'm assuming she must have ate off of plates or from people's hands... reason I think this is cause every time one of us eat she's meowing, trying to climb on a plate and trying to take it, even with food in her bowl.. she's even trying to eat straight from hands of me and my 1yr old 🤦🏼‍♀️ haven't seen her try with the others... Any tips on getting her to stop? Keep moving her away but she keeps coming back and doing it all over again... I dont want to have to lock her away every time someone eats cause my kids have like a million snacks a day... x

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My cat was like this when he was little, we just had to keep moving him away when we ate, if he kept coming we would shut him out the room for 5 minutes, let him back in and if he carried on, he’d be out the room again. It does take a lot of work but he doesn’t try eat anyone’s food anymore

Fairly normal behaviour for a kitten they are just testing their boundaries same way that children do I imagine it's how they learn. Any time my cats jump on the sofa while we're eating I tell them no put them down you just have to keep reinforcing the message and the earlier you start the better it's much harder trying to train a two year old cat than a 12 week old one I speak from experience. In terms of them not eating their own food, once they realise going after people food is pointless and they are hungry enough they will go for their own

Unfortunately repeatedly moving her away is the only way she'll learn. You will need to reinforce with other members of your household old enough to understand that feeding her at the table or off plates is a non-negotiable rule. I wouldn't try and unteach that she can take food off your hands incase you do ever need to hand feed or give wormers ect but make sure it's only when you're sitting on the floor with her for example. It all needs to be on your terms. You might find that leaving food out for her is making it worse as she can choose human food over cat food. When she's hungry you put food down and after say half an hour take it away. She'll learn to eat when it's available and be full before you have your dinner (also helps with stopping the smell and flies in the Summer). Hope you find what works for you

Mine was exactly the same as a kitten, and he definitely was never fed any human food. They are just babies and curious. Every single time mine jumped up or went near our food I would say no and move him away, there was a point where I thought he was never going to get it but then if you are consistent enough it does eventually click. Now he never really bothers unless it’s chicken!

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