Kitten becomes aggressive towards cat when she is outside

[babblino]

Hi everyone I've been gone for a while! Yuki (the aggressive kitten) has softened up a lot now that she is 8 months old. She isn't as mean as she used to be and will let us pet her and hug her without her resorting to face biting and clawing if she wants us to stop. However she becomes aggressive towards our oldest cat Kiska when Kiska goes outside.

Yuki will sit by the door and hiss and growl at Kiska, why does she do this? When Kiska is at home Yuki will chase her but it seems more like play since if Kiska hisses at her Yuki will flop over and trill at Kiska, as if to say she's not looking for a fight. But she got very territorial as soon as Kiska was outside.

Somewhat related, when strangers come into the house Yuki will be friendly with them for an hour but then become very aggressive and nervous. If anyone even walks in her direction, or just looks in her direction, she will hiss and growl. She even does it to us.

Please answer both my questions because tgese behaviours both baffle me. Is she being territorial or scared? And how can we fix this?

[Lilith]

Hi there - yes, I remember Yuki Spiritual sister to my Molly

So she's still at it is she, the little horror? Persevere with all the advice/techniques as before, though I know it can get very wearing, this kind of 'bullying but fragile' behaviour. She IS bullying Kiska and you need to stop her in her tracks, the bad girl.

Forgive my memory, but is Yuki spayed yet? It can make quite a difference in the behaviour of females.

As always, all the best, and please keep updating - good luck

[babblino]

We have spayed her but shes still as intemse as ever.

Whenever we catch her in the act of bullying Kiska we put her in my mums room for an hour. If shes let out and continues we put her back for even longer. But she seems to not have learnt her lesson. I kinda fault Kiska too because she doesn't stand her ground and fight back, I feel like if she did Yuki wouldn't see her as a total push over.

[Lilith]

Yes, it can be irritating when a cat just doesn't stand up for itself but you can't lecture a cat on assertiveness; animals accept a pecking order whereas humans don't - or shouldn't.

I feel that in a case like this you have to be vigilant and prevent the bullying cat from targeting the subservient one; watch out for Yuki lying in wait for Kiska and prevent the situation from blowing up, but I wouldn't bother putting Yuki 'in seclusion' for an hour - I don't feel cats have much sense of time; ten minutes would probably have the same impact, or even just withdrawing your attention from her from a short while. Then give her a love and tell her she's a good girl; despite her annoying behaviour she'll still need reassurance

[MarySkater]

Have you tried keeping a spray bottle of water handy, and squirting Yuki if you see the situation developing? Some cats accept this as a discipline, and it's a more instant "don't do that" than taking her to a room.

[Lilith]

Yeah, I used to squirt Molly under her tail if I caught her menacing one of the others - of course she shot round to find out why she'd got a wet bottom and literally 'lost face' as she'd backed down from her victim. In the end all I'd to do was shake the bottle or even say 'squirty-bottle's coming' and she knew to stop whatever crime she was up to. The beauty of it was that the others didn't see 'squirty bottle' as anything frightening

[babblino]

I haven't tried that yet but I don't think it will work because Yuki has always been fascinated by water and doesn't seem bothered by it. But ill keep a note of it and buy some spray bottles when i see them