Cat agression
-
Simba-raffiki-mamma
- New Cat Chatter
- Posts: 2
- Joined: Sat Aug 27, 2022 6:44 am
Cat agression
Hi all, im just looking for abit of advice, I have 2 cats female age 8 and male age 4. They are mother and son and ive had them since he was a baby. The past few days my female cat was starting jump at him and bite him more then usual until he would screech and the fight would be broken up. But last night she has started hissing, growling and grunting at him if he is in the same room as him going as far to run across the room and attack him. I don't know what to do with them as they need to be separated but with the lay out of my house one will only have 1 room and the other will have run of the house and I feel like that might cause some problems, im lost for what to do and it's killing me as I'm too scared to leave them incase something happens while I'm at work. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
-
Oleg
- Frequent Cat Chatter
- Posts: 18
- Joined: Mon Aug 22, 2022 9:16 pm
- No. of cats in household: 4
- Location: In my Croatian mind
Re: Cat agression
Hello 
I would like to ask you some questions.
Are they both fixed? If yes, when?
Are they ever going outside?
Do they share their litter box?
How do they eat- any problems if they eat together?
How was their relationship before?
We have 4 cats, two of them have a strange relation, she keeps attacking him and he is twice her size but won't fight back, runs away and hisses.
In her case, it is a matter of dominance, she feels important when she does that and is putting him on a lower scale than her. Just recently, he started to fight back, just for defence, and showed her just how strong he can be. Now she is stalking him and does the "hit and run" technique.
Tried to do the same thing to our 13 year old male, and got quite a lesson straight away, now she approaches him in a submissive way, greets him kindly and makes sure not to agitate him.
The thing is, cats give each other lessons when one of them goes overboard.
It could be your case too, maybe the boy was too pushy, or he started to behave differently for his hormones (even fixed cats can express that sort of behaviour), and maybe she has had it and is now teaching him a lesson.
Dunno, too many things are blurry, please, describe their lifestyle through the years.
And try to remember has anything happened to the mom cat recently? Anything at all, even a tiny detail which is out of the routine (house cats are very much creatures of their routines).
The only time I really intervene between any of them is if the screams are too loud. (The other day our Tika dog dared to pass by the couch, and she should have known better, that is the Emperor's spot, so his claw got stuck to her cheek)
No matter how ugly it looks, until they are both threatening each other, it is a teaching lesson or "know your place lesson". When he started reacting, if they both puffed and started circling around each other with anger, not as a part of the play, that's when I would separate them and start worrying.
Usually, that doesn't happen with a male and a female, and usually, females are not too keen on males, while males are more prone to living their life and ignoring the subject which bothers them, females will sooner attack.
Also try to look how is she attacking him, where does she bites? If she is not going for the kill, I would say she is highly annoyed by him for a reason. And there really is a reason, you "just" have to figure it out.
Try to see if she is really angry when she does it, or does she exhibit any sort of curiosity, or anything playful? Is she frustrated?
Our female has a mission of stealing our boy's bed, and a mission to steal all of his spots (luckily for him, she has ataxia so can't jump too high). But I think she is secretly in love with him
Maybe he tried some funny business with your female and she has an alergic reaction upon seeing him.
Last thing that could be happening is health issues with your female. Any behavioural changes, if you can't find a specific reason (our Emperor for example, is very affraid of thunder, but if he behaved that way with no thunder, and no apparent reason, it is a call for concern).
Look for any other external signs, such as her gums, her poo and pee, her ears, does she vomit, looses weight, does she eat ok?
Does she have any wounds?
I would like to ask you some questions.
Are they both fixed? If yes, when?
Are they ever going outside?
Do they share their litter box?
How do they eat- any problems if they eat together?
How was their relationship before?
We have 4 cats, two of them have a strange relation, she keeps attacking him and he is twice her size but won't fight back, runs away and hisses.
In her case, it is a matter of dominance, she feels important when she does that and is putting him on a lower scale than her. Just recently, he started to fight back, just for defence, and showed her just how strong he can be. Now she is stalking him and does the "hit and run" technique.
