Just been doing some research on cats and, apparently, Tom cats always allow the females* and any kittens in the social group to eat first.

*It's the other way round with the big cats, where I believe that the females catch the prey and then give the male first dibs on the meat!

But, I have a rescue Tom that I took in about 3 months ago. He was about 3 months old when I got him.

My two year old female always let's him eat first. Yesterday the female (unusually) asked for food. I gave her some and the Tom immediately pushed in for the dish, the female just looked a bit awkward and allowed it- she's not normally shy about telling him off.

Is she allowing him to go first and is he doing this because he's a kitten (although he is larger than her)?

Will this change as he changes from being a kitten to an adult cat in about 6 months?

Or are the experts wrong about this!?!?

Cheers.

I can only answer from a dog perspective when I looked after a bull terrier pup for a while. He always dived in on Rosie's food and she just let him. I had to feed her in a different room. I was giving them both a Jumbone as a treat but tied him up first because I knew he would snatch her's .............I gave her's first and she then walked over to him and dropped it at his feet..........I then gave her another which she kept for herself .

Awww bless, I wonder if it's something not just common to cats, but throughout the animal kingdom??

I wonder if my Tom cat will start letting the female eat first when he's no longer classed as a kitten at one year old?

I had a Staffy Akita cross that was apparently very possessive with food. So possessive that when I gave him his breakfast he used to let the two cats have first dibs, and was usually only left with the biscuits as they'd eaten all the meat. The stupid thing was he used to sit there whining at them, and a few times the cats would walk away to get a drink and when they came back he'd just sit there with this look of "fgs!" on his face. He would also quite happily share bones and treats, so where the rescue centre said he was possessive with food from I don't know.

When I got the Staffy bitch (Paris - saw her getting dumped in a bin before she'd even been properly weaned) I have now, I had a male Staffy (Cain) who was also a rescue dog and apparently bad with dogs as well. The problem was I had to have her with me as I was waiting for a rescue centre to get back to me. He took to her instantly and he would guard her and whenever it came to food he used to go to the food bowl with her and she'd be eating from between his front legs and they'd take it in turns.

I think a lot of animals have a side to them which will allow them to tolerate youngsters (and not just of their own species), as well as let them take priority with food for a while. As well as putting up with her eating before/at the same time as him he used to put up with her biting him and jumping all over him, and when he was given a treat he wouldn't touch hers. He was exactly the same with friends' kids, especially babies. If they had rusks or biscuits or something he wouldn't even pay any attention until they went to give him one and then he'd take it ever so gently.

It amazes how animals make absolutely great parents and nobody teaches them, but some humans can't even look after pets properly never mind their own children.

I've only got female cats, but my elderly tortoiseshell has her 'corner' of the kitchen where she eats. The other cats will absolutely never eat from her little plate, not even if they've emptied their own. You know how cats are - they'll come back time and again to the same dish of food.

My elderly cat will eat from the other cats' plates, but they won't touch hers. The others vary the other plates, but that's it.

I know of a local tom, though, where the owner had trouble with feeding time. She had a dog, a female grown-up cat, and one of that cat's tom kittens. The dog and the mother cat would get the food and the kitten was left with what was left, which was scraps if he was lucky. The owner couldn't see the wood from the trees, though, until I mentioned the dog might be hoovering up whatever food was put down. It seemed the owner thought they'd be polite about it.

Anyway, the owner looked like a light bulb had gone off in her head, and she monitored feeding time. Sadly, the owner found it all a bit too much trouble, so the kitten has a new owner now. The mother cat bullies the dog at feeding time, so she's okay.

We have 5 cats, one of them is a Tom (but his name is Jack).

He is the greediest out of all of them. We have an order in which we feed them - the slowest eater first, down to the greediest girl last. Then him. He meows his head off and tries to rob food from the girls in the meantime. Feed him last and he still finishes his food before the others.

why would you have a Tom cat? If you let him out you are being really irresponsible, get your cat neutered the cat population has enough kittens as it is.

As explained to you in another thread, the Tom cat is due to be neautured as soon as he is old enough.

I don't know whether this behaviour is supposed to apply only to entire toms, but our neutered tom would only let the other cat eat as long as there was food in his own dish. Once he'd finished (and all the time he'd be glancing at her dish and trying to match speed), he'd be over there and shoving her out of the way to get at whatever was left.

I use the term 'tom' for a male cat whether the cat is neutered or not. My Winston is neutered but I'd still call him a tom cat. I would have thought most people would be the same

if he was three months when you got him and you have had him three months he is more than old enough

Tom cat was always used for entire males in my day

What is a neutered male cat then? Are Queens only entire females?

I know you didn't ask me that question, but something occurred to me about the females cats I've owned. I always call a male cat a tom, neutered or not, but I only call a female cat a queen if she's had a litter. How weird. It never even occurred to me that "tom" meant an un-neutered male.

And just to be really confusing - what about my cat who has had a litter - but is now neutered? And what did you call female cats before they had kittens? I don't know of any other name for adult cats other than Tom or Queen.
I do recall that originally male cats were "Ram cats" until a popular book came out in the 1700s with a cat called "Tom".

We did Jack at 5 months, same with all the girls.

No - we had 2 toms and a female when I was a kid, and they always hogged the food at her expense, and would eat hers. She was literally pushed out of the way, and we sometimes had to feed her separately or afterwards when they were sleeping.

They didn't bully her, but she just didn't get a look in at collective meal times.

We said goodbye to our ginger tom last week. He was certainly no gentleman with his female feline companions. He yelled his head off till there was food in the bowl and would then make his way through every bit of it if he was allowed to. He drank all the water, the dogs too and had no hesitation in grabbing anything he fancied from our plates too.

I'm not sure either- maybe this explains why some Toms do it 'wrong' lol!


Same here.


My vet told me that he should be done at six months, so he will shortly be taking the trip to the vets.


I'm sorry to hear that, it's horrible when you have a cat sized hole in your life

During my research, it did say that most ginger cats are male, which I never knew.

Lol they don't follow human rules of etiquitte and politeness. Its every cat/dog for himself. Funny how people tend to anthropomorphise.

The Daily Mail reported on this phenomenon, so it must be true

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...eat-first.html

This article says that feral Toms do this, so no wonder most of our domesticated Toms don't do it!

It's ironic that feral cats are more polite than domestic cats in this instance!!!