My last cat was food-obsessed. I would do the "show, sniff, remove" thing and it would work depending on the food. But many foods only needed a fraction of a second for her to know she needed it in her mouth right now. If you took it before her attempt to eat it, you met the response of "hey, I wasn't done with that!" and the paw would come out to bring your hand back.
For roast chicken you would have to actively defend your plate the entire meal. She would sit next to you and very slowly try to "sneak" her paw on to your plate to take what she could. As though I wasn't watching her like a hawk and she had some kind of cloak of invisibility.
We have had very different cats then.
Yup, mine was way too happy about the opportunity to steal anything
I've never had a cat that wants people food, and I think it's because of just showing them what it is and then taking it away.
My last cat was food-obsessed. I would do the "show, sniff, remove" thing and it would work depending on the food. But many foods only needed a fraction of a second for her to know she needed it in her mouth right now. If you took it before her attempt to eat it, you met the response of "hey, I wasn't done with that!" and the paw would come out to bring your hand back.
For roast chicken you would have to actively defend your plate the entire meal. She would sit next to you and very slowly try to "sneak" her paw on to your plate to take what she could. As though I wasn't watching her like a hawk and she had some kind of cloak of invisibility.
I miss my round dinner thief.