Tried to do the same thing to our 13 year old male, and got quite a lesson straight away, now she approaches him in a submissive way, greets him kindly and makes sure not to agitate him.
The thing is, cats give each other lessons when one of them goes overboard.
It could be your case too, maybe the boy was too pushy, or he started to behave differently for his hormones (even fixed cats can express that sort of behaviour), and maybe she has had it and is now teaching him a lesson.
Dunno, too many things are blurry, please, describe their lifestyle through the years.
And try to remember has anything happened to the mom cat recently? Anything at all, even a tiny detail which is out of the routine (house cats are very much creatures of their routines).
The only time I really intervene between any of them is if the screams are too loud. (The other day our Tika dog dared to pass by the couch, and she should have known better, that is the Emperor's spot, so his claw got stuck to her cheek)
No matter how ugly it looks, until they are both threatening each other, it is a teaching lesson or "know your place lesson". When he started reacting, if they both puffed and started circling around each other with anger, not as a part of the play, that's when I would separate them and start worrying.
Usually, that doesn't happen with a male and a female, and usually, females are not too keen on males, while males are more prone to living their life and ignoring the subject which bothers them, females will sooner attack.
Also try to look how is she attacking him, where does she bites? If she is not going for the kill, I would say she is highly annoyed by him for a reason. And there really is a reason, you "just" have to figure it out.
Try to see if she is really angry when she does it, or does she exhibit any sort of curiosity, or anything playful? Is she frustrated?
Our female has a mission of stealing our boy's bed, and a mission to steal all of his spots (luckily for him, she has ataxia so can't jump too high). But I think she is secretly in love with him
Maybe he tried some funny business with your female and she has an alergic reaction upon seeing him.
Last thing that could be happening is health issues with your female. Any behavioural changes, if you can't find a specific reason (our Emperor for example, is very affraid of thunder, but if he behaved that way with no thunder, and no apparent reason, it is a call for concern).
Look for any other external signs, such as her gums, her poo and pee, her ears, does she vomit, looses weight, does she eat ok?
Does she have any wounds?
-
Simba-raffiki-mamma
- New Cat Chatter
- Posts: 2
- Joined: Sat Aug 27, 2022 6:44 am
Re: Cat agression
Hey!
Thank you for the reply!
I've answered the questions as best to my knowledge!
1. They are both fixed he has been since he was around 5 months and she was around about the same time (July 2018)
2. They are indoor cats but they have a yard they can go out and explore to get some fresh air.
3. I have 2 litter boxes for them and the male often goes outside to do a wee when he is out.
4. They have their own bowls on either side of the kitchen as the female has previous food aggression (mainly with humans going near her food, she has never been food agressive with the other cat)
5. They have always had a good relationship, they would play fight (not hurting eachother) or snuggle up on the sofa or in the bed.
6. The male doesn't really bother with the female, they would snuggle up or play fight for a while but he prefers his attention from his humans, the female was diagnosed with Feline Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy (HCM) around 3 years ago. She has outlived the vets expectations and only shows minimal symptoms e.g. gets tired easily, sleeps alot more then she used to, smaller appetite and weight gain from little exercise. We have regular appointments with the vet and she has one booked for the beginning of September. She is absolutely fine with me and any of my family who come to visit its just my male cat she seems to have a problem with.
7. The only change they have had in the past few months was one of our other cats suddenly passing away in October last year, they went through a phase where they didn't eat and would look around the house for her as she was the males sister. And around that time we had a leak in the house causing it to be abit of a chaotic period for 3 months but everything has returned to normal and I hope they have made their peace with the passing of our other cat. They pretty spoilt as they are the 'babies' of my family so they have their own presents at Christmas and their birthdays, everything we get for them we get 2 of so their is no fighting over toys or causing fights over territory.
8. I have been intervening when I hear the growls and the grunting, I normally just usher the male out of the room or create a distraction by clapping or hitting the side of the furniture, this normally gives the male enough time to run out on his own.
9. When she attacks him she runs at him to grab him by the side of the neck, this has happened 2 times when I havwnt been able to intervene quickly enough, ive watched them from a distance but he only has to be in the same room for her to attack him.
