I took in a feral and hungry stray at 2 months old. He is now about 7-8 months old, and he is aggressive to me about food. He has always been understandably food fixated (just like our other cat, also a stray, has been his whole life though he has chilled a lot). He will eat anything and everything. Can't turn your back on him with food in the room. He chews through bags and boxes, steals from plates or cooking kettles. If his food is in a bowl he eats so fast he vomits so as of now it gets scattered on the floor til i get a slow feeder. He knows 'no' and generally, when food is involved, does not listen to it so I have a spray bottle in the kitchen. Cooking with him is a nightmare because of how often he tries to steal food. Even when he does listen and scrams, he's back a second later. My adult cat used to be like this, but not so bad. While he never outgrew it, he did get good enough to let us alone when I cook or during meals - but he was never aggressive about it
When i go to feed him in the morning (separate from my adult cat or he steals my adults food) he is always SUPER fixated. He gets himself worked up and makes a little chuffing noise the whole time. I'll scoot him away with a foot after telling him to get out of the food closet and usually he will make an angry little yowl and flatten his ears - about about 20% of the time, he will make his angry little yowl and bite my foot. In those instances, he gets scooped up immediately and put in the bathroom and I let him out after maybe 5-10 minutes to eat.
If he does manage to steal human food, like today he stole a chunk of my fiance's sandwich. I scooped him up and jack when to retrieve the sandwich. Kitten growled, flattened his ears and clawed at him.
I can't withhold food until he's calmed down because he just gets more and more worked up. Every feeding is like he's never eaten in his life. Feed him a treat and you're in danger of losing your fingers. Funny enough he doesn't pester me around feeding time like the other cat does, but if he thinks I'm going to the food closet the switch flips.
Will he outgrow this? Is there anything more I can do? I read feeding more than 2 meals/day but feasibly that just isnt very possible with our work schedules.
When i go to feed him in the morning (separate from my adult cat or he steals my adults food) he is always SUPER fixated. He gets himself worked up and makes a little chuffing noise the whole time. I'll scoot him away with a foot after telling him to get out of the food closet and usually he will make an angry little yowl and flatten his ears - about about 20% of the time, he will make his angry little yowl and bite my foot. In those instances, he gets scooped up immediately and put in the bathroom and I let him out after maybe 5-10 minutes to eat.
If he does manage to steal human food, like today he stole a chunk of my fiance's sandwich. I scooped him up and jack when to retrieve the sandwich. Kitten growled, flattened his ears and clawed at him.
I can't withhold food until he's calmed down because he just gets more and more worked up. Every feeding is like he's never eaten in his life. Feed him a treat and you're in danger of losing your fingers. Funny enough he doesn't pester me around feeding time like the other cat does, but if he thinks I'm going to the food closet the switch flips.
Will he outgrow this? Is there anything more I can do? I read feeding more than 2 meals/day but feasibly that just isnt very possible with our work schedules.