In childhood, when the children next door look at the candy in your hand, you will instinctively protect your food. When I grew up, I found that some cats were like children. Once they had their own food, they would protect them tightly and prevent...
In childhood, when the children next door look at the candy in your hand, you will instinctively protect your food.
When I grew up, I found that some cats were like children. Once they had their own food, they would protect them tightly and prevent other cats from having the chance to take them over.
It turns out that cats also have food protection behaviors. Their food protection reasons are not single, but food protection behavior may affect the cat's life and become one of the habits that cats accompany their lives. Are cats protecting food just because they are too hungry, too delicious food, or cats' sense of territory? In fact, it is not only that cats have different forms of food protection, but these forms carry different reasons.
Some signs of cat food care behavior
How to correctly choose a cat food
Some signs of cat food care behavior are subtle, so sometimes we may not realize what cats are doing. Cats guarding their own food bowls, or the rooms they live in will not allow other cats to enter, are common intimidation strategies for cats to protect and ask for food. Some cats even drive other cats away from their food bowls or snatch other cats' food bowls.
Cats protect food more often in insecure cats. They will roar in their throats, warning other cats not to come and grab food with them. If the cat has been bullied by other animals or cats during meals before, then their food protection behavior will be stronger.
Cats will jump to their owner's table to find food to eat. In fact, this is also a manifestation of cat food protection. However, this situation is relatively hidden, and some owners don't care too much, and they don't feel that this is cat food protection, and some owners will even give the cat some food to eat. However, the cat must be stopped and corrected in time to feed the cat. Otherwise, you may not be able to enjoy your own meal in the future, because cats may come to harass and beg for food when they see their owners having meals, and they will regard their owners' dining table as their own.
Several common reasons for cats to protect food
1. Kittens are abandoned when they are young or separated from the female cat too early. Without proper weaning, they will be more likely to develop food protection.
2. Cats' food protection behavior will also occur to those cats forced to live outdoors. In order to find scarce food and survive withstand the pressure of life, they must do so. The food care behavior of pet cats usually occurs when there is one or more cats at home, and then a new cat is raised. Because indigenous cats will display self-defense instincts during dealing with new cats, which also includes food protection.
3. Inappropriate feeding can also lead to cats protecting food. For example, giving cats only a small amount of food every day or feeding them only once a day will trigger cats' desire to protect food. In the wild environment, except for sleeping, cats are either preying or on the way to prey. Their state is to eat less and more meals, so eating only once a day may break the cat's natural instinct.
4. In addition, health problems can also lead to cats protecting food. So if the cat suddenly develops food protection behavior and cannot determine what is wrong with the cat, then the editor recommends that it is best to take the cat for a physical examination to ensure that the cat's behavior is not caused by health problems.
Some tips for correcting cat food care behavior
There are still many ways to correct cat food care behavior, but these require the owner to take some time and patience to actively guide and train cats.
1. The simplest and most rude way is to separate the cats while they are eating. However, if everyone uses feeders to allow the cat to eat freely, this method may not be of great use. If this is the case, the editor recommends that you add another feeder to another separate room, which can reduce the situation where cats compete for and protect food because of the feeder.
2. If you feed cats in the same room, and the cats have not had the habit of sharing dining plates before, it is recommended to assign an independent dining plate to each cat. Then supervise them while they are eating to ensure that the cat eats on its own exclusive meal plate. If the cat has bad behavior, it will be immediately stopped and corrected.
3. Interactive games with cats and rewarding them with food can also help reduce cats' food care behavior. You can use cat sticks or other toys to interact and play with cats to ensure that cats do not show unfriendly behavior to other cats during the game. If the cats do not have a fight during the game, then after the game is over, each cat can be rewarded with some food and praised. Cats will establish positive connections during this interactive game and gradually let go of their vigilance against each other.
