Inter-cat aggression can become very dramatic in a multi-cat household and this situation must be stopped at all costs. There are multiple reasons why one cat displays aggression towards the other. Aggressive cats control all the aspects of the cats territory such as the food, litter box, relaxing spots, and even the attention from the owners. This leaves the victim cat usually withdrawn creating serious psychological and physical problems if they engage in fights.
Aggression between cats occurs usually when a new cat is introduced in the household or when one of the felines has been absent for whatever reason and returns home. Other causes of aggression are the limited sources of food, litter boxes and resting areas.
What NOT to do when the aggression is happening
Never touch, intervene or calm a cat when its showing aggressive behavior towards another cat. By doing this you are exposing yourself to be the target for the cat to redirect its aggression towards you.
Redirected aggression occurs where the bully cats feels threatened when confronted to an individual and it redirects its aggression towards another subject that could be a cat or a person that happens to be right next to him. Also, never punish the bully cat for his aggression, it will just worsen the problem because it will increase the cat’s anxiety and stress.
To avoid cat-to-cat aggression you need to properly introduce the felines when they meet for the first time. If you think this process was not properly done in the beginning with your cats and you already have this problem, there are some steps you can do to minimize this. First, you need to recognize the causes of the bullying behavior to eliminate it.
Causes of Inter-Cat Aggression
Aggression in cats is a complex topic and something it’s a result of a mix of several different situations. However, basically aggression between cats can be offensive or defensive. An aggressive cat that is trying to attack the other usually tries to make himself look bigger and intimidating. A fearful defensive cat tries to look smaller.
A good start to recognize the triggers of aggression is observing what was going on during the minutes previous of the bullier cat attaching the victim cat. When you properly identify these triggers you can help to change the situation. Consider that in some cases the aggression from one cat could be a sign of a medical condition, such as hypothyroidism, arthritis and others. It’s a good idea discard a medical problem if the situation doesn’t change. The older the cat, the more chances that the cause of an aggressive behavior is a underlying medical condition.
Territorial Aggression
When a cat feels that his territory is being threatened, it will display behavior such as chasing the “intruder”, hissing and swatting if close contact happens with the victim cat. Cats are very territorial animals and sometimes female cats show territorial behavior as well.
How to recognize territorial Aggression
Did one of your cats reach sexual maturity? Did you introduce a new cat or a new member of your family in your home? Do you have a neighboring cat walking outside and can be spotted by your indoor cats? Did one of your cats stay at the Vet for some days and came back home? Answering these questions will give you an idea if you are having a territorial issue with one of your cats.
When cats feel threatened in their territory they can display aggression towards one particular individual, either another cat or a family member. In a multi-cat household a bullier cat can be aggressive with only one feline while being tolerant with other cats. If you brought home a new cat or if the kitten is now an adult cat and your other feline is showing aggressive behavior, the aggressive cat feels its territory threatened.
Cat’s body language of Territorial Aggression:
- Bullier cat is patrolling constantly. Watch the cat’s tail if it’s up and the cat sniffs around while walking.
- Excess of chin rubbing and urine spraying.
- Stalking, ambushing and chasing the bullied cat.
- Hissing, swatting, growling and scratching the victim cat, usually the new cat.
Some cats show the territorial aggression as soon as they spot the targeted cat, while others wait to ambush their victim. The territory of an aggressive cat could be a part of the house, the whole house or even the outside.
Managing Cat Territorial Aggression:
- Discard a neighbor cat being spotted from the window as a trigger. If you see one, block somehow the view so your territorial cat can’t see it. Also, if there is a new family member in the household, make this person play with the cat and feed him. These two actions could avoid a possible redirected aggression towards a victim cat.
- If the aggression is constant, separate the cats with a gate in the beginning.
- Set up food, water dispensers and litter boxes in separated areas.
