You could try one of those treat eggs where they have to roll it around the floor to get a treat to fall out. And plenty of toy mice or jingle balls or feathers or what have you, so she can play. Turn a paper bag on its side and put some crumpled paper in there so she can play "cave". Hang some dangly toys around. She sounds pretty active.

Maybe she needs more canned food to satisfy her need for protein, which provides the energy that cats run on. You might try increasing the canned and see if that helps.

Foraging is a habit that she will probably outgrow, if she has enough other things to do and if she is well nourished.

Plus plenty of toys. The other playmate is twice her size but wild kitty will push her out of the way to finish her food. I usually have to police this
so they get an equal share. That is why I thought it was maybe memories of being hungry at one time.

I will try to engage her more in play and try more protein and see if that stops it.

Thank you for the suggestions.

so your hunch about the hunger could be right. Maybe she was sleeping under a pigeon stoop and the smell of bird poop is comforting to her.

Could be some kind of metabolic problem, or an internal organ issue. I took a dog home from the shelter, very thin, coprophagic, diarrhea -tried all the standard remedies. He was a voracious eater, but could not gain weight, bones very prominent.

When none of that worked I had blood test done, his pancreas is not functioning normally, so I have to buy special enzymes which pre-digests the food. He fattened up, but because of his learned behavior I have to pick up anyone's dog poop else he makes it a snack.

Or it could be the cat just doesn't much care for the food you are serving, or found out that other food is better. IIRC, cats must have meat for their muscles (obligate carnivores, so the cereal (cardboard) most dogs are fed won't work for cats) so it may be the food just doesn't have what she needs. Or she learned to forage for food b4 you took her in, and is just repeating that, and that's probably going to mean you will have to be more vigilant.

If she checks out medically you might try a cheap sliced turkey or ham, but only in her crate or a certain food location, and start working on keeping everything else out of reach. I know, that's hard, but she is self-rewarding when she finds other food, and you have to interrupt that. You might have to put one of those protective domes under the parrot cage, keep her from getting in there.

The one cat I have left is from a shelter. She had a parasite that did not show up in standard tests. Finally, after a few visits to a couple of different vets, the parasite was discovered and she was treated and it went away.

To this day she has the habit of pecking on the floor as if hungry and looking for food.

She always has food on hand.

You could be looking at a couple of different issues, health and/or behavior.

In any event, I'd keep her far away from that parrot and the cage.

I hope this helps.

She is quite muscular although on the small side and she welcomes any food put in front of her except
she prefers her kibble to be intact and not broken up. I throw broken kibble out as it is not a big deal.

Maybe I can increase the meat I give her without making her chubby.
Anyway, I have some good suggestions here.

Thanks!

and it will get better over time. You have not had this kitty long enough for all that foraging behavior to have faded.

This may not be what anyone else would do, but I have actually yelled at my kitty when he gets into my food or tries to get food from the trash. It is a simple "hey, out of that" in a stern tone. I have had him for about eight months and he is much better already, although I have never seen a bigger chow-hound in my life. There is never food left after a few minutes of feeding, no way to leave some for free-feeding. And he has gone from 8 pounds (he was on the low side of ok) to 13 pounds (where he will now have to be on a diet).

And even with being yelled at, he is a lover and a snuggler----with me right now. So that is not traumatic for him.

Possibly I have been too permissive and not wanting to break her spirit. She does respond to "no" such as when she is
trying to eat Big Kitty's food when she is done with hers. She listens for a few seconds, then begins to inch closer and
closer to the other bowl. Big Kitty is a pushover and will allow it.

I guess using some of the suggestions given here and allowing the passage of time will help with these behaviors.
In the meantime, I will try to find something to put under the grate of the cage to keep my parrot safe.

Thanks for your help.

I already had the cockatiel for years before I got the first dog of my own, and boy did he ever want to mess with birdie. For awhile I could keep her cage in my bedroom and keep him out of the bedroom all the time by shutting the door, but when I wasn't home he started trying to get into the bedroom and finally figured out how the doorknob worked and would just open the door himself to get in there and mess with her.

I ended up putting a strong plant hook in the ceiling and hanging the cage from the hook. It worked out really well... though he wanted to get at her he couldn't reach. The only problem then was that she figured out he couldn't get to her and whenever he danced around underneath the cage she threw her seed shells at him, so I had to vacuum constantly.

I know it weighs over 200 lbs or so. It is 3' wide, 5'+ height, and 2'+ depth and made of iron.

It would have worked if the bird and cage were smaller.

I can picture her throwing seed hulls at the dog. They are wonderfully intelligent little things!

Duh, of course a parrot cage is going to be a lot heavier and bigger than the light wire thing that I had for my little birdie. Huh... I can't think of what else you could do then. Maybe all you could really do is keep her shut out of the room that the bird is in. I don't suppose the cat could figure out how to open the door like my dog did. LOL!

She was such a cool little bird. I miss her. It was pretty funny how she used to tease the dog throwing her seed shells at him. Wasn't too fun to clean up, but I think they both actually enjoyed that little "war".

kitties have ALOT of energy, curiousity, AND 9 lives.

They ARE predators, anything that moves. See the pet store,,,,

The constant search for food could be habit from the past or it could be a sign that something is wrong. It could be diabetes, where the cells cannot get the 'food' because of a lack of insulin. The animal with diabetes is constantly looking for food.