Anne writes from McDonald, PA: “I recently adopted a kitten, Benjamin, who is now seven months old. Ben is a wonderful cat. He is very playful, very loving and very curious. The funny thing is, Ben will eat anything I put in front of him or anything we happen to leave out on the counter. Anything! He has chewed through the bag to eat two whole slices of bread. Here’s a list of things he has eaten: cookies, almonds, shrimp, lettuce, cheese, noodles, corn, potatoes, cereal, paper towels, beef, French fries, spiders and most deliciously of all, candle wax. The wax was the only thing that made him throw up. I know it’s not unusual for dogs to eat people food, but cats? Is this normal?”
Anne, I’ve seen kittens like this before, and they invariably come from backgrounds in which they had to scrounge for food, never knowing where their next meal would come from. I’ve seen it in adopted kittens who were found on the street as well as strays found in similar circumstances. Occasionally we will see a puppy who behaves in this manner.
There’s not much you’re going to do about it, other than keep your food under lock and key! One would reasonably assume that once Ben found out that food was plentiful and available on a meal schedule he would become satisfied about the availability of food, but that almost never happens. These kittens grow up to become greedy cats, too.
See you tomorrow, Dr. Randolph.
I too have a young cat that will eat almost anything. Popcorn (popped), lettuce, ONIONS!, veggies, granola bars. He is fed a high quality dry food but he still seems to be a bottomless pit. Has had required vaccines and deworming done. He is very healthy just a food junkie! He was a bit malnourished when we got him at 6 weeks of age so I am not sure if that would have anything to do with his quirk.
Ozzie, our fairly recently adopted kitty, LOVES green beans. When there’s a pot of green beans on the stove, he sits right next to it and guards it. He’s actually gotten into my work bag, pulled out my plastic container of green beans and chicken I had for lunch, OPENED it, and ate all of the green beans, leaving the chicken! We have one strange cat.
Jason & Rebecca Hopper
I’d have to agree! Ozzie has some interesting food preferences! Better keep him off the stove before it hurts him…he needs to learn to WAIT for his green beans, doesn’t he?
Thanks for writing,
Dr. Randolph