House Cats Growling Stand Offs

[peko]

Our two house cats (5 & 5.5 year olds) started growling and fight fighting today under the bed. This way far more aggressive from the usual sparing matches they have before dinner.

We separated them all evening in different rooms. Yet, the smaller female cat kept opening the bedroom door to growl at the alpha male cat in a hallway cat standoff, or just prowled up to him to provoke a fight. I finally got the female cat into a room with a door she can't open.

This is new behavior for them. Is this normal?

Tonight they're growling at anyone who gets in the way of their cat standoffs. Lately, the alpha male has been monopolizing all of the female cat's favorite sleeping/hiding spots.

Any cat owners ever have to deal with this kind of cat behavior? How do you handle it?

 

[kirstenmeows]

Squirt bottle from the dollar store. Anytime they start the hissy shit, they get soaked (and I aim right between the eyes). I don't care who started either. All of my cats love sitting in the sink with the tap pouring on their heads, but they HATE the squirt bottle. Edward has actually bitten it on multiple occasions. If for some reason that doesn't work, blow a whistle loudly (referee type). The loud noise will bother them enough to forget whatever the current spat was about (they DON'T like loud shrill noises unless it's them making them). Hope this helps.

 

[djglobalkiller]

a co worker had this happen to him and his 3 cats, a mother and its 2 offspring.

he said shit got crazy to the point he thought they were going to try and kill each other... 1 of the kittens sided with the alpha mom, and then they bullied the other kitten.. he was afraid because they indeed got so violent that he himself had to take cover!

he said he was sure he was going to go home from work and find one of the cats dead, but alas it didnt come to that.

i asked him about 2 weeks ago how things worked out, he said after a few days it went back to normal...

thinks it was either a failed coup at house dominance, or mutiny etc or posturing for the alpha position... either way things De-escalated and went back to normal..

indeed a squirt gun or squirt bottle will help, only a small amount tho... it seems they have to work their shit out just like humans

 

[Bass-Invader]

why is there no video?

 

[praktik]

call jackson galaxy!


I dunno play with them both maybe? "My Cat From Hell" seems to have bad situations resolved @ almOst 100% from playing with the cats and getting them tired...

 

[praktik]

Other tips - look for places in the flow of your space that will lead to confrontation: choke points where a bully cat can pen in a victim cat or something - always make sure there's an exit point and try to rearrange furniture to encourage a more open space for the cats so they can freely avoid each other.

 

[sk8]

Our two boy cats did this a while back, I think it was a dominance issue for us as it seemed to start just after our first cat died (who it seems was in charge).

Went on for a few weeks, I really thought they were going to kill each other at some points. We would wake up in the morning to piles of fur in the living room. Freaked the kids out too. Then magically they went back to being buddies. I don't know who won, but it seems to have sorted itself out. They even went back to washing each other.

 

[The Kid]

Spray bottle is a great idea, I always keep one on hand. But don't worry too much, they will sort out their hierarchy on their own.

 

[Bacchus]

Spray bottles dont have enough range. I use super-soaker pistol.

 

[praktik]

We had an older female cat who was fine until we brought a kitten to the picture. Was kinda sad cause the kitten was so damned curious and fascinated by the older cat, who hated the f*ck of the kitten!

So we had about a year or so of conflict such that some sleep would be interrupted by fighting cats...

Over time though it just subsided. They are not friends now but only fight when one is blocked at an ingress/egress point every now and then. Still there will be times where they sleep about 1 foot apart from each other and that woulda been unthinkable in year 1.

 

[Sal De Ban]

dress both of them in cat-ballerina costumes. they'll have no recourse but to laugh at how stupid they look.

 

[the_fornicator]

My two cats did this after I brought one home from the vet.

For 2-3 days they hissed and fought. I alternated locking them in a bedroom with the door ever-so-slightly cracked so they could smell/see each other, but not get any claws through the cracks (held the door with a few 50lbs dumbbells).

When they stopped hissing at each other through the crack is when I opened the door and let them reunite. That only happened once.

 

[The Kid]

Am so impressed with my little guy, we're staying with friends until my new apt is ready (hopefully this weekend, yay!) and they have two cats. All are getting along famously! The Dunner is being a good boy and ignores their odd hisses and attitude. Am a proud papa right meow!

 

[ravinjunkie]

this thread is useless without pics

 

[The Kid]

here's two cats tolerating each other, Dunny is the one doing the Andy Capp impression...

 

[ravinjunkie]

worst

 

[basketballjones]

ninjetta knows all about cats
ask her