- Spray pheromones around the area. Slowly expose both cats to each other with the gate in between, distract the aggressor cat if you see any sign of upcoming aggression, have its favorite toy or treat in hand in case you need it. If the distraction doesn’t work have always a light panel to put in front of the gate to block the cat’s vision to the other side. If you don’t see aggression, reward the aggressive cat with treats and love.
Before removing the gate:
- Establish specific areas for each cat in the room in case you want them share the same living area but always keeping the feeding stations and litter boxes in separate rooms. The dominating cat usually decides what are its spots. Use the rest of the space to build areas for your bullied cat. You can mount boards on a wall for your bullied cat to rest or relax. Make sure not to build them higher than the dominating cat’s area.
- Increase the access of new areas for the bullied cat or for the dominant cat. The aggression will be less if you provide one of the cats a new space. Install a selective cat door to allow one of your cats to go to a different area. You can determine which cat needs a new area by observing where each cat hangs out the most. If the dominating cat gets more aggressive in an specific area of the house, increase its space in that area by installing a cat door that leads somewhere else, where the bullied cat can’t access. Sometimes this alone can calm down a territorial cat. If the victim cat has a very reduced space that the dominating cat doesn’t mind, extend somehow that space for your victim cat. This decision needs to be made from your observing skills. The idea is not having an “escape door” for the victim cat but rather reinforce the confidence of the territorial cat. This way both cats will have a better coexistence.
Defensive Aggression
A defensive aggression is displayed when a feline feels threatened and cornered, with no escape. Defensive aggression comes from a fearful cat rather than a self-confident feline, so your bully cat could be only a very fearful and anxious feline.
How to recognize defensive aggression
If your bully cat doesn’t exhibit dominance behavior such as, patrolling the house (walking confidently all around the house with a straight up tail), rubbing its scent excessively around the house nor urine marking, but it shows aggression when being close to the targeted cat, this could be a sign of defensive aggression. Defensive aggressive cats usually show body signs of defensiveness and aggressiveness at the same time.
Cat’s body language of Defensive Aggression:
- His body getting low close to the ground (defensive)
- Changing position of its ears and moving the tail back and forth (defensive)
- Tucking its tail (defensive)
- Rolling onto the side (defensive)
- Pupils dilated (defensive)
- Hissing (aggressive)
- Growling (aggressive)
- Swatting and scratching (aggressive)
Managing Cat Defensive Aggression
The best way to handle this fear aggression is to pin point the triggers that produce this response in your cat and avoid them. You will need to apply your observation skills to determine what is causing your cat to be anxious or fearful in front of the other cat. Examples of triggers are:
- The cat feels cornered in a specific area of the house when the other cat approaches.
- Anxiety when it’s feeding time
- Stressed when sharing the litter box
- Feeling threatened by a member of the family or by a neighboring cat outside, and redirecting its aggression (bad energy) towards the bullied cat.
These are only some examples of triggers for your cat to be defensive-aggressive. In some cases the cat it’s just extremely anxious in which case you need to take it to the Vet and treat him with medication. One of the worst symptoms of an anxious kitty that gives in its territorial needs due to a more dominant feline, is the cat sleeping in its own litter box. This behavior should be immediately addressed and corrected.
You can take the following steps to help a defensive-aggressive cat:
- If there is new family member, make this person gain the cat’s trust.
- If there is a neighboring cat showing up in front of the window, block this view with plants or anything that blocks your cat from spotting the threat.
- Set up a different litter box for each cat in case you have not done it.
- Set up separate feeding stations. Observe if the aggression lessens, if not, set up the feeding station of the victim cat further away or in another room. Do this process in a smooth and loving way so the victim cat doesn’t stress with these changes. If the aggressive cat eats the other’s food, set up a feeding station with a selective cat door.
- Observe in what place your fearful cat gets more aggressive. If it’s a cornered area, block it with a furniture, decorative plant or similar, this way the aggressive cat won’t feel threatened in that spot.
- Spray pheromones to relax your cats.
