Trash Crasher

[nisa azizi]

Hello n Hi,

im Nisa. im new here. i have questions on my cat's behavior that seems so strange and sometime make me feel so irritated. ok first let me tell u guys bout my cat, Chewie. last March i adopted him, a stray kitten (around 3-4 months old) and now (he is 10-11 months old). at first, he behaved OK. he self-trained for the cat litter box. love fish biscuits, wet food and milk. he is people oriented but sometimes quite jumpy. and talkative.

however, nowadays, he likes to crash my trash bins. looking for food. of coz i prepared the food he always ate everyday but he doesnt seem to bother. he still aim for the bins! why O why? every time i came back from work/outing the first thing i have to do is put the bin straight back. pick up the trashes n put it into the bin back. and its irritating because sometimes, the content of the bins are only papers, not leftover food or fish bones or anything edible!

am i giving the wrong food? i tried so many food types/brand. but he still crashing the bins!

he's companion - Wookie (also a stray kitten when i adopted him) didnt act like Chewie. why?


need some advice on this. i dunno what to do.

[Maneki Neko]

Hi, Nisa!

Question: Is Chewie eating the food you put out for him, or is he eating from the rubbish bins (when they do contain food, that is)?

I just wonder, are you sure he's looking through the bins for food? Might he be knocking the bins over and batting things around just to play?

If he is really foraging for food, I wonder what type of cat food you're feeding him now, and is he eating it? If he's going through the rubbish for fun, maybe giving him some interactive toys and spending play-time with him would help. Just some starting thoughts... I'm sure others will have more suggestions and questions.

P.S. I love your kittens' names!

Originally Posted by nisa azizi

Hello n Hi,

im Nisa. im new here. i have questions on my cat's behavior that seems so strange and sometime make me feel so irritated. ok first let me tell u guys bout my cat, Chewie. last March i adopted him, a stray kitten (around 3-4 months old) and now (he is 10-11 months old). at first, he behaved OK. he self-trained for the cat litter box. love fish biscuits, wet food and milk. he is people oriented but sometimes quite jumpy. and talkative.

however, nowadays, he likes to crash my trash bins. looking for food. of coz i prepared the food he always ate everyday but he doesnt seem to bother. he still aim for the bins! why O why? every time i came back from work/outing the first thing i have to do is put the bin straight back. pick up the trashes n put it into the bin back. and its irritating because sometimes, the content of the bins are only papers, not leftover food or fish bones or anything edible!

am i giving the wrong food? i tried so many food types/brand. but he still crashing the bins!

he's companion - Wookie (also a stray kitten when i adopted him) didnt act like Chewie. why?


need some advice on this. i dunno what to do.

[adrianng87]

Hi nisa azizi,
I have experienced this as well for my daddy cat, but my case is that I caught my daddy cat is really crashing the bin for our human food. I observed the daddy cat always does that, then I fenced my kitchen and the daddy cat stopped doing it.

Maybe Maneki Neko is right about your cat Chewie is just playful if there isn't anything that Chewie can eat from the trash bin. Cats love playing with papers too. My two cats will make a big mess for my mother when she is doing her paper work spread all over the floor as they will jump and claw the papers.

You might wanna try wash your trash bin often. Keeping them clean and free of food odors may deter cats from trying to break in and forage through your trash. Or, use a concrete block as an anchor atop your trash bin lids. Most cats will not be able to move the large block of concrete to open the trash bin.

[phatgurl]

I agreed with both Maneki and Adrian. Maybe you should start doing a bit of "spying" to find out what Chewie really looked for. At that age, cat is normally active and likes to fullfil their time playing. If you don't have time to observe yet, try giving him toys to play around and see the result. Cats usually love plastic bags and papers, or you could check the DIY stuff posts for some inspirations. Good luck