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Food problems (behavior related, promise!)

post #1 of 6
1/1/11 at 6:02pm
Thread Starter 
Does anyone have any clue why Walter would be SOOOO obsessive/aggressive when it comes to food? He is a pig and eats anything he can find in sight, and tackles Nora and Thomas to get any food we give them. If we feed them in the same room, Walter will push Nora and Thomas out of the way to eat their food, so we have to feed him alone in the bathroom. Thomas is not like that at all. I don't know what would cause him to act like this, and is there any way I can stop him from doing it??
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post #2 of 6
1/1/11 at 6:06pm
Is he exhibitng other Alpha cat traits?
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post #3 of 6
1/1/11 at 6:19pm
Thread Starter 
Well, other than the food thing the only thing I can think of is that he's never been scared of Nora or even flinched when she tried to show her dominance over him. What would some other alpha cat traits be? I have no clue. I should clarify and say that he isn't necessarily "aggressive" b/c he's not mean and doesn't ever fight. I have yet to hear him hiss or growl at either of the other cats. He's just a bully when it comes to food. I thought maybe it might be b/c he wasn't fed enough in one of his other homes b/c he is so much smaller than Thomas (almost 3lbs). Again, I have no clue.
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post #4 of 6
1/1/11 at 6:39pm
How long have you had him, and is he being free fed at this point? I ask because my boy was a serious food hog when I first got him - it took him a while to realize that food was always going to be there. I attribute it to him being found as a stray (although obviously had had a home, neutered and declawed, poor baby), and missing a few meals. Now he's pretty good - when he's especially hungry he may check out my girl's bowl, but never while she's there. But, geez, when I got him I once found him in a closet chewing open a bag of Nutro, pleased as can be.
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post #5 of 6
1/1/11 at 6:47pm
That sounds like Midnight! He and Luna eat together now. But if 1 of us isn't standing right over them, he'll eat his own meal, then push Luna out of the way, and begin eating her food. If Luna comes back over to her dish, he'll growl and hiss.

I showed this to my parents, when I finally noticed it happening. They have certain times their fed at. I'll stand over them while they eat. When Midnight is done, I picked him right up, carried him away from Luna still eating (out of sight out of mind). Until I knew she was done eating, Midnight didn't get put back down. I did that for about 2 weeks.

Now when they eat. Midnight still eats quicker than her. But as long as 1 of us is standing right there, he'll walk away on his own, and stay away until Luna is done eating.
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post #6 of 6
1/1/11 at 7:06pm
Thread Starter 
I've had him for just over a week, I got him on the 23rd. They aren't being free fed b/c they were going back and forth between bowls I can't keep track of how much they are eating, especially since Walter was eating everyone's food. Thomas was also eating most of Nora's food but she wouldn't eat theirs so she wasn't eating much. From what I've been told they were never strays, they were born in a trailer park and given to the rescue, and have been bounced around through 3 different fosters before they came to me. I don't know how long they stayed at each one.

It's the worst with treats. If we give them treats we literally have to hold Walter back so that Nora and Thomas can have theirs, and he struggles against us to try to get their treats.
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