How To Deal With Food Aggression in Cats

Food is a vital resource and a survival mechanism for all species, but what happens when your delightful cat becomes a tiger at mealtimes?

Food aggression is common in dogs with minimal occurrences reported in cats. Food aggression in cats manifests as resource guarding and is subtle in most situations, with serious contributions to obesity, heart disease, and other chronic problems.

In this article, we explore reasons for food obsession, investigate psychogenic abnormal feeding behaviour, and offer practical solutions for better health and welfare of cats and owners.

How Do I Know if My Cat Is Food-Obsessed?

Cats who behave aggressively prior and throughout feeding time might not just be hungry; they could be exhibiting signs of food obsession.

Symptoms include:

• Bowl guarding.
• Growl, swats, or hisses during mealtime.
• Terrorizes other household pets away from their food.
• Steals food, eats through packaging and rubbish.
• Strikes when food is present.
• Spends most of the time in the kitchen, vocalising excessively, begging for food.

Causes of Food Aggression in Cats

Cats are obligate carnivores; their natural diet consists of mostly small rodents with a high requirement for dietary protein so they cannot survive on fruits or plants. The cat’s inability to endure on a vegetarian or vegan diet increases the risk of starvation when prey and food is scarce living outdoors.

Felines, as strict meat-eaters, have extra stringent nutritional requirements and yet seem less adapted than dogs to sense nutritional imbalances so their diet should be complete, balanced, digestible, palatable, and nutritionally safe (without deficiencies).

Cats as solitary predators prefer to eat alone and frequently, inappropriately they are often fed with other cats in proximity. The inability of a cat to access a food resource safely and privately is believed to lead to overeating, obesity, under-eating, and possibly vomiting due to food gorging.

Kittens or cats who experience early weaning, nutrition deprivation or abandonment are predisposed to food preoccupation since food confiscation is perceived as a threat whereas indoor cats relying on humans for food provision are disposed to resource competition due to conflict and pre-feeding aggression when given large volumes of food once or twice daily.

What Is “Psychogenic Abnormal Feeding Behavior” ?

According to research published in the Journal of Veterinary Behavior, some cats are truly consumed with food and will act aggressively toward people and other pets while seeking out and protecting food. Researchers have characterized this unusual conduct as “psychogenic abnormal feeding behaviour.”

The first cat diagnosed with “psychogenic abnormal feeding behaviour” was Otto, an 8-month-old Siamese who was using aggression to get food. Otto tried to steal food from his owner after he had eaten his meal, he even resorted to eating plastic toys and seemed dissatisfied no matter how much food he ate.

The researchers concluded that based on normal laboratory findings (except for hyperglycaemia (high blood sugar)), the cause of Otto’s abnormal behaviour was psychogenic in origin and required psychological treatment.

Strangely, Otto exhibited another odd behaviour: pica.

Pica refers to the behavior of chewing or eating non-food items. This behaviour is more common in purebreds like Siamese and Burmese. Pica may be caused by a variety of psychological issues, including being weaned too early, stress, feelings of anxiety, and boredom. More commonly, pica may stem from physical issues like illness and dietary deficiencies.

Emotional Eating

Munching in response to stress or negative emotional state is recognized in both humans and animals and has been shown to work by alleviating the unpleasant emotional experience.

This type of eating behaviour; called stress-induced or emotional eating, is linked to the development of obesity. Emotional eating is a coping mechanism whilst overeating may be a sign that an animal’s psychological well-being is impaired.

How To Manage Food Aggression in Cats?

Solving food aggression in cats generally involves the underlying causes of your cat’s food obsession.

Sudden behavioural changes causing food aggression or excessive hunger require a veterinary health check with appropriate treatment.

Studies have demonstrated that cats are lone hunters, nibblers, and have relatively small stomachs compared with dogs. Cats prefer to eat 10-20 small meals per day. To mimic their natural hunting behaviour; owners should divide their cat’s daily food into a minimum of 5 portions fed throughout the 24-hour period.

Multi-cat household cats should be fed in separate locations to reduce competition and visibility during mealtime.

It is vital to position the water and food bowls in a quiet spot, away from unpleasant litter tray smell, bright lights, and noisy household appliances. Food should be positioned separately in case the food contaminates the water and, in an area, where your cat has a wide field of vision (in the wild felines are observant to potential predators and attacks).

Food site is also important and should be changed regularly to enable cats engage their senses in searching for their food. Make use of vertical and floor space to encourage exploratory behaviour as well as increase exercise.

Ditch the Bowl! Use Puzzle Toys!

Encourage scavenging with the use of food-dispensing toys which allows the cat to consume small meals throughout the day from multiple locations. This provides a more natural feeding model for a predatory cat although promoting mental and physical enrichment.

Feeding for Health & Wellness

Diet modification may also be necessary. Cats that are not nourished with species-appropriate foods, filling up on needless ingredients, colouring and fillers that do not provide adequate protein and fat ratios, individual amino and fatty acids for healthy brain chemistry and intracellular function may be predisposed to deficiencies.

Feeding a good quality commercial cat food is preferable as the major part of the diet by offering different food with variety of textures and flavours which maximises long-term health and welfare. Moreover, feeding a mixed diet may reduce the risk of obesity and prevention of diseases.

The overweightness epidemic is a direct reflection of the lifestyle of modern cats; cats gone from being outdoor predators to indoor confinement. Feeding methods should stimulate normal feeding behaviour to increase exercise during feeding time, promote weight loss and decrease boredom.

Beneficial Mood Food

Research into dietary variation or supplementation for anxiety and aggression in dogs and cats has revealed that the amino acid tryptophan is an antecedent to serotonin and its supplementation has shown to reduce anxiety and aggression.

High-tyrosin diets may be helpful for animals during severe stress. Alpha-casozepine, derived from bovine casein, has been found to be anxiolytic in cats and dogs. L-theanine (an amino acid found in green tea) has led to mood improvement in cats with emotional disorders (after thirty days) whilst Valerian aided with fear aggression or redirected aggression towards other cats.

Minimise Life Stressors

Limit exposure to potential triggers and stressors with the aid of feline stress remedies such as Bach flowers, pheromone-based and botanical preparations including herbs as catnip.

Behavioural modification techniques can be utilized to manage food aggression by providing the cat with environmental enrichment, scheduling playtime and owner interaction. Counter-conditioning the cat to feeding and desensitization to food is an alternative method.

Reward positive behaviour whilst avoiding punishment and prevent exposure to food, except at the time of feeding. Owner abstinence from eating in the cat’s presence and reward for calm behaviour is also of great value.

Conclusion

Resource guarding and competition cases range in complexity, but for the most part, it is a modifiable behaviour.  With the appropriate feeding and environmental techniques, you can reduce your cat’s stress and help your cat to alter their behavioural response to food.

Also Read: The 10 Best Cat Slow Feeders & Puzzle Feeders