Harvey is food aggresive

catnurse22

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I got Harvey as a feral kitten when he was very young (5-6 weeks). He's turned into an outstanding little gentleman except for one quality. Whenever he and Luke are eating together he growls at him and bats him away. They have separate bowls and Luke is never trying to get to Harvey's food, just minding his own business. It isn't too bad with their dry food. Just greenies and now I've recently started adding some wet food to their diet, and that's the worst. If Harvey finishes his first he'll growl at Luke until he runs away and continue to finish Luke's for him. I've tried separating them when I feed their wet but Luke is insanely picky and will only eat in the kitchen in his usual spot. Also tried locking Luke up and feeding Harvey and then switching, but Luke quickly caught on and won't eat his when it's his turn. It's like Harvey has traumatized him. Otherwise they get along splendidly. I just feel so bad for Luke. What can I do to change Harvey's behavior? Anything? I (and Luke for that matter) would appreciate any advice anyone can give.
 

strange_wings

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I have one that likes to push the other two out of the way and finish their food.
One thing that slows him down some is that we feed him last - if he tries to go to the other dishes we'll pick him up. And I smash his wet food down really well so that it's an almost flat layer on his plate. It takes him longer to eat it that way.
The other two get theirs (pate style) sliced in easy and quick to eat pieces.
 

stephanietx

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I have one like this. When she first came to live with us, we fed her in a separate room with the door closed. She stayed in there until our other cat had finished eating and we'd picked up the dish. We did this for months! Then, we started feeding her near our other cat, with one of us standing there supervising. As soon as she finished, we told her "No." and continued guarding against her intruding on our other cat's meal. Once again, we'd immediately pick up the dish and put it away when our other cat was finished. We did this for several months. Now, I'm able to supervise from afar, though I stay within eyesight. Hannah has learned to wait or go into the other room or to play if I distract her. I still immediately pick up our other cat's dish, but if there's just a smidgen left in the dish, I'll allow her to eat it, but I pick it up and move it to her eating spot. I don't allow her to eat from Callie's dish in Callie's eating spot so Hannah's not confused. We can't leave any food down for Callie as Hannah will help herself when we're not around.
 
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