10. My male cats personality is more of a relaxed, not bothered by the other cat and would rather sit next to his humans to watch the TV. He does usually like a snuggle with the other cat but that's not alot of the time (I think he senses her bad days with her HCM
11. She will be fine until she can see him, even if it is through the door into the other room and he isn't looking at her she will start to growl and hiss, she has started hissing at me if im in the same room as her and him and will try to attack me when the male leaves.
12. She doesn't have any wounds, we have checked her incase he might if done something to her but she is fine. The male has a few marks around his neck and the top of his head, he is also very anxious walking past the room where the female has been separated into, if he hears her from the other side of the door his tail puffs up and his body starts to tremble.
13. She is going to the litter box as usual, she is eating and drinking fine, no signs of injury and no unusual signs of her pre existing condition. She even comes for cuddles with me when I'm in with her alone.
We are truly lost for whats going on, they were absolutely fine with eachother through the day and when we left them to go to bed they were asleep on either side of the sofa. It's so sudden and we still don't have any answers why they are like this. Any advice would be appreciated:)
Thank you for the reply!
I've answered the questions as best to my knowledge!
1. They are both fixed he has been since he was around 5 months and she was around about the same time (July 2018)
2. They are indoor cats but they have a yard they can go out and explore to get some fresh air.
3. I have 2 litter boxes for them and the male often goes outside to do a wee when he is out.
4. They have their own bowls on either side of the kitchen as the female has previous food aggression (mainly with humans going near her food, she has never been food agressive with the other cat)
5. They have always had a good relationship, they would play fight (not hurting eachother) or snuggle up on the sofa or in the bed.
6. The male doesn't really bother with the female, they would snuggle up or play fight for a while but he prefers his attention from his humans, the female was diagnosed with Feline Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy (HCM) around 3 years ago. She has outlived the vets expectations and only shows minimal symptoms e.g. gets tired easily, sleeps alot more then she used to, smaller appetite and weight gain from little exercise. We have regular appointments with the vet and she has one booked for the beginning of September. She is absolutely fine with me and any of my family who come to visit its just my male cat she seems to have a problem with.
7. The only change they have had in the past few months was one of our other cats suddenly passing away in October last year, they went through a phase where they didn't eat and would look around the house for her as she was the males sister. And around that time we had a leak in the house causing it to be abit of a chaotic period for 3 months but everything has returned to normal and I hope they have made their peace with the passing of our other cat. They pretty spoilt as they are the 'babies' of my family so they have their own presents at Christmas and their birthdays, everything we get for them we get 2 of so their is no fighting over toys or causing fights over territory.
8. I have been intervening when I hear the growls and the grunting, I normally just usher the male out of the room or create a distraction by clapping or hitting the side of the furniture, this normally gives the male enough time to run out on his own.
9. When she attacks him she runs at him to grab him by the side of the neck, this has happened 2 times when I havwnt been able to intervene quickly enough, ive watched them from a distance but he only has to be in the same room for her to attack him.
10. My male cats personality is more of a relaxed, not bothered by the other cat and would rather sit next to his humans to watch the TV. He does usually like a snuggle with the other cat but that's not alot of the time (I think he senses her bad days with her HCM
11. She will be fine until she can see him, even if it is through the door into the other room and he isn't looking at her she will start to growl and hiss, she has started hissing at me if im in the same room as her and him and will try to attack me when the male leaves.
12. She doesn't have any wounds, we have checked her incase he might if done something to her but she is fine. The male has a few marks around his neck and the top of his head, he is also very anxious walking past the room where the female has been separated into, if he hears her from the other side of the door his tail puffs up and his body starts to tremble.
13. She is going to the litter box as usual, she is eating and drinking fine, no signs of injury and no unusual signs of her pre existing condition. She even comes for cuddles with me when I'm in with her alone.
We are truly lost for whats going on, they were absolutely fine with eachother through the day and when we left them to go to bed they were asleep on either side of the sofa. It's so sudden and we still don't have any answers why they are like this. Any advice would be appreciated:)