Of my two 10-month-old kittens, each has a separate reaction to treats that is weird:
Katniss can't deal with the texture of treats. Freeze-dried, kibble-shaped, chewy - she can't figure out how to eat them. If I tear the freeze-dried chicken into very small pieces, she can manage it, awkwardly, dropping a lot as she's trying to eat it. But when it comes to other shapes and forms, she just licks them a bit and then gives up, or possibly licks one up but then drops it out of her mouth. This doesn't happen with regular kibble or wet food. I do think her way of taking the regular food in is a bit labored, definitely compared with Joakim's. He just hoovers up the dry food, while she seems to be licking a small bit and then lifting her head to swallow, then licking again. The same happens with water: She will lap up a little bit, lift her head, swallow, then lap up a bit more. He just hunkers down and laps.
Joakim is not territorial as a rule. He will put up with Katniss wandering over to his wet-food bowl sometimes in the middle of dinner, and wanders over to hers at every meal (his vet thinks his early life might have involved starvation - no matter what he eats or how much, he stays skinny, and he was older than she expected based on his size when she met him. I assume he has fears of not getting enough. When he does barge in on Katniss, she will usually just do-si-do around him to his bowl). Jo and Kat will eat kibble out of a No Bowl mouse together as well. But break out the treats, and Joakim immediately growls at Katniss to make sure she comes nowhere near him and his Precious. This happens no matter what kind of treat it is. I did an experiment and put kibble-type treats in a bowl, and it made no difference - treats are somehow different, and they bring out the growling.
Anyone else had this sort of thing go on? It just seems so odd to me. I basically need to keep them apart when I bring out treats, but most of the time Kat ends up not eating them anyway.
Katniss can't deal with the texture of treats. Freeze-dried, kibble-shaped, chewy - she can't figure out how to eat them. If I tear the freeze-dried chicken into very small pieces, she can manage it, awkwardly, dropping a lot as she's trying to eat it. But when it comes to other shapes and forms, she just licks them a bit and then gives up, or possibly licks one up but then drops it out of her mouth. This doesn't happen with regular kibble or wet food. I do think her way of taking the regular food in is a bit labored, definitely compared with Joakim's. He just hoovers up the dry food, while she seems to be licking a small bit and then lifting her head to swallow, then licking again. The same happens with water: She will lap up a little bit, lift her head, swallow, then lap up a bit more. He just hunkers down and laps.
Joakim is not territorial as a rule. He will put up with Katniss wandering over to his wet-food bowl sometimes in the middle of dinner, and wanders over to hers at every meal (his vet thinks his early life might have involved starvation - no matter what he eats or how much, he stays skinny, and he was older than she expected based on his size when she met him. I assume he has fears of not getting enough. When he does barge in on Katniss, she will usually just do-si-do around him to his bowl). Jo and Kat will eat kibble out of a No Bowl mouse together as well. But break out the treats, and Joakim immediately growls at Katniss to make sure she comes nowhere near him and his Precious. This happens no matter what kind of treat it is. I did an experiment and put kibble-type treats in a bowl, and it made no difference - treats are somehow different, and they bring out the growling.
Anyone else had this sort of thing go on? It just seems so odd to me. I basically need to keep them apart when I bring out treats, but most of the time Kat ends up not eating them anyway.
Who wants to be attacked by their big brother?
