I've been feeding my boys a combination of homemade ground raw food and canned food for about a month now. Every week I like to treat my boys with a larger whole chunk of meat to keep their teeth and jaws healthy. Chicken wingtips have been my go-to so far, but I saw some turkey necks for sale at the butchers the other day and decided to give those a whirl (cut into 3 pieces).
Now, one of my cats doesn't touch bone-in meat at all, although I offer it to him every week. The other boy takes it and dives right in, gnawing on it like his life depends on it. He gets pretty vocal with his growls when he's chowing down so I just stay close enough to make sure he's not choking or anything.
Today though, I gave him the 3rd of a turkey neck. He did his usual growling, but then he also started to hiss, which he doesn't usually do. When he started to get really into the neck and I heard the bone crunching and snapping I had a thought that maybe he could break his teeth, since the turkey neck bones are so much bigger than chicken wingtip bones so I tried to take it away.
He BIT me, which he's never done before. I can take away his ground raw food, his canned food, and his kibble without so much as a stink-eye from him, but this time he actually bit me HARD. Like, I'm bleeding from this puncture wound on my finger and it's coming through the band-aid. I was handling raw meat so I quickly washed my hands with soap and hot water, then put on neosporin and the band-aid, but I'm still shocked that my sweet little cuddle-bug would bite me. He's usually my chill lapcat, and my other boy is the 'run-everywhere-and-jump-at-the-walls-psycho'.
I just wanted to ask if any of you had ever had any experience with raw food aggression like this? And what can I do to stop him being so possessive of his raw food? If my other cat so much as walks into the same room as him when he's eating the chunks of raw meat he starts growling and swiping at the air. Should I stop giving him large chunks of raw and just stick with the ground raw I've been feeding for meals?
Now, one of my cats doesn't touch bone-in meat at all, although I offer it to him every week. The other boy takes it and dives right in, gnawing on it like his life depends on it. He gets pretty vocal with his growls when he's chowing down so I just stay close enough to make sure he's not choking or anything.
Today though, I gave him the 3rd of a turkey neck. He did his usual growling, but then he also started to hiss, which he doesn't usually do. When he started to get really into the neck and I heard the bone crunching and snapping I had a thought that maybe he could break his teeth, since the turkey neck bones are so much bigger than chicken wingtip bones so I tried to take it away.
He BIT me, which he's never done before. I can take away his ground raw food, his canned food, and his kibble without so much as a stink-eye from him, but this time he actually bit me HARD. Like, I'm bleeding from this puncture wound on my finger and it's coming through the band-aid. I was handling raw meat so I quickly washed my hands with soap and hot water, then put on neosporin and the band-aid, but I'm still shocked that my sweet little cuddle-bug would bite me. He's usually my chill lapcat, and my other boy is the 'run-everywhere-and-jump-at-the-walls-psycho'.
I just wanted to ask if any of you had ever had any experience with raw food aggression like this? And what can I do to stop him being so possessive of his raw food? If my other cat so much as walks into the same room as him when he's eating the chunks of raw meat he starts growling and swiping at the air. Should I stop giving him large chunks of raw and just stick with the ground raw I've been feeding for meals?
