Hello all,
My husband and I just adopted 2 male kittens, Leo and Ezra. They are not related and from totally different litters. They are about a week apart in age. Leo is a little orange tiger and is almost 9 weeks old and Ezra is a big black and white boy and just turned 8 weeks old. We got Ezra this past Saturday and Leo the Saturday before. We love them both to death and we are having a blast with them. However, we are having one minor issue with Leo. When we brought Ezra home on Saturday, we discovered that Leo has some food aggression issues. We tried feeding them both together from the same bowl, but once Ezra started to eat, Leo literally put his paw on top of the food and started making little growly noises while he was eating. I went to take the bowl away and he attacked my hand. It didn't hurt or draw any blood, but he still attacked it. I gently pinched the loose skin on the scruff of his neck like a mother cat would do and firmly told him no. We've been feeding them from separate bowls since then with no further issues, but tonight I figured I'd try feeding them together again and the same thing happened. These two boys get along great otherwise and love to play with each other and will snuggle up and sleep together at night, but Leo obviously does not want Ezra anywhere near his food! He doesn't care if Ezra is eating right next to him from a different bowl. He just does not want him eating out of HIS bowl! I've had cats my entire life and I've never experienced this before, especially not with a tiny kitten. Is this something that Leo should outgrow as he gets older and matures? I really hope so, because we have other cats as well and it would be kind of a hassle to have to feed him separately from everyone else!
Here are a few pictures of the little guys!
My husband and I just adopted 2 male kittens, Leo and Ezra. They are not related and from totally different litters. They are about a week apart in age. Leo is a little orange tiger and is almost 9 weeks old and Ezra is a big black and white boy and just turned 8 weeks old. We got Ezra this past Saturday and Leo the Saturday before. We love them both to death and we are having a blast with them. However, we are having one minor issue with Leo. When we brought Ezra home on Saturday, we discovered that Leo has some food aggression issues. We tried feeding them both together from the same bowl, but once Ezra started to eat, Leo literally put his paw on top of the food and started making little growly noises while he was eating. I went to take the bowl away and he attacked my hand. It didn't hurt or draw any blood, but he still attacked it. I gently pinched the loose skin on the scruff of his neck like a mother cat would do and firmly told him no. We've been feeding them from separate bowls since then with no further issues, but tonight I figured I'd try feeding them together again and the same thing happened. These two boys get along great otherwise and love to play with each other and will snuggle up and sleep together at night, but Leo obviously does not want Ezra anywhere near his food! He doesn't care if Ezra is eating right next to him from a different bowl. He just does not want him eating out of HIS bowl! I've had cats my entire life and I've never experienced this before, especially not with a tiny kitten. Is this something that Leo should outgrow as he gets older and matures? I really hope so, because we have other cats as well and it would be kind of a hassle to have to feed him separately from everyone else!
Here are a few pictures of the little guys!