Follow Up. Once you have taken the above steps observe your cat’s reaction. If your defensive cat gets more used to seeing the bullied cat in the distance without displaying fearful aggression, it means the measures are working. Start putting your cats closer as the time passes with reinforcement rewards. If you see an aggressive action coming make a loud squiring noise or have a whistle at hand to blow. You can use a gate to keep them separated in the beginning, but usually this is not necessary, just eliminating the fear/anxiety triggers is enough.
Territorial Aggression vs Defensive Aggression
The difference between territorial and defensive aggression is that the fearful cat doesn’t feel its territory threatened but rather feels himself being attacked or threatened. Usually this is due to stress and anxiety in cats that can’t handle well the coexistence with another cat.
Male-to-Male Aggression
Male adult cats usually tend to fight with other males as a way to establish a matting dominance or fighting to have higher hierarchy in the cat’s social structure. This is most likely to happen in multiple-cat households with two or three males and one or two females.
How to recognize male-to-male aggression
If your kitten has reached sexual maturity or if one of your cats or both haven’t been neutered, this is an indication of male-to-male aggression. If you have a female cat coexisting with your male cats it’s also a good indicator of male-to-male aggression. Neutered males are much less likely to engage in fights so taking care of this aspect first, it’s a must. Spaying the female cat it’s a must as well.
Also, as a cat gets older it may start showing aggressive behavior towards another younger male.
Cat’s body language of male-to-male aggression:
This type of aggression displays a typical ritualized posturing of both cats when fighting. The cats stalk, staring to the rival, yowling and howling happens too. This is a dominance-submissive encounter that can be finished if one of the cats shows submissive behavior, walking away. When none of the cats want to avoid the encounter they can engage in pretty violent fights, including biting the rival’s neck. The loser cat may stop the fight for a little while by screaming, but after a few seconds they resume the posture to fight again.
Managing male-to-male aggression
Fist thing is neutering your cats if you haven’t done it yet. If your two males cats don’t get along at all, most likely you will just be happy to have them both in the same house without a fight. Probably you won’t get them to be the best buddies but you can minimize the aggression by setting up different areas for each, with food and water bowl, bedding, litter boxes, resting areas. Also, put a plug-in pheromone in the main room which are relaxing hormones.
With male-to-male aggression it takes one cat to decide submission to stop this problem. Unfortunately, if your two cats have dominant personalities this aggression will be prolonged as long as they live together.
Final Considerations
Cats social structure is flexible which creates a sort of chaos when several cats have to live together. Each cat will decide if the other cat is a threat or not, establishing a hierarchical position that leads to aggression between cats. The more cats share the same space, the more likely fights will start happening.
You need to properly introduce a new cat to your household, especially if you have an elderly cat. When introducing a new cat one of them could start playing as a sign of friendship and the other will consider this body language as a threat. If this happens when you are introducing two cats it’s better to stop the introduction and decide not to add a new cat in the house or immediately seek professional guidance. This is the very first indicative of body language misinterpretation that will happen always and will create aggression.
Never try to calm a cat by petting him, this will encourage the aggressive behavior even more. The best attitude with an aggressive cats it’s distracting him with something appealing for the cat or immediately blocking the line of sight between the bully cat and the victim cat.
Behavioral conditioning it’s a long path and the longer your cats have been fighting, the harder to correct the behavior. Don’t give up on your cats. The worse scenario could be having your cats hanging out in different areas of the house. If you can’t get your cat to stop bullying the other feline, seek professional help that could include medication. If that doesn’t work you will need to relocate one of your cats which is the saddest things to do, but the safest decision for your kitties and for you. Sometimes none of the measures will make two cats get along. Even the experts don’t have all the answers due to the complex and mysterious cat behavior.
