It is possible to reduce competition and therefore aggression between cats by examining the aspects where the dispute arise. Research indicates that the main causes of continuing disputes between house cats is over access to owners and to areas in the inner home territory. When one cat is stroked or fussed by the owner, the other may feel its ownership of the human is being questioned. ‘Owner scents’ can be detected on the cat even if the activity has not been observed by the bullying cat. The cause of an act of aggression may have its roots in an action between the owner and the cat that occurred in the hours preceding the violence.
An owner who has competing cats in the same home should reduce petting and fussing, and offer enhanced security for the cats by installing extra bolt holes (boxes, igloos), plus more litter trays and scratching posts, to help combat territorial and ownership disputes.
It can be extremely disturbing for owners to see pets fight and aggression is stressful for both the bully and bullied. By becoming more detached from your cats you can help to reduce competition between them, but it does mean a reduction in the contact that is the main purpose of owning companion cats.
11 responses so far ↓
1 Steph // Aug 11, 2007 at 5:58 am
Since i brought my cat home from the Vet yesterday after being spayed, the other cat has turned into a bully!
She’s hissing, baring her teeth and launching herself at the other cat. She actually managed to embed a claw into my finger today, that’s how bad she is.
The other cat can’t defend herself as she is still dopy from the op and has a buster collar on.
What can i do?
2 Stefani // Aug 15, 2007 at 7:49 am
I have three cats at home, A three legged tom cat named Tootsie, and a young fat tabby cat named Tabby and a young boy cat named Emilio Lopezz.
Emilio recently came back from the vets. He had an operation on an infected part of his shoulder from a Whitetip spider bite.
Unfortunately Tabby has taken to hissing at him as soon as she sees him and meanly trying to swipe at him. Nither of them are indoor cats and I try to pay the same amount of attention to them, but as I have studies, a new job with odd times, and my own life to run I don’t get that much time to spend with them. I have no idea why she’s doing this or how I can stop it.
Please help
A confused kitty lover.
3 CJM // Aug 16, 2007 at 8:52 pm
We have two cats. It seems that when the less dominant cat gets anything (i.e. the top level of the scratch post, a spot on the couch or queen size bed! or even attention from us the other one wants it. He bullies his way in often pushing the other cat out of the way. Its very sad……please help.
p.s. adding scratch posts won’t help we have two regular sized and two large house type posts.
4 Harriet Joubert // Jun 14, 2008 at 9:04 pm
I have resently brought a 18 month Ragdoll male home and he is very aggressive towards my female that is not a raggdoll, how can I get them to get along together? They are both desexed and if he sees her he chases her and is very agressive?
5 Maggie // Aug 6, 2008 at 6:29 am
I would like to know more information about cat’s behavior and how to treat them the best way.
I have 2 cats Sunny and Funny they are twins about 3-4 years they are both neutralized and Funny is deaf .Is there any information I should know concerning their case?
Please help!
Thanks for that website it really helped me alot.
6 Maggie // Aug 6, 2008 at 6:36 am
I would like to tell something to Stefani who left the respnse on Aug 15, 2007 at 7:49 am about Tabby and Emilio it really happened to my cats twice when my cat Funny had to take antibiotics when she was sick and Sunny her twin acted as if not knowing her I think that was because the smell of Funny changes when she takes medecins
it will take some time and they will get back to normal soon.
Wish you luck!
7 Mila // Sep 15, 2008 at 12:44 pm
My Ragdoll&Himalayian male cat is all sweet and friendly, however as much he is asking to be brushed and he is purring and leaning agains the brush all happy, he suddendly attacks my hands, bare legs or what ever flesh he can reach and bites and scratch me to the blood. He is still purring to doing so. I have checked many times for some soft, sensitive spots, but never found anything neither reaction from him as some even exists. This cat is with me since 10 weeks old, always treated with love and care. Lately is more and more agresive to the point, that I can’t even walk arround in shorts as I can be attack any time. Only I get this” cat treatment”. The same time he is waiting for me, always arround me, always sitting beside me etc. Can you advice what to do ? He was never lpunnished by any way, as I do know that it would not work anyway
thank you for your time Mila
8 gene // Dec 30, 2008 at 11:56 am
Our two, 2-1/2 year old cats are sisters. They have been together from birth. They have always gotten along very well. Then overnight they seem to have become enemies, hissing and growling at each other on sight.
We are at a loss as to what happened. Any suggestions????
Gene
9 Yvonne // Mar 25, 2009 at 6:25 pm
We have 4 cats….yes, that’s right…4. 2 are ours and the other 2 we adopted when our daughter moved in and her ex was going to get rid of the other. The 3 females have tolerated each other well enough, but when we brought home the male, the oldest female began being very aggressive to him. We did give him extra care becuse he had been ignored and slightly abused. He is loveable and shy and is still frightened of our 2 cats . The one my daughter brought home gets along great with him since they were once in the same home.
I don’t know if I can bring myself to ignore any of them..and we have 4 litter boxes. The biggest concern is the oldest female. Any other ideas?
10 Linda // May 5, 2009 at 3:57 pm
I have two cats approx 2 years old. They are brother and sister and have been together since birth. I got them at 8 weeks old from my daughter’s cat’s litter. Up until about 2-3 months ago, they got along beautifully. Now the male seeks out and becomes aggressive with the female to the point of making her cry out. He bites her hard and chases her just about everywhere. I feel bad for her and am not sure what to do to fix this for her. He even gently bit me the other day when I tried to calm him down after a chase with her. He has never bit me before. They were both fixed at about 8mos old. I would love some advice on what to do to make life better for the female without having to get rid of the male, as I love them both. Thanks.
Linda
11 Celestial Brown // Oct 19, 2011 at 2:10 pm
My male cat Prince has a bullying history. We lived in NC for 2 yrs. He was fixed early on, as he was our only boy. We have two girls as well, one a sister, Magic, one from another litter, Love. When Magic had been going thru her hormones for some time, a few months, she started bullying Love, beating her up, injuring her, chasing her so that Love had to retreat to the top of a bookshelf. Magic & Prince prevented her from coming down for a long time. The only time Love could come down was when the two of them were sleeping.Prince would more often than not, watch he like a hawk and often inflict damage ….When they were all kittens together, Love would lick them and cuddle with them. They were very close, which made it hard for me to see so much conflict……..We took care of this situation by releasing Love at a country home, where she now enjoys the outdoors…..We moved back to Iowa a month ago. Now my parent’s house has two female cats, tabby’s like Love. But these cats are like country cats, as mine are like city cats. We had zones in play at first, then we supervised them together from time to time. My mom even mixed the toys together to get them used to the different scents. Prince is our social cat, he is normally loving and loves company. He approached the two girls, Deimos & Phobos, carefully and quietly for some time. But they continued to reject him and now he seems to have realized that nice won’t work. He has resorted to chasing them aggressively, hurting them too. We have been putting Date drops in all their water, but it doesn’t seem to be working. My mom has been able to feed them all treats in one room, but that’s the only time they have been close without hissing….Just today, Prince was so tense about being kept in his zone, that he was aggressive towards my mom and bit her leg! Now he’s never done that with us before, so you can imagine our shock & disappointment with him….I really don’t know what to do at this point. Do you have any advice that might help us? Thanks for taking the time to read this♥
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