# Food aggression from kitten



## Marcia (Dec 26, 2010)

Hmmm, not sure how to deal with this, or even if Ineed to.I was feeding the kittens this morning (almost 6 weeks oldnow), and little Depot, the torti Manx was very aggressively growlingand hissing at her litter mates around her while she was eating. :evil: A bitof food aggression going on here and I really don't know what ifanything I should do about it.I think this is the first time I've seenor heard any one of them growl or hiss.I know it startled the ones onthe receiving end.Thoughts??? :-|


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## 10cats2dogs (Jun 16, 2013)

Good Morning Marcia, Sounds like typical kitten behavior! 
There seems to always be one who's a little more bossy!
Just make sure everyone is eating, especially the littlest one!
I'm sure some other fosterers will chime in here!
Sharon


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## twobrothers (Aug 27, 2011)

One of my guys growled like crazy every time he had food or a toy that he really liked as a kitten. When I brought him home, he weighed less than 2 lbs...and his older brother was at least 11-12 lbs! 

He never got aggressive with people or my other cat, so I just ignored it. He's three now, and still growls like crazy when I put down his food or if he has some sort of treat..especially if my other cat is around. We just laugh and think of it as a weird, but harmless, quirk. He was fairly malnourished as a kitten (when I brought him home at less than 2 lbs, he was almost 4 months old, but really tiny). I think it's probably a result of being so starved during his first few months.


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## catloverami (Jul 5, 2010)

Typical behavior for a more dominant personality kitty, and torties can be like that especially_ Manx_ torties....bossy. I would just ignore it as it's doing no one any harm.


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## Jetlaya67 (Sep 26, 2012)

Winston was like that as a kitten both with food and toys. He outgrew the food part but still growls if he has a favorite toy and any of the other cats or me get close. He has never hurt me or the other cats, though. I can tell you he is extremely bossy!


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## TabbCatt (Mar 26, 2014)

One of my kitten used to do that with her favorite toy, too! And they both did it when they started eating raw and the other kitty would watch. I took it as a compliment that they loved their food/toy so much, they were being protective of it. They were never aggressive towards each other otherwise, and still get along quite well. And of course no humans were hurt either!


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## librarychick (May 25, 2008)

When I was fostering I found I had at least one in each litter like this. I found an easy fix was to serve meals on two plates. The kittens seemed to feel crowded if they all had to swarm one plate, that meant at least on kitten was probably going to feel too crowded and insecure while eating and that leads to aggression.

Try feeding from two plates and see if she calms down a bit. I agree it's not that big of a problem though.


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## Marcia (Dec 26, 2010)

Thanks, all. Glad it's not serious behavior issues. I feed from 3 plates: a fairly large oval flat dish with one can in it and a divided dish (2 compartments) with 1/2 can on each side. I need to find cheaper alternatives to the cat food and start using another dish because I noticed today it was getting crowded especially if momma joins in.

As of today, I am putting a full can in each side of the divided dish because they are eating like there I no next meal coming! I've been going through 6 cans of Fancy Feast a day (morning, noon and night) but need to up it to 9 cans total I guess!! Sheesh. $$$

I let them free feed Science Diet Kitten kibble which the shelter provides (and highly encourages we train them to eat because that is what they serve at the shelter). Once they hit 2 pounds the boys can be neutered and 2.5 lbs, the girls. Won't be long now but it's hard to imagine, they are so very tiny!


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