please help me! why is she being mean when eating?!?!

My new kitten is attacking sara/me/things when eating.

Whenever i gave her and sara both a treat, sara finished hers and then started sniffing at chloe... she wasnt forceful or trying to get it or anything, but chloe hissed and started slapping sara, claws out, and her tail got real big.

i have no idea how to deal with this. what is causing her to act like this?
what am i going to have to do to help her change, or will she change?

i really dont want to have to worry about feeding them seperatley because sara free feeds now.

i put my hand in to pull sara away and chloe went crazy on my hand... when sara was out of the room, i gave chloe another treat and then i scooted the treat bottle closer to her and she started smacking the hell out of it and hissing.

when they are running around they have no trouble playing, there is no hissing or use of claws at all...
in fact, i actually read somewhere on here to give the new cat and the old cat treats together so they associate a good thing with each other when you are trying to introduce them

please help me fix this, if i can!!

Maybe she took a peek at your computer and saw you only had sara in your siggy so she is jealous Ok to be serious, first I have to ask, was she a rescue kitty? or did you raise her from a kitten? If she was rescued the problem could be past food issues. How long have you had her? Has she shown food agression before?

yes, i got her from an orphan kitten rescue at a local college. i have had her two weeks and this past week i have been letting them interact with each other more, and tonight was the first time i saw any aggression

when i have been feeding her all by herself in her room i will scoop handfuls into her bowl and she never really seemed to mind, but tonight when i put treats on the floor, she minded when my hand was near

i have given them treats together once before, and i thought i heard one of them hiss, but wasnt sure, now i am

She is food aggressive and many strays are. You solve the problem by putting her treats in her bowl with her food, or stop feeding her treats altogether. A treat on the floor, is like a dead mouse to some kitties and they will fight to keep it so they can enjoy the prize. They will not take kindly to another cat or a human coming along to take thier prize or mess with them while they are eating. I doubt you can change the behavior of this kitten when it comes to this, because it is instinct, but you can stop giving treats if it bothers you so much.

Originally Posted by hissy

She is food aggressive and many strays are. You solve the problem by putting her treats in her bowl with her food, or stop feeding her treats altogether. A treat on the floor, is like a dead mouse to some kitties and they will fight to keep it so they can enjoy the prize. They will not take kindly to another cat or a human coming along to take thier prize or mess with them while they are eating. I doubt you can change the behavior of this kitten when it comes to this, because it is instinct, but you can stop giving treats if it bothers you so much.

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Oh, i see. i will try that. she doesnt seem to mind so much if you are near her food bowl, but when she did it when i gave them treats it kinda scared me cuz that was the first time i had seen her shown any kind of aggression and i dont know if that means she could be aggressive about other things. she is about 12 weeks old, but if she is not going to change, i will just give her treats differently, no problem.
thanks for the info!

Some kittens do grow out of the food aggressive stage once they realize their food sources are not being threatened. While instinct does play a very large role, environmental factors also come into play. After she realizes that she will continue to get food and perhaps treats regularly and no one takes them from her, my guess is that she will calm down a bit.