Cat Training and Behavior (Domestic and Feral)/my kitten

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Expert: Dear Tabbi - 8/1/2008


Question
Just about a week ago I adopted a new baby kitten. He was found abandoned so I took him in. However, I recently realized that he is extremely aggressive around food. Every time I give him a treat or feed him, he hisses and growls at me and then attacks my hand. He is still very small and it does not hurt that bad now, but as he gets older and continues this, it could be very bad. How do I resolve this issue?  

Answer
Claudia,

He sounds like a feral kitten. Food is very important to them because as a feral they never have enough. That is an inherited trait.

Just put the food down. Don't try to feed him from your hands. When the kitten realizes that the food is not going to disappear or that he has doesn't have to fight for it he will calm down. Plus your hand coming at him is a threatening gesture and he is also reacting to that.

Just be patient and loving with him and he will learn to trust you. Everything is new and scary to him now.

Tabbi

Cat Training and Behavior (Domestic and Feral)

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Dear Tabbi

Expertise

My expertise is in helping people understand their cat (or cats) and their behavior. Questions are welcome even if you don't have a cat....just a question about them. Hopefully my experience, suggestions, and comments will be of help to you...and your cat (or cats). Looking through my past responses to questions will give you additional information and/or answers too. Domestic Cats = cats (no matter what breed) who are tame or not wild, or abandoned cats who were pets that became wild, but can be tamed again. Ferals = cats who are born with one or more parents who were wild stray cats. They usually have had no interactions with people. They have an inbred distrust of humans and are difficult to socialize. They are skittish, hide, and are afraid of people. They take a lot of time and patience to work with them. A lot of kittens from shelters had a feral parent.

Experience

Since I was a child, over 45 years, I have been owned by a LOT of cats and kittens of almost every temperament, behavior, and personality. I have had experience with neurotic, disabled (including blind), stray, and 'problem child' cats and kittens. (A few normal cats too!) Plus all the things a lifetime of owning cats and research has taught me. I also have experience in feral cat behavior (which is different from domestic cats), and some experience with feral colonies that includes colony feeding and feral cat TNR (trap/neuter/release).

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