Sources:
www.our-happy-cat.com
www.aspca.org
www.catvets.com
Goatee was an outside kitty (very friendly feral ) that got into a car engine. Her hind leg was pretty cut up. She lived in my bathroom and guest room while she was recovering. She does not like the other cats, goes after them as soon as she them. They are scared of her. I would love to find her an only kitty home, but no luck. She is very loving and sweet. I guess having to fend for herself has made her like this. Any help will be appreciated.
Hello Lynn, unfortunately feral cats don’t experience early socialization with other cats and they are very territorial; they have difficulties trusting other cats due to their survival instinct. Maybe they can achieve trusting other felines but to get there will depend on the cat’s personality. For what I can see, your cat will have trouble getting to that point with other cats. Maybe the solution is to have this cat as a single with not other cat or maybe you can try with a cat behaviorist. Hope that helps.
Hi Lorena,
We have a female cat who had the whole house to herself for 3 yrs.
We adopted two Maine coon kittens. Female & male. They were doing great all together until recently.
Now our new kittens are almost 9 months old and the male gets very excited and just goes completely nuts.
Both kittens play chase so fast they sound like a herd of buffalos! He loves to run up & down the stairs and play chase. Well, he started to chase our older female and she didn’t want to be touched. Loves to play without touching. Since the kittens don’t know any better, they want to pounce & play. The male started chasing our older cat upstairs & she seemed to think he was attacking her. She screamed, howled, hissed & ran up the stairs. This happened a few times & eventually she just should up stairs under the chair in out loft off the catwalk. We now have her water/food bowls up here along with one of the litter boxes.
She’s been there about a month now. He seems to go a bit more crazy when my husband goes up to say hello to our older kitty. He jumps on the chair, ottoman, etc. & chases her under the chair. She thinks he’s serious and we really don’t know for sure if he is. He doesn’t display any of the flat ears when chasing her?
We are at a loss for what to do. Any ideas would help us. Thanks so much. Rose
Hello Rosemary, when introducing new pets at home there is a new challenge regarding territorial dominance. In the past your female cat didn’t have to worry about it because it was the only one at home and she felt comfortable and safe in her space. With the introduction of new kittens and Maine Coons that are a little bit territorial, there is a new dynamic between all of them. It seems like the male it’s playing but it’s also testing its dominance in the house at the same time. The older female doesn’t want to go for it because she was used to be alone and doesn’t want this attention and neither wants this challenge of showing her dominance. Elderly cats are usually in disadvantage with younger cats, they need more attention and they get bullied a little due to their weaker position. There are several things you can do. You can get a cat tree/condo with three houses where the cats can establish their own hierarchy, the dominant cat will go to the top and the less dominant on the lower section. This keeps cats sort of satisfied, unless one of the cats doesn’t like this hierarchy and keeps fighting to get to the top. This cat tree/condo needs to be placed in a living area where the three cats spend their time. Together with this, and in order for your female cat to have her own space without feeling threatened you can create extra space for the older cat, I suggest you an automatic cat door with sensor so only the older cat can access to a room you choose for her. In this room you can put all her stuff. This room will be the one where your elderly female will feel safe and will get your attention without the risk of the male cat disturbing her. Hope that helps!
I have 2 young spayed females. Both adopted by me at a young age. The 1st cat Chi-Chi was spoiled rotten with 3 mos. Then I got Helen Marie. Chi was very protective of her outside and was like a nanny to her. A yr later, Helen gets pissy with Chi and arracks her and bites or chases her. Chi usually screams for me to rescue. I am now noticing the problem. It’s just the 3 of us and they both want my undivided attention. Whether Im in a chair or in bed. One will have sit or lay on my chest. If the other cat comes around the other cat runs. They watch me like a hawk when I am playing with them.
Hello Gail, cats are very particular creatures that are not supposed to share their territorial space with another individual. So when they are indoor cats they need to learn as they go and sometimes it works and they like each other and sometimes they don’t. Just like people. In this scenario Helen developed her temper as she got adult and it’s territorial about you now. You will have to smartly share your attention for both and try to define a space for each at home, where they feel more comfortable at. Cats usually define their hierarchy with a cat tree. Hope everything goes well with Chi-Chi and Helen Marie!
