How to feed 2 kittens??

[raelgrin]

Hey, me again!
I have two male kittens and I have been feeding them from the same bowl but I noticed tonight that the dominant male hissed at the little one when he tried to feed...
Should I give the little one food away from the big one or just let it ride??
Cheers,
Rachel xx

[RATTER15]

They should both have their own separate bowls!

[boxtops]

Get two bowls, Rachel - you will have to anyway ,as they get bigger. Cats become very territorial about their food, and you don't want the little one to miss out. Feed them close together by all means, but from separate bowls.

[Buenchico]

That sounds like perfectly normal cat behaviour to me ;-)

If you get them used to feeding from two separate bowls (even though those bowls are fairly close together) you should have no problems. Each kitten will be too concerned about protecting his own bowl to bother with challenging the other one for his.

Chris

[237SJ]

I think you should feed the little one away from the dominant one. They are establishing a pecking order which in the wild would probably starve the little one out but as the cats are in a domestic situation, that doesn`t need to happen

[jaydah]

feed separately if you want the weaker one to survive

[boxtops]

Rachel, how old are the kittens? Don't forget about getting them done when they are six months old - two males "undone" are likely to claim territory by spraying and you won't want that. My ponky guys are evidence to that - Rover was 4 when we got him, so he'd got into the spraying habit before we had him defrocked.

[raelgrin]

Thank you loads for this.
I have had them a week so far and just gave them one bowl because that was what they were used to but I think based on everyone's advice I will give them a bowl each now :)
They are 9 weeks old now. Biggun is 1.4kg and littler one is just under 1kg. Funny thing is that when they play fight and explore, the little one is far braver than the biggun BUT tonight shocked me over the food bowl when biggun hissed at littler one!!

[boxtops]

Rachel, they sound sweet - if I can offer you one word of advice while they are so little, it's "start as you mean to go on". Set your ground rules for them and make sure they know what you want them to do - they'll get the hang of it eventually. They are terrific creatures of habit so set those habits early and they'll pay off later! I played a lot with my kittens so when they are big they still like being handled - makes vet trips easy! Have you get pet insurance yet? It'll be nice and cheap while they are tiny, so worth doing - vet's bills are dear. My vet has a subscription scheme so I don't have to pay for their annual jabs. Also - do get them microchipped, so much safer than collars - my experience with collars has been near-fatal so I wouldn't ever suggest one.

[Barmaid]

You are so right about "habits!". My little boy came into my life when I already had an old lady. He was over dominant and used to put her off her food. So I started policing them eating and would not let him take her food off her. I then moved in with my chap who already had three cats. Now my old lady has gone and, despite being a very dominant cat in all other ways, he defers to the others when it comes to food!!! If one of the others approaches him when he is eating, he backs off.

Now he gets his food separately because he will back off and it worries me that he won't eat. So his "special place" is the windowsill and no other cat is allowed there. makes me die laughing though. Stupid cat followed me to the shop again tonight........

[raelgrin]

Heehee... Bless!!! Yes I think I WILL set some good habits now then =)