We adopted two little kittens at 5 weeks old. I think the lady we got them from was some sort of cat hoarder or she was capturing ferals from outside and rehoming them.
Anyways, the kitties are two brothers. They were sweet but a little skittish when we first got them which was expected. I noticed they both ate aggressively and one, Cinna, was def more dominate. I thought maybe that would subside, but now they are 8 months old and have been neutered. Cinna, has seemed to have warmed up to us a little more and is no longer acting dominant. But the other kitty, Olive, is behaving more aggressively and dominant since being fixed. He won't let us pick him up or pet him. He STILL runs from us when he sees us coming, unless we are feeding him of course. The only time he will get close is if I am laying in bed and he will crawl up on me and force me to pet him like he is displaying some sort of dominant behavior.
But the most peculiar thing about these two, Olive more than Cinna, is that they seem to have an eating disorder. They CONSTANTLY want to eat. Olive will wolf his food down so fast that he usually will throw it up within 5 or 10 minutes. They also trash my house like little kids. If there is anything out they will get into it and tear it up. Like this morning, I woke up to a broken plate and spoon on the floor that had a little spaghetti sauce left on it and they had eaten through a package of bread rolls and ate a few of the rolls. They also found a bag of hidden and sealed cat treats and was gnawing through the package when I woke up. This kind of behavior is an everyday struggle. They get in the garbage and drag out any little thing they can find. My house is constantly covered in trash because of these two.
Cinna, I think will be okay overall, but it's been 6/7 months and Olive seems to have gotten worse. I don't know how to help him. My only other option is to rehome them (or just Olive maybe), but I hate doing that. I've tried all the suggestions from my vet and information I have found online. Any little bit of help is appreciated.
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@BadComputer Thank you. Yes, I've fed them in separate bowls since they were babies. They don't fight or anything, but just rude behavior towards each other when it comes to food. Over the last week I've actually started sitting with them on the floor with treats and when one rushes the other for his treat I gently put my hand between them and push him back. That seems to help a little. I worry more about their psyche with this eating situation. They show signs of Obsessive eating disorder and Pica. I think the lady we got them from was hoarding cats. She said she had two other litters and one on the way. She rehomed them when they were only 5 weeks old and I do not think they got any human contact or bonding. Plus she said they were fully weaned and eating dry food...AT FIVE WEEKS. So I think they were just fighting over food to survive when we got them. I got them proper kitten formula and we fed them around the clock for several weeks until they were bigger and healthier looking. ...but now we are dealing with them eating everything like locust and chewing on stuff. They literally dig in the trash, not necessarily for food, but for stuff to just chew on. I've had cats my whole life and I've never seen anything quite like it. We thought we put everything up last night, but they still managed to find a soft taco wrapped up on the counter that was overlooked. We woke up to it strewn all across the house. I'm worried they may end up eating something and causing an obstruction of some sort.
We do play with them quite a bit, which they like, but it seems like when we stand up and tower over them is when they become skittish. I think our size intimidates them. Also, when we got them, the lady said she had to trap them in her bathroom just to catch them. I noticed a week into having them that the very tip of Oly's tail was bent like it had been broken. I wonder it hadn't been shut in the door or something when she was trying to capture them. Really, it's a toss up whether this woman was hoarding cats or just catching Ferals outside and rehoming them for a fee.
Anyways, you have great suggestions, but I'm worried they are emotionally scarred and have psychological damage. I was hoping to find someone who might know more about cat psyche problems