Food Aggression!!!!

[Too Many Cats]

My littlest one, Sophie, who is now 3 1/2 months old has a very bad food aggression issue. I found her abondoned and starving when she was a week old. Although that is the normal for them all, every cat here was found abandoned and starving but she's the only one who acts like this.

She wont let the other cats eat until she is done and growls and swipes to keep them at bay. And she will litterally tear your fingers off trying to get whatever you are eating. The other day, she took an orange slice from me and started to eat it. And cooking with her underfooot is an experience all it's own and shutting her away in a different room while we eat doesn't work because she rips tears at the wood doors.

I have an open food pan of dry kibble available 24/7 for them all, and I usually open about 8 cans of food a day inwhich she eats proably 3 by herself. She was just spayed last week and I had to vet give her a complete check-up which was completely normal and parasite free.....so she has no need to be so aggressive in this way.

I'm hoping she outgrows it pretty soon though. But she's so darn cute I'm just going to have to put up with it I guess, lol!

Here she is a couple of days after her eyes opened



and at the food bowl with Herky



about a month old here



and climbing the screens the other day.....she's healing from her spay very well I'd say, lol

[Freedom]

He he heee, what a little IMP! That rascal! And all the BIG cats back off when she growls and hisses, and they let her eat first, I bet.

Seems like Sophie has things under control, don't you think?!

[krazyaboutkatz]

Well she sure is adorable. I really can't help you with the food aggression though because both Alani & Blaze also have this. They're almost 10 months old and I have to feed them in my hall bathroom or else none of my other cats would ever get any of their food. I haven't been free feeding any of my cats for several years now because I've always had at least one piggy cat that would eat all of the food. I also have to watch my food because my orange twins will eat anything in sight if I let them. I'm also hoping that they'll outgrow this. I'm also hoping that they'll outgrow their destructive behavior too but that's another story. Good luck.

[sana]

and at the food bowl with Herky



about a month old here

Awwww....what a sweety in these pictures, so tiny and awwwy!

Sorry to hear about her behaviour, hopefully you'll find the answer to your problem

[Taz_Zoee]

I'm surprised there isn't one cat that will put her in her place. Maybe they aren't right now because she's so young/small. Perhaps if she doesn't outgrow this another kitty will show her whats up.

I'm very lucky that Jax isn't like this. He scarfs his food down like someone else is going to get it, but he doesn't growl or anything. And he is very respective of Paizly when she eats her food. He will totally leave her alone when she is in her eating area. Which is amazing because at all other times he is bugging the crud out of her!

[Kevalin]

You may have to "mom cat" her when she engages in the behavior. That is, give her a light "pop" on the head (as a mother cat does with her claws sheathed when one of her kittens does something outre).

Alternatively, or possibly in conjunction with giving her a "pauch" on the head, you may have to take her food from her when she gets aggressive with the other cats. Then, after a few minutes, love her a bit, put the food (or her) back down, and let her eat.

NOTE: This second alternative may require protective gloves when you do it the first few times.

She won't like it, but with such a reaction coming from the "boss cat," she will hopefully make the connection and realize that threatening her brothers and sisters over food that is readily available isn't necessary or desirable.

This worked for me with a cat I owned some years ago. Spot would get pretty aggressive at times--she was definitely an Alpha girl!--but a smart, one or two-fingered pop and a "no", would generally get her to settle. Then she'd come park her big carcass on my lap and purr at me like at lawn mower (at her heaviest, she weighed 21 pounds, was a foot tall at the shoulder, and was 32 inches long from head to tail).

I want to emphasize that you DO NOT have to make this any kind of a hurtful process... just one or two fingers when you do it, with the command, should do quite nicely. Your status as "mom cat"(She Who Feeds Us the Food) should cause her to react just as any kitten would, even though she's in a mostly-grown body now.

I think she just needs to know that, even if she is the alpha cat-cat, you are the Top Cat, and won't allow her to behave from her fears of scarcity.

[Cataholic]

I had this with Cali for about 5 or so months. Feeding time was ridiculous. The growls, the swipes, the nips to get the food back. She eventually outgrew it. But, I don't think they always do.

The discipline mentioned above might work. When we took in our last four, two of whom we kept, I nearly stopped feeding cats wet food all together. It was just WAY too much to deal with. It should have been a horror film or something. Then two got adopted out, and I now deal with just one crazed kitty. I have to 'pop' him on the bottom, (again, one finger, just looking for the contact to redirect), and mostly sit there while they all finish up their 1 tablespoon of wet food, or he goes on to everyone else's bowl. Funny, I can train 7 cats to sit in their assigned places....but one bad egg sends us over the edge.

Cats...can't live with 'em, can't live without 'em.

[Kevalin]

Cats...can't live with 'em, can't live without 'em.

Well, you could... but then, what would be the point of living?

[carrie]

I would work very hard to not let this become an issue if that doesn't sound too weird!!!
You could wait and see if she (very cute!) grows out of it or another cat gets fed up with her and disciplines her but I would not want to allow this to become a habit.
I also allow free access to dried food for cats and feed meat just once a day. When meat time comes around it has to be at the same time every day - Years ago this was at 11 am but then my children started to grow up and go to nursery, school, college, university . . . . and I had to go back to work.
I now give the cat meat feed at 8pm and if you are here you get fed, if you are not then you wait until tomorrow! Each cat that shows up gets a bowl of their own and a space of their own, seperate rooms where possible with closed doors between. They have ten minutes to eat and then all bowls are picked up, all doors opened and nobody is upset with anyone else!

[Medusa]

I'm surprised there isn't one cat that will put her in her place.

That was my thought also. When my little RB Puddy tried that number, my RB Pidge put her big paw on Puddy's head and held it to the floor until rambunctious little Puddy calmed down. After that, they were the best of friends, too. Maybe wait and see if your other cats decide that they've had enough of her behavior, the little cutie pie brat. LOL

[Cataholic]

Mine have tended to grow out of it. I remember my second set of newbies, now 2ish, and Cali was WAY bad, growling, obsessive, etc., and she is fine now. I have had the last two kittens (which are 1 in May) 5 months now. While feeding time is still a FRENZIED activity, the growling/swiping/manic behaviour is largely past with them. One is much better than the other.

I still have to feed my 55 lb dog in a separate room because the one kitty, Sonic, gets in the food bowl, and won't stop eating.

[aerring]

My kitten does this too. She's around 7 months old and growls while she eats whenever any of the cats come near her. She does this with her toys too. Whenever she's playing with a cat toy she drags it away like a kill and growls whenever anyone comes near her.

[cats0509]

Herky looks just like my best cat friend, Fluffy! Anyway, you could feed all of your cats separately so they all get to eat, then put up their food. Food aggression is very common in cats, as I have had the same problem. My cat Sweetie was like that with her mother and siblings when she was a kitten, though she did grow out of it a while later.