How do you deal with cats fighting?

Lozzielol · February 2012

Hello there! I have 3 lovely girls, two that are sisters of almost 2 years old. They get on brilliantly, always smooshing and cuddling

The ginger one is Izzie and the Calico is Oy.

I have another wee girl called Luna who is around 10 months now. Her and Oy get on great! These two run around, playing and having a great time.

However, Luna is constantly, constantly picking on Izzie, Izzie is a shy, sweet little girl with a heart condition, and it stresses her out after a while. She can handle the usual level of kitten-ness that Luna displays, but sometimes she gets a fair beating! We've got a few tricks to stop the crazy one, but I was wondering if you guys had any ideas as to how I can improve the situation? I mean, I doubt the two will really be 'friends', but it would be nice for Luna to leave her big sis alone once in a while!

I think the problem is exasperated by the fact we live in a small flat, and although we have access to a garden, Luna doesnt get out unless I am there to watch her because she's hard of hearing. We play with her a lot, as do all our visitors, but this thing just keeps going!

Advice guys? Any special tricks to stop a cat-fight?

soriadarkstar · February 2012

I have a very similar problem. I have 2 cats: one is 14 years old, female, with a heart murmur, and the other is a VERY rambunctious 3 year old male. The male always wants to play with the female, but all she wants to do is snuggle on the bed, and he inevitably gets her hissing and spitting and hiding under the bed.

I've heard that one way to help with this problem, especially in limited space, is to increase your "vertical territory"-- that is, get cat trees, or clear off high desks/dressers so the cats can have more of their "own" territory."

I personally just hit the young one with the spray bottle when I see him picking on the older one, but I worry about them when I'm at work all day.

Lozzielol · February 2012

I have a very similar problem. I have 2 cats: one is 14 years old, female, with a heart murmur, and the other is a VERY rambunctious 3 year old male. The male always wants to play with the female, but all she wants to do is snuggle on the bed, and he inevitably gets her hissing and spitting and hiding under the bed.

I've heard that one way to help with this problem, especially in limited space, is to increase your "vertical territory"-- that is, get cat trees, or clear off high desks/dressers so the cats can have more of their "own" territory."

I personally just hit the young one with the spray bottle when I see him picking on the older one, but I worry about them when I'm at work all day.

Hmm, we have a high bookshelf that has a blanket on, and the cats like to sleep up there. I also have a small cat tree, but I might see about getting a larger one for Luna to play on, see if it helps. I've never tried a spray bottle before, so I'll try that too. With her being hard of hearing she doesnt really respond to anything verbal, and she also totally ignores hand signals! She's a terror! My other two are so well behaved, and usually know what they are allowed and not allowed to do instantly with a noise or a wee click of the fingers. Luna just looks at me as if to say 'Yeah, so what? I'll do what I want, thank you.'

I also worry about leaving them on their own. If we find Izzie hiding when we come in it usually means Luna has been picking on her again. Sometimes Luna gets Oy completely worked up and she starts on Izzie too! That doesnt happen often, but I have seen it once or twice. Its not so serious now to be causing her too much bother but I worry about how she'll fare as she gets older, she's a nervous sort anyway. Thankfully we're moving soon, so we'll be getting a bigger place and they wont be in eachothers faces so much, I just need a few hints and tricks to keep the peace

soriadarkstar · February 2012

Your girls are all beautiful, by the way! Izzie is remarkable-- it's so rare to see an orange tabby female. Is Luna truly hard of hearing, or is she using "selective hearing"-- ignoring you when she doesn't like what you say? Just a thought, as I know my little boy does this a lot.

I've found the spray bottle to work wonders. It's gotten to the point where if I'm even holding the spray bottle, Gus (my monster cat) will stop whatever he's doing and immediately behave, because he knows what's coming. I just keep it on my bedside table and it's done remarkably well for stopping those evening brawls over who gets to snuggle with me.

Lozzielol · February 2012

Haha, yeah, Izzie is gorgeous, she has a lot of similarities with her mother (a Calico called Nina), whereas Oy takes after her dad. They're owned by a friend of mine so its interesting to see how similar they are.

Luna is definitely deaf in one ear, and has limited in the other. Her mother is completely deaf so we think its likely a genetic thing. She uses her one ear like a radar dish, looking about until she pinpoints where the noises come from. She's learned where certain noises come from, like the sound of her food cupboard, and will run directly to it, but if you make a noise she'll often run in the wrong direction looking for it. Its the cutest thing, poor wee mite. Sometimes, she'll hear something and get completely freaked out by it, as she rarely hears any low noises. Squeak at her, though, and she'll hear it. Oddly enough, to make matters worse, she cant hear the growls that Izzie or Oy give her when she's going too far, nor does she ever respond to hisses. Its like she just doesnt hear it, or simply doesnt understand.

