# Food Aggressive Kitten in litter



## HersheysKiss (Apr 12, 2007)

I wasn't sure where to put this but behavior is the #1 problem. 

On Monday I got my first Foster Home assignment. I just started. They started easy on me and I have a litter of 5 kittens from assorted litters ranging in age from 4-6weeks. They are all eating canned food and dry food. I feed 2 meals a day of 2cans of Fancy Feast Kitten and they have access to dry kitten Purina One Kitten food. They are all eating very well and are starting to feel less boney. I have been trying to act as much like mom because I know they are still a little young to be away from their Moms.

Here is my problem. One of the older kittens is showing some food aggression issues. She will growl, pin her ears back and swat and cover the food. She sometimes scares the younger kittens away. I have been giving them a head start so they can eat without her.

What I have been doing is removing her everytime she does this. I will scruff her and pick her up till she settles then I put her back. This does not seem to be working. What concerns me is that she will growl at me too if I try to put my hand in her food.

She is a very sweet kitten otherwise and only has this behavior when the canned food is just put down. 

Any suggestions on how to deal with this? I don't want her to have issues being adopted or staying in a home because of this. :?


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## Kittys Mom (May 7, 2004)

Are you using 1 bowl or 5? When I fostered, I had 5 small bowls (one for each kitten). I put them all down at once. When someone was a particularly slow eater, I put them somewhere else with the remains of their bowl.

The kittens would switch bowls, mid-meal, but I just watched and moved bowls around to make sure everyone got their fair share. 

There was a bit of growling and bullying, but it seemed to go away after a while.

I'm sorry that I don't have any better suggestions. I personally DON'T recommend separating the one cat during mealtime. She needs to learn it's okay to share.


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## librarychick (May 25, 2008)

I currently have a litter of 10 all eating wet/solid foods. I don't have any who are as aggressive as that one seems to be, but they are pushy to the smaller kittens. I found that putting down two of those cheap tinfoil pie plates and putting half the food in each gives plenty of room for all kittens, and mum too.

You could try bigger dishes, or more dishes. I also wouldn't recommend separating her, but watch when they eat and speak sternly to her if she does it. If she's also growling at you consider feeding her from your hand. That way if she's being rude you just remove your hand, and she learns to eat politely.


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## furmew (Sep 5, 2008)

Don't separate her, but put down more bowls. The little guys need to learn to fight, and she needs to learn that her food will not magically disappear. Give it some time-- fosters sometimes have terribke manners at first because they HAD TO before someone decided to love and care for them. Don't give the others a head start, or else that just encourages her behavior because she's not getting the same chance they are for food. Try putting out more bowls, maybe at different places. Also maybe try feeding them slower (less and more times a day-- just for a while), so they don't feel they have to gorge in case there is not another mealtime.


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## HersheysKiss (Apr 12, 2007)

Thanks guys. Just to clarify...I don't separate her, I just pick her up for a second till she stops then I put her right back. I don't really give the others that big of a headstart but since they don't always realize that I have put the wet food down (gotta love the attention span of a kitten) I have to collect each one and show them. I have been collecting her last and the littlest ones first. 

I have been feeding them in 2 bowls but I will try a few more. They others have no problem with sharing with each other but when she starts growling the others start to move away from her and even away from the bowls. What really concerns me is that she will growl at me if I stick my hand in her way. She is a little stinker. I will have to post pictures later.


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## furmew (Sep 5, 2008)

Do post pictures!!

She's just guarding her food-- it's not a personal insult. She'll calm down, hopefully, once she realizes no one is taking the food away from her. When she growls at you if you get too close, my suggestion would be to not move-- stay in her personal space and wait for her to go back to eating to leave-- don't give her the upper hand of shooing you away or her behavior is reinforced.


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## chaoticborders (Nov 27, 2006)

I've fostered many many kittens (even got 9 right now) and quite a few of them were food aggressive.
I remember one whole litter was nuts! We refered to feeding time as "kitten carnage" 
They would hiss and spit and snarl at eachother, pin eachother down, push eachother away, swat eachother. Make loud yowling noises. I was feeding with 4 bowls (6 kits)

But every single one grew out of it, it was like a phase they were going through. And all were adopted into home quite easily.
The silly beast will gorw out of it :lol:


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