I’ve had Miles, neutered male, for 6 months as an only cat. He’s almost 2 years old. I’ve briefly had other cats squestered in the house and he’s always been interested in them in a way that’s not obviously aggressive. I adopted a one year old neutered male who came from a home with other cats. He spent the first couple of weeks in his safe room with some scent and space swaps and two sides of the door feeding and then we moved to the baby gate between them at meals. They sniff each other and occasionally bat through it. I’ve been letting him out, which he is dying to do, the last few days. It turns out that Miles is a bully, I guess feeling a little territorial or threatened. While there is some sniffing and breaks, and even mutual licking once, he is becoming more aggressive each day–chasing and leaping on and biting Parker, the new cat, who is smaller and being persistent about it until Parker meows. I break these up by shaking a noisemaker or throwing a blanket on them when it seems too much. Miles guards “exits” of wherever Parker might be, lying on his side, and tries to get on higher spaces, chairs or shelves, as he follows him around. This seems to be getting more intense each day. At first Parker kind of ignored him after some sniffing and now often runs from him or goes under things to make it stop. Today when I stopped things and took him back to his safe room, even there with the door closed, he hid under the futon after that session. Miles is pretty fixated on Parker when he’s around and not easily distracted by toys like his wand. I played with Parker wiht the wand while he watched and he got piloerection. He’s not very into treats. I tried giving him a lickable while Parker was out the other day, though Parker came over towards the end wanting some–I pushed him away multiple times and Miles hissed at him. I have both regular and multicat Felliway diffusers going in Miles space/the living room. I try to end things when they are positive but usually miss that window as it’s all so short and fast, and so end up ending sessions when an attack has happened and Parker is scared which isn’t great. I would really appreciate advice!
Hello Karla, I am sorry to hear your cat Miles not accepting Parker within the shared territory. I need to ask you to observe your cat’s interaction very thoughtfully, where’s the place in the house where Miles usually attacks Parker? What is Parker doing when Miles attacks him? Is he getting close to you or to a certain area in the house? Have you set up two litter boxes apart? Together we can figure out how to help them.
Help!
We have always had a multi-cat household, with cats spending their lives with us, and new kittens arriving.
Two of our girls are indoor-outdoor. The next two are male and female, indoor, with the next two indoor boys and the youngest, a female kitten who showed up one day in the yard several months ago.
Everybody gets along great, except for one. Twinkle, one of the outdoor girls, has always out it out for Sheena, of the next-oldest, boy and girl pair. Sheena is very sweet and quiet, and Twinkle intimidates her by walking around sniffing, coming up if Sheena is on the bed with me — and worst, attacking her when we’re not right there, esp trapping her in the smaller bathroom, behind the toilet where she can’t get out. (trying to remember to keep that door shut now, so Sheen won’t get trapped by her there.)
Every time this happens, Twinkle is put out for awhile…several hours or overnight. She has had to go out for a night ir two when it was raining; she didn’t like it and behaved for awhile after. But it never “sticks.” Just tonight, again, Sheena was screaming, and we had to come save her (in the bathroom.) The two have been together for a few years; Sheena is very touchy now, easily startled, ready to run at the first noise, and I feel so bad for her.
Along with that, Twink will not go in the box. We have four — they are in groups of two in rooms at opposite ends of the house. The water is a cat fountain in the middle of a room; the feeding is in a narrow end of the kitchen, and the cats don’t all eat at once. There is wet once a day and always dry in the dishes for them.
I want to do do something for Sheena. and I don’t know what to do. I’ve never met a cat I didn’t like, but I actively dislike Twinkle. I pet her some, but the urination, the attacks, and just her personality — yeah, I know she can tell, but she was like this before my dislike came about (that’s what caused it), so she’s not acting out because I don’t like her as much and she can feel it or anything.
