Cat Owners: Do your cats fight?

[zoobob9]

I've noticed that my cats fight a lot. They will refuse to get within two feet of each other, and will sometimes start a physical fight out of boredom. I have three cats, they've got to be 7 or 8 years old at least, and this behavior is present throughout all of them. They don't beat each other up to the point of blood often, maybe once every few months there'll be an actual cut.

Is this a normal behavior for cats? I noticed that my friend's cats all live together in harmony, and so I started thinking about why they're different from my own. We've never abused these animals and take very good care of them, and that's the only thing I can think of that could cause cats to behave this way.

[Eulalios]

We have an older male, younger male, and even younger female cat. When it was just the older male and even younger female, they fought for fun a couple times a week. Now that middle male has come into the mix, he and the female are fighting daily for dominance. The older male occasionally breaks that up. I expect once they've sorted the heirarchy, then they'll fight for fun again.

When I was a kid my parents had three female cats who very, very seldom fought and never for fun. Fighting for fun seems more like a male cat thing.

[Palanan]

My household has three cats, the younger ones having grown up with the older, and actual fights are vanishingly rare.

We have one smallish cat who tends to be an instigator, and he'll often chase the youngest one all over the place. She's half again his size and could kick him into the next county, but instead she hisses, growls, and runs under something. (She was born a feral junkyard cat, a genuine fierce hunter-beast, but there you go.)

These are the latest of several generations of cats in my family, and with one exception they've all been reasonably mellow with each other. (Exception: a Siamese we adopted late in his life, who Did Not Accept that he was no longer in a one-cat household.)

I couldn't say much about what's causing your cats to fight, but it's certainly not the norm in my household, nor for anyone else I know with multiple cats.

[Coidzor]

They occasionally throw little hissy fits or whap one another once or twice. So yeah, low level antagonism between cats is fairly normal. When it's nigh-constant or when it gets really violent, then you have a problem.

[Aedilred]

Although I never actually lived there per se, I was for a while an honorary housemate in a place that had between four and six cats at any given point. When I first met them there were six and they had a fairly well-established pecking order. The youngest cat obviously thought she should be the top one but the existing alpha cat could keep her in line. Sometimes when he fell ill she would throw her weight around and try to take over but he would reassert himself as soon as he recovered. Eventually he (and one of the others) died and the young female took over the lead role. That was the most harmonious period among the cats that I recall.

A few months later two kittens arrived and the queen cat hated both of them. Particularly the second, who was a boisterous young (initially un-neutered) male who grew to be the biggest cat in the house. That was about six years ago and apparently they still fight like nothing else. At various points she seems to have established her own distinct territory somewhere in the house and won't tolerate most of the other cats coming in it (in the case of one newer arrival, she won't let him in the house in daylight). There is one cat who apparently gets on with all the others (another one who arrived after I stopped visiting regularly).

So I think it really depends on the cats, and the social dynamic in the household. In this case I think it's partly a problem with the individual cat (who is very highly-strung; I'm not sure if it's a breed trait) but also that her position in the house was "usurped" by newcomers. Also that the new effective alpha cat is such a braindead twerp that he doesn't seem to bother to keep the others properly in line, which leads to a lot of challenges against him.

Essentially I think cats like to be in charge of their social environment. They will (mostly) tolerate humans, but they don't like to be subservient to other cats unless they have to be. If you have several cats, eventually it will shake itself out and you'll end up with an established social hierarchy where each of the cats knows its place and fights will be relatively rare, but in groups of two or three where they're all about the same size and age there might well be a lot of scuffling as they try to assert their dominance, and the balance of power will shift depending on factors it's probably only possible to observe if you're a cat. Or sometimes you just get one awkward cat who refuses to accept their place and keeps challenging for the top spot, which puts the others out of sorts.

I've also heard that if a mother cat has kittens, she can change in character and become grumpy if they don't leave home (assuming the house is sufficiently small that they can't stay out of each others' way), since kittens are supposed to go and establish their own territory once fully grown rather than hanging around their mother's. I don't know whether that's actually the case though, or whether it's just supposition.

