The Skills of a Hungry Cat

The lengths we have to go to stop our cat stealing food. For Bean the thrill is working out how to get it, then the chase. Once he has his treasure, he is very protective of it!

I’m always surprised when owners can leave cat food out. I visit houses where cat food pouches can sit on the side without the risk of them being bitten, ripped open and eaten. Although sometimes when owners are away, their cats get up to mischief and decide to help themselves to food. I always keep an eye out for food stealing as I don’t trust a hungry cat.

We have a hungry cat called Bean. No matter how much he eats, he always wants more. He is very persistent! Bean is always on the go and is happiest when he is kept busy. We have lots of toys and food puzzles to help keep him out of trouble.

However, he is always on the look out for food. It took us several bins before we managed to find one that was Bean proof! It's a race to get the food shopping to the kitchen before he gets in and steals a loaf of bread.

Bean was a rescue cat and they’d found him abandoned on the street with cat flu. He was probably used to scavenging for food before he had a home. Sometimes he will race around the house with his treasure, meowing to let everyone know. Other times he will go off and eat it quietly and the first we know of this, is when we find crumbs of the remains or the damage of where he found it.

Any food left out will be whipped away by Bean. Even the boxes of food aren’t safe from Bean. He will bite the boxes and pull at the flaps to try and get in. Sometimes puncturing the pouches. So now we have a throw covering the spare food to stop this from happening.

To keep the food safe and unopened until feeding time, we keep the pouches in a cupboard. Over the years he has learnt to open the cupboard.

My version of a child lock is using a hair band over the door handles. Unfortunately Bean loves hair bands and persistently took them off and opened the door.

While I was away house sitting, this became a regular habit for him, so my husband Ben made a temporary lock out of cardboard. It wasn’t a surprise when he worked out how to get the cardboard off. The alternative was to put a heavy wooden chair in front of the door. It wasn’t convenient to have a chair there, as it took up a lot of space in our tiny kitchen.

So I suggested to Ben that we got a lock on the cupboard door. I actually meant a child safe lock. But then this happened. A bolt! It was something Ben had to hand and the whole cupboard unit needs replacing soon anyway. This wasn't exactly what I had in mind. This bolt has solved the problem.... unless the humans forget to lock it. Yes, this has happened and Bean does check to see if it is locked.

We rarely need to call the cats for food. They know the sound of the lock. Even knocking it slightly makes a noise so they come running hoping it is dinner time.

At least now the weather is starting to warm up, Bean’s daily menu is supplemented by flies and moths. For a cat that has partial vision, he does really well at catching insects.