Is there any way to get Twink from disrupting our happy household? We have a cat tree, she goes out on demand (and sometimes not on demand)l; she gets along with feral cats (we live in the country), but she will not stop attacking my baby Sheen. What can we do?
Hello vladdy, according to your description it seems like it may be a territorial issue with Twinkle. She’s an indoor-outdoor cat together with the other female and Sheena is the only indoor female. The rest of the indoor are males. How does Twinkle react with the new indoor female kitten? If she starts getting aggressive with the female kitten as she grows up, it means definitely is a territorial issue. My guess is (you will never get to fully understand the cat’s mind) that Twinkle doesn’t like to get home and find another female where all the males are. Is there any particular reason why you have Sheena as an only-indoor cat?
Wow, thanks so much for your quick reply. Other than a couple of sniffs, she has ignored Stevie (new kitten). The reason for the indoor-outdoor thing is—we moved to the country from a house in town and brought Twinkle and Tux as older kittens with two others as younger (we had inherited feral kittens in town — we took the mother to be fixed, raised the kittens, found good homes for a few and kept two older and two younger.)
….we allowed all four to be outdoors at first,, thinking the country would be great and not realizing the risks. Well, soon, Twinkle and Tux were the only ones left (the other two were younger, and we never knew if they wandered off or…)
So we left Twinkle and Tux as outdoor since they were used to it and had stayed around the house during this time adapting to the country. (Tux is no trouble, rarely comes in, and ignores everybody else but us) …but as we got the next pair (Danny and Sheena) and the next (Aslan and Chang…don’t ask), we were afraid to let them out — now that we knew about coyotes and all.
So Twink and Tux were the only two indoor/outdoor…we got Danny and Sheena, who stayed inside, (and it seems Twink was after Sheen from the start. ) Then we added the next two, the boys, who stayed in, too — and Twink still went after Sheen….and when we got Stevie, she still went after Sheen…
Added note: The five indoor play and snuggle and get along fine…
So you think it’s the fact that Sheena “gets to stay home with the boys” (everybody is fixed)?
(Thanks again — tonight’s screamfest left me crying, after Sheena got trapped in the small bathroom again.)
Hi, it could be a territorial issue, or it could be simply that some cats just don’t like particular individuals, due to their personality (usually timid), the anxiety of the “victim” that bothers them, or it could be the fact that Sheena was the new female arrival and Twink didn’t like her in the beginning for that reason. It seems like you have done well regarding separating cat food, litter boxes, and all. At this point, the bad pattern has been formed on Twink’s end, and it’s hard to break it, but not impossible. Sheena and Twinkle have that “interaction’ established, Sheena gets nervous when she sees Twinkle, and Twinkle gets angry at Sheena and traps her in the small bathroom. Is there a particular reason why Sheena gets trapped in the small bathroom? Is that the only escape route Sheena has?
You’re a sweetheart to spend time with this, as we’re actually discussing taking her to the local (no-kill, of course!) shelter today. Wish we knew someone who needed a “one-cat” cat. We have NEVER taken a cat there or even given an adult cat to a good friend. They’ve always been with us for life; it’s a commitment we silently make each time we take any in/get new kittens.
Last night, feeding the cats nightly snacks, Sheena didn’t come out for them (her favorite thing)…I went around calling and looking for her, and she came hobbling out of a closet on three legs..holding one up, no weight on it. (This was after the attack) When she saw what I wanted her for, she got petted a minute and then went back into the closet for the night. I put a blanket she lies on, for the scent, in with her and left her alone.
This morning she was out, and putting weight on the foot, but limping and holding it up when she stood still. That’s when we started discussing what we could do. There are feral cats (3 of them) Twink hangs out with and eats with on the deck and in back, and we’ve asked ourselves if she could be an all -outdoor cat, too. (One of them is a bully, too, but not with Twink or Tux. He seems to realize he’s third in line for territory when they’re around) But winter is coming, and we’re in the Midwest.