There are products you can buy which are supposed to calm cats down and get them to live more easily together; I've heard success stories about them, but I've also seen them fail.

[Starwulf]

My cats play with each other when they are both inside the house, no idea what they do when they are outside(they go in and out as they please). My male cat though seems to get into horrible fights with other male cats wherever he travels(he wanders down to my sisters place at the least, which is about 2 miles away). He has almost no left ear left, and several scars across his face.

[Serpentine]

How long have the cats lived together? They need time to get used to one another.
It's important, I think, for them all to have their own space to escape to, the ability to get away from one another.
Also, have they all been desexed? That can help calm them down and reduce the territoriality.

[Kelb_Panthera]

We've got two; a large male and a noticeably smaller female.

In spite of the size difference and the male's generally mellow attitude, the female will grab at his ears and face with her teeth and just nip and tug until he gets up and wrestles with her. They don't seem to be really hurting each other but they'll thump each other pretty good with their paws; claws retracted.

The little one's only a couple of months old though, I suspect she'll mellow out after a while.

[Asta Kask]

The younger one ambushes the older one once a week or so. And the older one gives an irritated "I'm a hard working cat and I don't need this ...." hiss. Otherwise they ignore each other.

[Rain Dragon]

We've had... A lot of cats in the past. Most of them ignore each other, some of them play fight and some of them have really hated each other but usually don't come to blows. The only problem we've had was when our current cat was beating up neighbour's cats, but that was only because said cats were coming into our backyard and bullying our (then) kitten.

[Togath]

Some of my cats do..
I have, well, I have five, three of them pigmy cats.
The largest, and second oldest(about 7 years, if iirc, and who I'm pretty sure is a large pixie-bob) often goes after my oldest(21 years, a tabby I think), though he's never drawn blood.
The third youngest(6 years, a female feral pigmy I found as a kitten), and youngest(1 year, the above's kitten) have been play fighting recently, but it seems to just be play fighting rather than.. whatever the relation between my two full sized cats is.
I also have another feral pigmy cat, the young one's father... But he just sits around most of the time, though he does sometimes break up fights between my tabby and pixie-bob.

[SiuiS]

Yes and no.

They share too much space without enough security. Get more vertical space for them and they'll mellow A LOT.

My cats fight relatively frequently; one claimed the bed, one claimed the kitchen, and the oldest feels put out. Our apartment is too small for all of them, especially since they are indoor. Once we get the funds, cat runs along walls will help mellow them – even moving furniture to allow more vertical scaling helped!

Watch a few episodes of my cat from hell on Netflix!

[Creed]

My two dude cats fight, usually when I'm having dinner.

Then they cuddle up and go to sleep. Because they are painfully aware of their lack of claws.

[Palanan]

Originally Posted by Siuis
Once we get the funds, cat runs along walls will help mellow them....

I've seen these at a local rescue shelter and they look like a lot of fun. Do you know if they're fairly easy to install, or is there a lot of hassle and carpentry involved?

[Tengu_temp]

Smacking each other with paws is completely ordinary cat behaviour. Not all cats do that, because different cats have different personalities, but most do.

Now, if the claws are out and they're scratching each other, and one of them is not a young cat play-testing its hunting skills on a much older cat, then that means they're fighting for real. If it happens only rarely, then that's okay - the cats simply got into an argument, like people do. But if it's a common occurence, then you have a problem.

[SiuiS]

I've seen these at a local rescue shelter and they look like a lot of fun. Do you know if they're fairly easy to install, or is there a lot of hassle and carpentry involved?

They are basically shelves. I'm fairly certain that bolting them into studs is all you need to do; you don't even need a long track (though I'll probably have one), just a series of shelves in steps. Cats like to jump and like to be high. Just make sure there is a flow of low to high to low again. You don't want the cat to have to backtrack down the way they came up.


Smacking each other with paws is completely ordinary cat behaviour. Not all cats do that, because different cats have different personalities, but most do.

