Food aggression in cats?

[flybye023]

I've heard about food aggression in dogs, but has anyone heard of it in cats? My cat has become extremely aggressive over food and I'm not sure if it's behavioral or what. I do have an appointment with the vet next week but I'm wondering if I'm overreacting a little.

Basically, he has become very bold in begging when we're eating. He will attempt (and sometime succeed) to steal food off our plates. He's even gone after a forkful of food as I'm eating. He's started to get into the trash--we have to be very careful what we throw away and how. Usually if it's something he might like we have to bury down in the garbage can (it's almost too tall for him to get into so the food pretty much has to be right on top for him to get it).

Another thing is he's started not being very careful about investigating something before he eats it. Bite first, ask questions later. He ate a jalapeno slice and spent the next 10 minutes throwing up everywhere.

Like I said, we're taking him to the vet but I would appreciate any input in the meantime.

[MoonCat]

Is he losing weight? If his appetite has gotten that fierce, there could well be a medical reason.

Is he eating his own food and keeping it down? Has he increased his water intake as well? These are some of the things your vet will ask you.

Good luck, I hope there's nothing too serious going on!

[BlaqueKatt]

polyphagia

some information on cat foods-general rule of thumb for animal foods, if they have an advertising budget, they are the cat food equivalent of fast food for humans. Cheap and very little nutrition.(cat chow, science diet, IAMS-all poor quality ingredients)

The first ingredient listed on the label should be an animal protein, such as chicken, fish, liver, or beef.(ideally at least 3 of the first 5 ingredients if not all five should be)

Cat chow-Poultry by-product meal
Iams-chicken by-product meal
science diet-Chicken By-Product Meal

animal by products are not animal protein. and that is the ONLY "meat" in them, the rest is corn, rice and other fillers-which leads to diabetes as it's empty calories.

My cats get nutro dry cat food and nutro max cat canned food-first ingredient in dry is chicken meal-canned-Chicken Broth, Cod, Chicken, Turkey, Beef Liver, Beef, Ground Rice, Mackerel. Most canned food the first ingredient is water. they get less of the dry as it's not as healthy for them being made from chicken meal, and they don't eat much of it anyway, 10 pound bag lasts me almost 3 months with 2 cats. And it's maybe a couple dollars more than cat chow and cheaper than IAMS or science diet. Pet smart has a similar store brand(authority), with one ingredient difference, brewers rice vs. brown rice.

the difference according to AAFCO*

Chicken by-product meal consists of the ground, rendered, clean parts of the carcass of slaughtered chicken, such as necks, feet, undeveloped eggs and intestines, exclusive of feathers, except in such amounts as might occur unavoidable in good processing practice.

Chicken Meal: chicken which has been ground or otherwise reduced in particle size.


highlight below for what meat-by products are-it's pretty nasty-as in gag inducing,
Meat By-Products are parts of slaughtered animals, not including meat (please note: no muscle meat included). Included are lungs, spleen, kidneys, brain, liver, blood, bone, partially defatted low-temperature fatty tissue, and stomach and intestines freed of their contents.

What AAFCO doesn't mention is that meat byproducts may also legally contain: "4D animals (dead, dying, diseased, down), road kill, euthanized cats and dogs, including their collars."


*definitions can be found here-AAFCO=Association Of American Feed Control Officials

[protege]

Another thing is he's started not being very careful about investigating something before he eats it. Bite first, ask questions later. He ate a jalapeno slice and spent the next 10 minutes throwing up everywhere.

I'm sorry, but this part has me Mainly because I've seen this sort of thing with my own cats. Of the two, Baxter is the more aggressive when it comes to food. He's constantly bugging me while I'm eating, or even if I open certain drawers in the kitchen. He knows where the treats are, and if he hears a similar drawer open...he goes nuts. From what I've read though, Maine Coons are *notorious* for this sort of thing. I've had a couple, and they've all shown that behavior. He'll wolf his food down, and then barf it up later. Sally, on the other hand, is all "meh" when food is around. She'll meow, but after being told "no," she leaves me alone.

[Fire_on_High]

Hmm, this doesn't sound like what's normally meant by "food aggression", actually.

One of our males has done just about everything named here; we chalk it up to the fact no one's told him he's a cat so he thinks he's just a fuzzy short human.

He's never mean or nasty about it, frankly he's usually very cute and charming when he decides to mug you. He knows if he's adorable, the worst he'll get is blocked by a repositioned hand/arm, or possibly set down on the floor.

He's gotten ahold of homemade wing sauce before, and looked like he was game to try for a second slurp. Did I mention Murloc is a very odd cat?

Best I can offer is be persistent, be firm, and don't give any mixed signals. Even if it interrupts your meals 20 times, each and every time the cat tries, tell him no, put him on the floor. Even the stubbornest cat gets the hint eventually.

[Frantic Freddie]

Is he drinking a lot of water too? A lot of people don't know this,but both dogs & cats can develop diabetes,with largely the same symptoms as humans.

[HYHYBT]

Mine are odd; they want to *investigate* anything I'm eating, even if they already know what it is, and sometimes even want their own piece... but once they have it, they don't eat it. So long as their food isn't empty, they don't care for anything else.

