Do Cats Get Hangry?

[whattheduck07]

It's a serious question haha Can cats get hangry? You know, the anger that arises from hunger. I've noticed one of my cats gets particularly aggressive near meal times and then calms down once she eats. If it is a thing, and someone here has experienced it with their furry friends, perhaps advice on how to curb the hangry?

 

[mani]

My cats will attack each other (not badly) in a kind of redirected aggression when mealtime is late.. so I guess that's  'hangry'

 

[Kat0121]

Lilith will jump up on the kitchen table or one of the chairs and wait for me to bring her dish to their table. Sophie isn't so subtle. She will sit by my feet and continually scold me until breakfast or dinner is served. She is usually not the vocal one- until she wants to eat. She is also the one who wakes me up for breakfast. Lilith never has. They must have decided that one from the beginning. 

 

[betsygee]

Jake starts meowing--wailing, really--at 5:30 - 6 a.m., LOUDLY, and will not stop until I come in to feed him.  

 

[stazie]

I think cats just get used to their feeding times and their body clocks guide them. My husband feeds the cats and gets up no later than 6 a.m. but the kitties start vocalizing at 5:30 a.m. Our old cat MEOWED, and now that she's gone, the next oldest is starting to do the same, with the youngest sitting next to him. "Hangry" is a full on blood sugar drop that happens when you've waited way too long for food. Since I don't know any pet parent who doesn't drag his/her tail out of bed in order to feed kitty on time, for my part no, cats don't get "hangry." They never have a chance to!

 

[lamiatron]

Charlie and Jet will come to me for cuddles. They shower me with love cuddles and purrs in the hopes that I will get up and give them food. They always do this before meal times, and the turn up the love even more if it's late.

Gunther gets in my face and meows like crazy. like he's yelling at me. in the kitchen he gets on the tables chairs or counters to continue to yell at my face until i put the food down for him. He definitely gets hangry. If i leave him in the bedroom while i get their food ready, you can hear him from the bedroom just meowing and yowling for his life. He acts like no one feeds him -__-

 

[vbcatparent]

My cat also act persecuted and victimized if breakfast is even 5 minutes late.

 

[betsygee]

 
My cat also act persecuted and victimized if breakfast is even 5 minutes late.

Haha, that's funny.  I'm always saying that--when breakfast time comes, there are a couple of them who act like I haven't fed them in a week....

 

[stewball]

I think cats just get used to their feeding times and their body clocks guide them. My husband feeds the cats and gets up no
later than 6 a.m. but the kitties start vocalizing at 5:30 a.m. Our old cat MEOWED, and now that she's gone, the next oldest is starting to do the same, with the youngest sitting next to him.
"Hangry" is a full on blood sugar drop that happens when you've waited way too long for food. Since I don't know any pet parent who doesn't drag his/her tail out of bed in order to feed kitty on time,
for my part no, cats don't get "hangry." They never have a chance to!

I free freed.

 

[vbcatparent]

We free feed, but he sleeps with us at night and in the morning his dishes tend to run low, so he expects a refill for breakfast. My MIL wakes up early and is his designated dish filler. He'd gotten to where he'd get so excited he was pushing her and making her spill it. So the next day when he did that, she pulled up the bag and said no. He learned his lesson to stop being aggressive. But he still acts like a victim until she takes care of it.

 

[sadrael]

I arrived here with the same question as the original poster. None of the responses sound even remotely like the behavior that led me here. The responses sound like the very stereotype of cat-food behavior. Cats wake you up, they howl for food, they act like they haven't been fed in weeks, and food doesn't count if either (a) it's more than 10 minutes old or (b) they can see the bottom of the dish. I'd love for this adorably annoying behavior to be the issue.

When my cat gets hungry, he gets angry... like a switch flips and he becomes vicious. His pupils dilate, his ears go back, and he will hunt. you. down. When he attacks I grab him and throw him in whatever the closest room with a door is. After a couple minutes alone he comes out like his normal self.

It seems clear that the issue is food related. He's fine after he's been fed. He only attacks me... and I happen to be the one to feed him. I never did feed him as a response to his constant begging. He gets fed on a schedule (4x a day) with dry food available in puzzle feeders (which he doesn't really engage with). If I free feed him he will just eat and eat and eat the whole day long.

As of now I still put food out on a pretty regular schedule, and when he starts getting aggressive but before he gets vicious, I close him in a room and 'hide' some wet food... the idea is that maybe he will stop associating me or a specific place with getting food.

This has helped a little bit with the getting viciously attacked, but he's constantly eating... and getting fatter and fatter. He's been to the vet... this seems to be behavioral and not a known health issue...

However, he does seem to have food allergies? He's on a prescription sensitive stomach food that seems to help with bathroom issues.

This cat is so much work. And this week he attacked my face while I was stooped over tying my shoelaces. I feel like I'm at my wits end.

If anyone else has any behavioral approach ideas, I'm all ears.

 

[Hellfyre]

Sadrael I believe I am in a similar situation to you, however my cat directs her aggression towards my other cat and will only occaisionally growl at me.

I adopted both of these cats, the female 1 year ago, and the male 3 months later - theyre both from different places but were both originally feral/farm cats.

The got on great until they both reached roughly 1 year in age (theyre both the same age- 3 weeks different) from then they the female has been peeing in the house even when she goes outside and growling and swiping at the male. He is a very skittish cat but a big softy and wants to play with her but I've noticed the aggression in her has been getting progressivley worse throughout the evening in the hours leading up to supper (they get fed at 7:30am, 4:30pm & 10pm - its after 7 when its at its worst).
it gets to 9pm and he cannot even walk near her without being hissed at or swiped at.

These both also seem to have some form of food allergy - theyre not on prescribed food but it took months to be able to find a food they can eat without some kind of reaction happening from one or the other.

I'm sorry I've not been able to offer you advice on how to help deal with it, but know it isn't just your cat, it seems cats actually can get hangry. - if you ever did manage to find any solutions I'd be grateful to hear!