Last summer we adopted a stray cat who is about 1 or 2 years old. However, prior to his arrival, we had 3 cats already…and we live in a rather small house. Needless to say, there has been quite a bit of conflict since. In the summer it wasn’t such a problem, because he was outside half of the day, but now that it’s too cold to go outside, the stray has been very aggresive towards the other cats.
Is there anything I can do to alleviate his aggression? Should I play with him, and try to exercise the hyperactivity out of him, or will that just agitate him more?
Define hyper-aggressive. Exactly how is he acting towards the other cats?
It could just be that he’s a dominant. Cats tend to have sort of a hierarchy-some cats are laid back, easy going, some are very dominant and controlling.
For example-we have six cats and a dog. Our oldest, Noel, is Top Cat, and VERY domineering. She will go and start eating out of the other cats’ dishes, even though she has the same food in her dish, just to show them who’s boss. Also, she and the dog tend to get into power-struggles. Occassionally, when she thought the dog hurt one of the other cats (when I accidentally closed the door on Buffy, or when my mother stepped on Maggie, and they both squealed), she has gone after the dog and tried to beat her up. I’m talking jumping on the dog’s back and smacking her.
Now Gypsy, on the other hand, the other dominant cat, will show her displeasure with some of the ones underneath her, but she’s more content to ignore them if they’re not bothering her. Our old cat, Fluffy, was like that also. It depends on the animal.
Is this how your cat is behaving? It’s probably a case of, “I’m pack leader and you better not forget it!” It has nothing to do with age, who was here first-Gypsy is younger than Misty, our second oldest, but Gypsy is still second in command.
Sometimes attacking all the other cats when they come in his line-of-sight. And if the other cat runs away, he’ll chase after them to finish the attack. Also, he is by no means hesitant to attack me, by either clawing and gnawing my hands or feet, or by latching onto a leg (the hands I’m using to type this have their fair share of knicks and scratches).
But yeah, I think you’re right about him being a dominant cat. But isn’t there anything I can do the lessen the frequency of attacks? Or do I just have to wait until summer?
The aggressive play solution is the only one I can think of. Tire the little monkey out. Frequent catnip may help, but it also could blow up in your face. My cat is is pretty passive most of the time, but goes batcrap when you give him some o’ the good 'nip. I’ve seen other cats get quite docile with catnip, though.
When I was a kid my neighbor friends had a cat named “Bently”. Bently was a humongous grey-and-black tabby which killed everything that moved, practically. I would actually fear entering my neighbors’ kitchen, because Bently offen hid beneath an antique buffet, waiting to ambush a passing leg and sink in his claws. He really was a terror. Giving Bently catnip toys to rip to shreds (which had an oddly calming effect on him), and plenty of outdoors time, as well as the threat of a swift boot if he drew blood, was about all they could do to keep him in line. A squirtgun every time he makes a move on one of your cats in the house will probably be helpful. As soon as he gives chase, let him have it, and maybe he’ll get too fearful to try. Being the dominant-type, though, he might get kind of depressed if he can’t assert himself.
There’s a product called feliway which either is made of or mimics (can’t remember) feline pheromones and is supposed to calm down rambunctious kitties and make aggressive ones less so. It comes as a spray and also as a little doodad that you plug into an outlet much like those room deodorizers, but it has no smell that humans can detect. I got it because one of my cats likes to smack around the other as well as nip at people. I found that it worked only minimally and cost a lot so I gave it up, but others have found it worked great. Might be worth trying.
I second the motion for spaying if not done already. I also recommend doing your best to tire him out. And you need to teach him that hands and feet are not toys. We finally taught our big guy this by spraying him in the face with water whenever he bit or scratched us, and then ignoring him. I think the ignoring hurt him worse than the spraying!
He’s neutered. And catnip turns him into an angry drunk. Spraying him with water hasn’t been too effective in the past either. But I haven’t tried ignoring him. Perhaps that would work. Thanks!
Ah, well it sounds like a combination of a dominant cat and one who just likes to play. Attacking the others and chasing them, and grabbing at you sounds like play.
My kitten, Maggie, likes to jump on my bed early in the morning and grab and claw at me. (The first time she did this, I was still asleep and was dreaming about being attacked and stung in the face by bees. Woke up to find the little shit looking down at me and jabbing me in the face!)
If it gets too bad, and the behavioral solutions don’t work, talk to your vet. Medication can be helpful with aggressive cats. It is a pain to get it down them, however.