The reason for the ‘bathroom trap” –Sheena roams around the house and likes places where she can feel alone for awhile. She’ll “ask” to be let into a spare bedroom, and we’ll let her in there, where she’ll be happy with the door shut for hours. I think the bathroom, behind the toilet, is just another “safe place.” As said, if nothing else, we may just start leaving that bathroom door shut. But, after seeing Sheena last night, we just don’t think it’s fair for her to live with this (and the frequent “voiding” Twink does doesn’t help, either.)
There is no “escape route” in that bathroom. It’s a hiding place with no way out — small, just the one door to go in and out — so Twink roams the house, sees her there, and attacks. Twink doesn’t chase her in there—Sheena goes in on her own and we don’t know till we hear screaming and they both come flying out when we go to investigate.
I’m home all day, but esp worry about Sheena overnight, as we often find light hair (could be from others, but it’s in good-sized pieces sometimes) when we get up.
Hope you got the last message. You’ve been kind to spend so much time helping…I’ll check this evening to see…I looked up the shelter today but couldn’t bring myself to do it yet….Twink’s been out almost 24 hours (she’s sitting on the deck looking in the window at me, so I have to keep my back to the window) , and Sheen spent most of the day with her back to the wall (heh, like a Mafia boss) so she could see who’s coming and over in the corner, licking her foot. I took a plate over to her and she ate, though, and she’s walking again, just with a limp.
Anyway…I know when Tom gets home, he’ll ask if I know what I want to do, and I DON’T know what I want to do. I don’t want to part with a a member of the family, but I don’t want another member of the family to get more seriously injured next time.
Thanks again
Anyway, thanks again. Will see what
sorry for the repeats and miswording–a little anxious
Hi vladdy, I am sorry I couldn’t answer before. When I was sending you my messages I was getting ready to leave for a business trip. I am back now and saw your messages. I am really sorry about what happened with Sheena, she is not having a quality of life and when things come to aggression to the point of injury I think it’s better to relocate the aggressor to a different home or as the last resort hire an animal behaviorist that can work with you on-site. One of my friends had a similar problem but with her dogs (both females), one would always attack the other, and one day when my friend got distracted the aggressor almost killed the other dog so the decision was to give it to adoption. Sometimes saying good by is acting with love for both of your pets. Again, I am really sorry about what’s happening with your cats. I hope you can find a solution that gives you peace and that helps your two cats be happier.
All’s well that ends well. Tom found a good home. His co-worker lives on a farm and they have other cats (and other animals) — with a heated barn they go in all winter. We’re taking Twink tomorrow. Thanks for your help.
Oh, I didn’t read this message when I answered the previous long one. I am happy that Twink found a good home for her. I have the feeling she will adapt well to that environment since she likes to hang out with feral cats. Thank you so much for your love for cats and for how much you care for them. I will be thinking about Twink to send her good vibes for her to be much happier in her new home. Thanks for sharing with me your concerns and I am sorry I couldn’t answer before. Good luck vladdy!
We have a brother and sister cats who were born in the wild together with 4 other siblings. We brought them home when they were 6 weeks old. They were sweet indoors cats – grooming on each other, sleeping side by side, etc, They lived in harmony for 21 months. During that time, we also had two outdoor feral cats who would come and go to outdoor feeding stations without issue. There were no negative interactions at all. A few weeks ago, out of no where, the indoor boy cat attacked his sister. We contacted our vet. We separated them for weeks and sprated pheramore spray in their separate sleeping quarters / one in the walk out basement and one upstairs. Yesterday, the basement door was slightly open the the brother attacked his sister again. He is eating well and going to bathroom, so I don’t think he is sick. Any suggestions other than keeping them separated?
Hello Susan before giving you my opinion I need to ask you some questions. Are those outdoor cats males? Can the indoor boy see them trough the window? Is your boy neutered?