Copyright 2000.
Dumb Friends League. All rights reserved.
It’s impossible to estimate how
well any particular pair or group of cats will ultimately tolerate each
other. Some cats are unusually territorial, may never adjust to sharing
their house, and may do best in a one-cat family. However, many aggressive
problems between cats can be successfully resolved. To do this, you may
need help, both from your veterinarian and from an animal behavior
specialist who is knowledgeable in cat behavior. Cats with aggression
problems may never be best friends, but can often learn to mutually
tolerate each other with a minimum of conflict. Working with aggression
problems between family cats will take time and commitment from you. Don’t
give up without consulting the appropriate experts.
Common Types Of Aggressive Behaviors
Between Cats
Territorial Aggression:
Cats are very territorial,
much more so than dogs. Territorial aggression occurs when a cat feels
that his territory has been invaded by an intruder. Depending on where
your cat spends his time, he may view your whole neighborhood as his
territory. Female cats can be just as territorial as males. The behavior
patterns in this type of aggression include chasing and ambushing the
intruder, as well as hissing and swatting when contact occurs. Territorial
problems often occur when a new cat is brought into a household, when a
young kitten reaches maturity, or when a cat encounters neighborhood cats
outside. It’s not uncommon for a cat to be territorially aggressive toward
one cat in a family, and friendly and tolerant to another.
Intermale Aggression: Adult male cats normally
tend to threaten, and sometimes fight with, other males. These behaviors
can occur as sexual challenges over a female, or to achieve a relatively
high position in the cats’ loosely organized social dominance hierarchy.
This type of aggression involves much ritualized body posturing, stalking,
staring, yowling and howling. Attacks are usually avoided if one cat
"backs down" and walks away. If an attack occurs, the attacker will
usually jump forward, directing a bite to the nape of the neck, while the
opponent falls to the ground on his back and attempts to bite and scratch
the attacker's belly with his hind legs. The cats may roll around biting
and screaming, suddenly stop, resume posturing, fight again or walk away.
Cats don’t usually severely injure one another this way, but you should
always check for puncture wounds which are prone to infection. Intact
males are much more likely to fight in this way than are neutered males.
Defensive Aggression: Defensive aggression occurs
when a cat is attempting to protect himself from an attack he believes he
cannot escape. This can occur in response to punishment or the threat of
punishment from a person, an attack or attempted attack from another cat,
or any time he feels threatened or afraid. Defensive postures include
crouching with the legs pulled in under the body, laying the ears back,
tucking the tail, and possibly rolling slightly to the side. This is not
the same as the submissive postures dogs show because it’s not intended to
"turn off" an attack from another cat. Continuing to approach a cat that’s
in this posture is likely to precipitate an attack.
Redirected Aggression: This type of aggression is
directed toward another animal that didn’t initially provoke the behavior.
For example, a household cat sitting in the window may see an outdoor cat
walk across the front yard. Because he can’t attack the outdoor cat, he
may instead turn and attack the other family cat that’s sitting next to
him in the window. Redirected aggression can be either offensive or
defensive in nature.
What You Can Do
- If your cat’s behavior changes suddenly, your first
step should always be to contact your veterinarian for a thorough health
examination. Cats often hide symptoms of illness until they’re seriously
ill. Any change in behavior may be an early indication of a medical
problem.
- Spay or neuter any intact pets in your home.
The behavior of one intact animal can affect all of your pets.
- Start the slow introduction process over from the
beginning (see our handout: "Introducing
Your New Cat to Your Other Pets"). You may need professional help
from an animal behavior specialist to successfully implement these
techniques.
- In extreme cases, consult with your veterinarian
about medicating your cats while you’re working with them on a behavior
modification program. Your veterinarian is the only person who is
licensed and qualified to prescribe any medication for your cats. Don’t
attempt to give your cat any over-the-counter or prescription medication
without consulting with your veterinarian. Animals don’t respond
to drugs the same way people do, and a medication that may be safe for a
human could be fatal to an animal. Keep in mind that medication, by
itself, isn’t a permanent solution, and should only be used in
conjunction with behavior modification.
What Not To Do
- If your cats are fighting, don’t allow the fights to
continue. Because cats are so territorial, and because they don’t
establish firm dominance hierarchies, they won’t be able to "work things
out" as dogs sometimes do. The more often cats fight, the worse the
problem is likely to become. To stop a fight in progress, make a loud
noise, such as blowing a whistle, squirting the cats with water, or
throwing something soft at them. Don’t try to pull them apart.
- Prevent future fights. This may mean keeping the cats
totally separated from each other while you’re working on the problem,
or at least preventing contact between them in situations likely to
trigger a fight.
- Don’t try to punish the cats involved. Punishment is
likely to elicit further aggression and fearful responses, which will
only make the problem worse. If you attempt punishment, you may become a
target for redirected and defensive aggression.
Because their social organization is somewhat flexible,
some cats are relatively tolerant of sharing their house and territory
with multiple cats. It’s not uncommon for a cat to tolerate some cats, but
not get along with others in the house. However, the more cats sharing the
same territory, the more likely it is that some of your cats will begin
fighting with each other.
When you introduce cats to each other, one of them may
send "play" signals which can be misinterpreted by the other cat. If those
signals are interpreted as aggression by one of the cats, then you should
handle the situation as "aggressive."
The factors that determine how well cats will get along
together are not fully understood. Cats that are well-socialized (they had
pleasant experiences with other cats during kittenhood) will likely be
more sociable than those that haven’t been around many other cats. On the
other hand, "street cats" that are in the habit of fighting with other
cats in order to defend their territory and food resources, may not do
well in a multi-cat household. Genetic factors also influence a cat’s
temperament, so friendly parents are probably more likely to produce
friendly offspring. |
