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- Sep 12, 2012
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I have a new kitty (feral rescue) who is on a bland chicken and rice diet right now due to an upset tummy a couple of days ago. In the past two days the chicken and rice diet has done wonders and she loves to eat her food now. This morning, she even approached me and sniffed my hands after she had finished eating, I suspect because they smelled a little like chicken. She has never approached me before nor ever braved getting close enough to sniff my hands. I thought this evening I would try bringing a couple of tiny pieces of chicken with me so if she came over to me again after licking her bowl clean, I would see if she would accept a small piece of chicken as a treat.
So this evening, after she ate, she came over to where I was sitting on the floor and sat about a foot in front of me. I slowly placed a piece of chicken on the floor between her and me. She ate the treat. I did the same thing a second time. Same result. The third time was different. When I slowly began to move my hand to place another treat in front of her, he reached over and "bopped" me hard on my hand - making me drop the treat which she greedily gobbled up. I didn't feel claws, but that also could be because when she was at the vet 2 weeks ago they trimmed all her nails. Regardless, this isn't something I want to encourage. I simply put away the treats and let her alone in the safe room for a while.
My question is: how do I correct this behavior? I might not want to feed her another treat for a while so she gets used to approaching me without any reward of food expected. But eventually, I will want to feed her an occasional treat and I want to train her to stop swatting the "hand that feeds" if she does it again. Anyone experienced this issue with a new kitty (feral or tame) and did you have any success correcting the behavior?
So this evening, after she ate, she came over to where I was sitting on the floor and sat about a foot in front of me. I slowly placed a piece of chicken on the floor between her and me. She ate the treat. I did the same thing a second time. Same result. The third time was different. When I slowly began to move my hand to place another treat in front of her, he reached over and "bopped" me hard on my hand - making me drop the treat which she greedily gobbled up. I didn't feel claws, but that also could be because when she was at the vet 2 weeks ago they trimmed all her nails. Regardless, this isn't something I want to encourage. I simply put away the treats and let her alone in the safe room for a while.
My question is: how do I correct this behavior? I might not want to feed her another treat for a while so she gets used to approaching me without any reward of food expected. But eventually, I will want to feed her an occasional treat and I want to train her to stop swatting the "hand that feeds" if she does it again. Anyone experienced this issue with a new kitty (feral or tame) and did you have any success correcting the behavior?