(And I feed them Cat Chow. I figure it can't be *that* bad for them with as many other cats in the family have lived 17-18 years on the stuff, no matter how nasty the ingredients sound to humans. The vet always says they're healthy...)

[BlaqueKatt]

(And I feed them Cat Chow. I figure it can't be *that* bad for them with as many other cats in the family have lived 17-18 years on the stuff, no matter how nasty the ingredients sound to humans. The vet always says they're healthy...)

it's not that they "sound nasty", it's not what they are designed to eat and a cat CAN'T digest plants, they are passed through as waste. And generally speaking cats don't normally eat chicken feet. and "meat-by products" I'd rather not feed my pets roadkill and euthinized dogs and cats.

to you I suggest this article

Do cats survive on these supplemented plant-based diets? Yes, many of them do.

Do cats thrive on these diets? No, they do not.

Please pay special attention to the words *survive* versus *thrive* as there is a very big difference between the two states of health.

A human can survive on fast food.

My cats are 6 and 4 years old-they both have the energy level of kittens-cats are active animals, they are not supposed to sleep all the time, though they did when I first got them. Once I changed their diet, and started feeding them a species appropriate diet, they became less lethargic, their vet said they were "healthy" before, now he has reevaluated his definition of "healthy"-he almost didn't believe they were the same cats he saw 6 months previous.

[flybye023]

Well, we've looked at diabetes and he just doesn't seem to have the symptoms. He is drinking more water but it's usually only after his begging attempts have failed. Like, "oh well, if I can't have food, I'll just have a drink of water."

He's on Science Diet and has been for years.

@ Protege and Fire_on_High: Yeah, I've seen some of this behavior in him all along. We've had him since he was a kitten and he'll be 13 this April. The problem is, it's really picked up in the past couple of months. It used to be if we refused him some of our food, that was that and he'd leave us alone. Now, it just constant begging and getting in the way.

Even if we're eating something like green beans we'll let him sniff food we know he won't like he still acts like "no, not that. I want the good food you're eating." Problem is, we're not eating anything he'll like.

[MoonCat]

OK, I didn't realize he was 13. I would definitely have him checked for thyroid problems, and for diabetes. Many vets have what's known as a "Senior Screen" which includes testing a number of things that are often problematic in older cats. 13 in a cat is roughly equivalent to late 60's for a human. If there's something going on, better to catch it now so it can be treated.

[candyshopgirl]

My cat Bubba was like this when we first rescued him. He wanted food all the time. He would steal it off our plates, out of the trash, and he would eat all the dog food. He would eat until he threw up. After we taught him some cat manners and that he wouldn't ever go without food again, he was fine. We had him checked for feline diabetes, and he was fine. I would make the vet check it for it. The signs are ravenous hunger, constant peeing and constant drinking. Also he could have Feline Alzheimer's Disease. One of the signs is increased hunger. My friends cat had this and she would walk into a room and forget what she was doing. It might be a possibility with his age.

[It shouldn't]

Our cat Sherman got senile in her old age. She would beg, we would feed her. 10 minutes later she would forget that she just ate and beg for a feeding again.

[flybye023]

Mini Update.

Took Gus to the vet today. No real bad news but not great news either. We were a little concerned about his weight loss because he lost 1 1/2 lbs. in about a 6-week timeframe. I was suspecting hyperthyroidism and the vet is kind of leaning that way too. We did some bloodwork and should have the results Monday. More concerning is that Gus has a heart murmur in both valves. Depending on the results of the bloodwork, we may also need to do an ultrasound on his heart. The vet suspects the heart walls may be thickening.

[TheSHAD0W]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZ67Bd2xTwk

Um, yes, some cats can get a bit aggressive over food.

[MaggieTheCat]

We have three cats, and I don't think they have food "aggression" but some of their behavior sounds similar to your cat's.

Ash: He's a very picky eater when it comes to cat food, but he loves meat-type human food. Roast beef is his absolute favorite. He will beg at the dinner table quite like a dog if I make any kind of meat for dinner -- heck, sometimes even when we eat vegetarian, he'll beg. He'll sit at our feet and stare up at us intently. If we ignore him long enough, he'll put his front paws up on our knees/thighs and "poke" us in the arm, and if we look at him, he'll meow. "Can I have some?" He does try to jump on the table sometimes if he's really insistent, but he knows better and we always chase him off.

Yume: She's the worst of the bunch. She has kidney disease, so we feed her a special prescription canned cat food. Unfortunately, our other two cats think her food is the best, so when we feed Yume, we have to lock her in a separate room from the other two so they don't steal her food. We feed her twice a day, once in the morning (6:30am) and once in the evening (8pm), and usually starting anytime around 6-7pm, she'll start begging for food. She will whine, and cry, and make an awful ruckus until we feed her. We've been feeding her at 8pm every day for almost the last two years, and she still puts up an awful fuss every night. I don't know how to stop it. It's annoying as hell, but not exactly destructive, so we haven't talked to a vet about it.

Pluto: We call him our little garbage disposal. He'll eat anything and everything; carrots, cereal, meat, magnets, sweaters, everything. He's the quietest of the bunch though; he hardly ever begs, he'll just scarf anything that he can get into.