Thanks for your replies

I will definitely be cleaning out a spray bottle for her. Knowing her, though, she'll think its a game. She spends enough of her time under the tap in the sink playing with the water!

myogibbs · February 2012

There are medications that you can give to help with this situation. Water bottles work sometimes if they don't think it is a game. Anything you can do to keep him occupied...sounds like he is bored. If there is a way, allow each cat a special place to get away from the others...Does he start fights or is it just that he wants to play? Is he neutered? Talk to your veterinarian about it...

caveats · February 2012

Beautiful kitties! We have an all-white cat as well, except he's male and definitely not hard of hearing ... he can hear the can of food being opened in the basement while he's upstairs, and he'll come HAULING down the stairs ... :laugh:

We have 4 cats, and while for the most part they get along fine (finally), our biggest boy also tends to want to play when the others aren't in the mood. I agree with the suggestion to add vertical space. We added a "throne" (small cat tree) for our tiniest cat (who was getting picked on a lot by the bully boy) that we put in the office room. She has taken to it and loves curling up on her throne. We're looking for a large tree for the living room so that she can safely chill in that room as well.

When you move, make sure you have cat-friendly spaces still as well. We were watching this episode of "My Cat From Hell" (I kid you not, it's actually quite good, I think it's a feline take of "It's Me Or the Dog") where this couple moved into a gigantic home, and all of a sudden their two cats wouldn't get along. Part of the problem was that they got rid of their ratty old cat towers since they were now living in a very nice home. The cat trainer told them to bring back the vertical space. It alleviated the submissive cat's fear of not having a safe place to view the world, so that's where we got the idea to add vertical space to our home as well.

Hope this helps. Good luck!

Lozzielol · February 2012

There are medications that you can give to help with this situation. Water bottles work sometimes if they don't think it is a game. Anything you can do to keep him occupied...sounds like he is bored. If there is a way, allow each cat a special place to get away from the others...Does he start fights or is it just that he wants to play? Is he neutered? Talk to your veterinarian about it...

They are all girls, and all fixed at around 5 months (no accidental cat babies are happening if I can help it!). Luna gets a lot of attention, she's played with a lot and she also plays with Oy. She just takes it to another level with Izzie for whatever reason. Thanks for your suggestion of medication, but ideally I'd prefer not to medicate them if possible.

I will bear it in mind, but at this stage its my last resort.

Beautiful kitties! We have an all-white cat as well, except he's male and definitely not hard of hearing ... he can hear the can of food being opened in the basement while he's upstairs, and he'll come HAULING down the stairs ... :laugh:

We have 4 cats, and while for the most part they get along fine (finally), our biggest boy also tends to want to play when the others aren't in the mood. I agree with the suggestion to add vertical space. We added a "throne" (small cat tree) for our tiniest cat (who was getting picked on a lot by the bully boy) that we put in the office room. She has taken to it and loves curling up on her throne. We're looking for a large tree for the living room so that she can safely chill in that room as well.

When you move, make sure you have cat-friendly spaces still as well. We were watching this episode of "My Cat From Hell" (I kid you not, it's actually quite good, I think it's a feline take of "It's Me Or the Dog") where this couple moved into a gigantic home, and all of a sudden their two cats wouldn't get along. Part of the problem was that they got rid of their ratty old cat towers since they were now living in a very nice home. The cat trainer told them to bring back the vertical space. It alleviated the submissive cat's fear of not having a safe place to view the world, so that's where we got the idea to add vertical space to our home as well.

Hope this helps. Good luck!

Yes, we have a small cat tree, which sits on top on a chest of drawers to lift it higher, and Luna adores this and plays on it a lot. I've never seen "My Cat From Hell", but it sounds like an amusing show! I've been looking online for floor to ceiling cat trees for the new house. Dont know if the man will like that, but I think I'll get one anyway! :happy: Izzie prefers the top of our bookshelf, she gets peace up there. Its only a few months till we move and hopefully the water bottle will do the trick until then. We'll be moving to the country, so I'll also be more inclined to sit with Luna out in the garden on nice days. Thanks for your reply!

hypersensitiveb · February 2012

Some times wallmart or even kmart has those cat trees that go to the ceiling. They are really cheap there. Try. Shelves on the wall to help get them vertical too. My cat from hell is a must see ! Love that guy he's great. But if all else fails a super soaker is a great thing lol.

anyonebutmehaha · February 2012

Is Luna truly hard of hearing, or is she using "selective hearing"-- ignoring you when she doesn't like what you say?

deafness is pretty common in all white cats....and that is contributing to the issue as you surmised OP. luna is missing key signals that clue felines in on appropriate interactions.
and you gave another clue when you said everyone makes a fuss over the little one (naturally) which feels threatening to izzy whom is probably the dominate feline in house. multi-cat households have a hierarchy just like a feral cat colony does that they work out among themselves- however humans can influence that hierarchy in ways they don't even realize causing stress among the cats....like whom gets greeted and pet first when you get home, whom gets fed fist, whom gets the most attention, etc. etc.
suggestion~
-acknowledge izzy's rank and treat her like the "head cat" in household.
-ignore luna when izzy is present. be aware of how it feels to izzy when you ignore her and fawn all over the kitten (and make your house guests aware too).
-get a few feliway plug-ins to spread calming feline pheromones throughout apt.
-redirect! whenever you see things getting tense- intervene. like capture their attention w/ an interactive toy or scoop one cat up and out of the mix BEFORE it escalates to violence..
-take a dishtowel and 'mix up' their scents. like rub it all over izzy and then rub izzy's scent all over luna.
-talk to your vet~ izzy might need a short course of behavior mod meds to break the pattern that has developed.
HTH.

Pets!

How do you deal with cats fighting?

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