Now, if the claws are out and they're scratching each other, and one of them is not a young cat play-testing its hunting skills on a much older cat, then that means they're fighting for real. If it happens only rarely, then that's okay - the cats simply got into an argument, like people do. But if it's a common occurence, then you have a problem.

This is all true. Hissing isn't even really a sign of actual conflict; it's like swearing. "Dude back the hell off!" Etc.

What you want to look for in fighting is clawing for damage and puffy fur. Raccoon tail on a cat is a bad sign, and that's when you want to break it up (verbally).

[Pam Smith]

sometimes i hear all the hissing and baby like screaming matches and wonder is she is going to be ok. My siamese girl that is.. but then she turns up all timid and stuff, but i know she's been upto some serious raging in the back witht he other girls, who knows!? she is desexted but hey, theses bitches be crazy..

[Driderman]

More "cat highways" (elevated shelves and such for cats to move around on and lie on to supervise their territory) and one litterbox per cat can do a lot to ease tension between cats.

[Ossian]

I've noticed that my cats fight a lot. They will refuse to get within two feet of each other, and will sometimes start a physical fight out of boredom. I have three cats, they've got to be 7 or 8 years old at least, and this behavior is present throughout all of them. They don't beat each other up to the point of blood often, maybe once every few months there'll be an actual cut.

Is this a normal behavior for cats? I noticed that my friend's cats all live together in harmony, and so I started thinking about why they're different from my own. We've never abused these animals and take very good care of them, and that's the only thing I can think of that could cause cats to behave this way.

Probably not your fault. Age, gender, eating habits, how long they have been together, they all play a role. Make sure they are not too close to each other when they eat, and try to keep them entertained (toys, play with them etc...). That might help some of their edge off. But they are cats, you know.

It's a bit tough to "discipline them".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wA319ZtkTQ

They see the house as their territory, and you as (best case) an interesting and caring cat with weird hair and totally oversized or as an incapable cat, and they have to do everything for you.

[SiuiS]

More "cat highways" (elevated shelves and such for cats to move around on and lie on to supervise their territory) and one litterbox per cat can do a lot to ease tension between cats.

Good point – I think having too few boxes is my problem. We got one massive box, which has the benefit of most of the cats being okay with each other but making anxiety spike when something does cause stress.


Probably not your fault. Age, gender, eating habits, how long they have been together, they all play a role. Make sure they are not too close to each other when they eat, and try to keep them entertained (toys, play with them etc...). That might help some of their edge off. But they are cats, you know.

It's a bit tough to "discipline them".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wA319ZtkTQ

They see the house as their territory, and you as (best case) an interesting and caring cat with weird hair and totally oversized or as an incapable cat, and they have to do everything for you.

Yuss. I've conditioned my cats to see me as alpha, but then acting like a cat is something I do. ^^

Discipline doesn't work in the conventional sense of punishing bad behavior, because by the time you punish them they have no idea why you're attack in them. Especially one should never hit a cat. Nothing good comes of it. Discipline is raising them to be good in the first place. A much harder thing to do. I find "don't think of them like dogs" to be the best way to handle this. People frankly treat dogs like garbage because the dog comes back for more and loves you anyway.

[Asta Kask]

Cat sparring montage (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQxUHiyjqJo)

Music from Rocky III

[cobaltstarfire]

We recently went from 1 cat to 3 cats (a momma stray had kittens, we ended up taking in the mother and one of the kittens).

1 big orange male who's about 8 yrs now and a very whiny/mellow fellow he doesn't really like other cats that much, and the other two are little grey things. The mother is 1 yearish and a little bit fearful at times because she was a stray, and the kitten is now about 5 months old now? She's generally pretty sweet and is constantly in everyone personal space, although sometimes she runs away from everyone.

They're fairly peaceful considering there isn't really enough space in here for us to have 3 cats, and we've only had them all living in here together for about 3 months?

There might be little scuffles, mostly the kitten testing the male until he gets annoys and runs off hissing in annoyance, or pins her down and grooms her into submission.

