How to correct cats’ food guarding behavior? This behavior causes countless headaches for cat owners!

Feb 26,2024
5Min

How to correct cats’ food guarding? Countless behaviors that cause headaches for cat owners! In the process of raising cats, some cat owners will find that they are more aggressive when eating, with their front legs inserted into the bowl, and half of their bodies are covered If the dog or other cats come close to food, it will purr and threaten, and when it gets anxious, it will stretch out its claws to hit people, and raise its head to breathe. This is a cat's food-protecting behavior. It is a relatively extreme way of protecting food. It comes from instinct but is too exaggerated and is not a good habit.

First of all, you must understand why cats need to protect their food. This is the case. Cats' food protection comes from their uneasiness about their surroundings, and they feel that threats will take away their food at any time.

Common reasons for cats to guard their food

Premature weaning

Families with the best conditions are the best It is best to let the cat wean naturally, because premature weaning will make it easier to guard against food.

Insufficient food

Food is the basic guarantee for survival. If cats think that the food is not enough, then they will behave in a food-protective manner. This allows you to obtain more survival resources. This situation is generally seen in stray cat groups, or stray cats that have just been rescued.

Fighting for boss and territory

This situation usually occurs in multi-cat households, especially when new cats are added. In order to show their strength and compete for a higher status when dealing with animals, they will pay great attention to the right to eat first, and thus develop food-protecting behaviors.

So, if you want to correct the cat’s food protection, you must first make it believe that no one will snatch its food, and that its food belongs to it.

If the cat only has food-protecting behavior towards its own kind, the cat can handle it by eating separately. Each cat has its own food bowl and reserves enough space for eating, so that it can Reduce food protection problems caused by sharing tableware.

If the cat is also protective of food from people, then it needs to be desensitized when it is young. Although the attack power of cats is not as amazing as that of dogs, it is still very troublesome once they are scratched and bitten.

The scavenger first needs to establish a trusting relationship with the kitten. When it eats, you can gently stroke it from the back. At this time, it may make a low growl warning sound. No need to Ignore it and keep stroking it. Once you get used to it, you won't resist.

Remember not to get close to its food during the entire training process. After you are familiar with stroking its back, you can stroke its little butt for a few days, and then slowly start to touch its little head, ears, and belly.

After a few days of adaptation, you can try gently stroking the side of the cat’s face and cheeks when it is eating, and add some snacks to its cat bowl from time to time. Cats will know:This person is not here to compete with it for food, but to bring it delicious food.

Finally, the cat will gradually adapt to the harassment of the shovel when eating. At this time, you can use your fingers to fiddle with its food, but do not take it out. It won’t take long for the cat and the scavenger to adapt to each other, trust each other, and achieve the goal of correcting and improving food protection.

In fact, it is normal for cats to occasionally protect their food. After all, humans are still untamed beasts at heart, so it is better not to disturb them when they are eating.

Previous article:Under what circumstances are cats prone to cat ringworm?
Next article:What are the advantages and disadvantages of owning a cat?
Related articles