The mother cat will also get into the males space a bunch because we haven't gotten her fixed yet so she's almost constantly in heat. Right now I prefer her in heat to be honest because when the male gets annoyed and bites her when she isn't in heat she normally starts screaming like she's dying even though he's not even hurting her. She can be a real drama queen. :smallannoyed:

Once we are able to move into a bigger space and get another liter box they'll probably be perfectly fine, they can already cuddle a little bit (in pairs, never all three at once), and the male tends to groom the others (but he gets really angry if they try to groom him). I wish he wouldn't so much cause he's been coughing up lots of gray hairballs lately.

[DrBurr]

Seems fairly common in young male cats to me. My family has four cats 2 females who are about 10 and 2 Males about 4 and 1.

When I just had the two females they wouldn't fight and its probably because they established territory of the house fairly quickly, One live almost exclusively downstairs and the other upstairs, they'd only ever meet in the Kitchen.

When we got our Orange Male, was about 2 at the time, he would chase them around but once we got our fourth cat they started fighting each other, chasing each other and sleeping together.

Occasionally the two males will fight the females but usually its because they wandered into their territory, Which is now my brother's room for one female, The Den or Kitchen for the other. The 4 year old Male tends to control my Sister's room but hes barely in there, and the 1 Year old Male likes to sit in the bathroom or garage.

So based off this I'd guess Males like to play fight, while females seem to only fight for dominance.

[Lissou]

One of my cats hisses as the others, but the others just walk away. They don't really fight. But it's a matter of personality, I've known other cats who lived together who would fight.

[Karoht]

Cats are highly territorial. Some figure out pecking order and stay within it, and all you see are the occasional play-fight tussles. Youngest VS Oldest is very common, this is usually play-fighting with a bit of assertion of dominance from the older cat.

When you see young cats, approximately the same age, and it's more than just some wrestling, when there is a LOT of vocalization leading up to it, possibly some marking of territory, then it's usually a real fight. These are dangerous, try and break them up (scruffing them both works wonders). If they sound like they are fighting at night, kennelling them at night is probably a wise idea.

If you want to calm them down, I recommend feline pheromone. Yes, I said pheromone, no it does not do what you're probably thinking it does. Google up Feliway. It doesn't stink up your house or your pet, and you shouldn't see any increase in marking behavior (if anything you should see less so long as litter is looked after properly).

And like everyone said, give them vertical places they CAN go, and 1 box per cat is always recommended. Tall cat trees are good for them, they get a lot of exercise value from them, and they feel safer when they are higher up. Lots of toys are recommended rather than just a few, and get into the habit of throwing a few toys for them when you leave the house, and when you come home, it is a great reinforcing behavior to get them into.

[Lissou]

And like everyone said, give them vertical places they CAN go, and 1 box per cat is always recommended. Tall cat trees are good for them, they get a lot of exercise value from them, and they feel safer when they are higher up. Lots of toys are recommended rather than just a few, and get into the habit of throwing a few toys for them when you leave the house, and when you come home, it is a great reinforcing behavior to get them into.

I like the rule of 1 litter box per cat, plus one (so, two if you only have one cat, 3 for two cats, and so on) because it gives them more options. It also means you don't always need to change them every day, depending on the cat, and might be able to do it every other day instead.

Also, it's good for cats to have several paths they can take from one side of your place to the other, so if you can install some sort of catwalk (like a shelf but for cats to walk around) then one can use the floor and one the catwalk, and they don't have to use the same path.
In a place with tons of hallways and stuff it's less of an issue as cats will just pick a different one, and each have their own "path territory" if you will.

[Balain]

We have a single cat and the odd time we have taken in a stray (just for a few hours to find the owner or take to a shelter (non kill one of course) we have to separate them or our cat will start fighting of course.

A friend of mine had an older cat and they took in a young stray. They fought all the time he said. Until one day another cat came in the yard and started a fight with the younger cat. The older cat stepped in and chased the strange cat away and the two were friendlier, but still fought at times.

[danzibr]

I have a cat, 16 years old, male. My wife has a cat, 8 years old, female. They get along well. They give each other space, and he sometimes "attacks" her (just smacks her around a little, no damage) to assert his authority, I think, but that's it. They've been living together for 6 years now.