Cat Behaviour Problems: People & other animals

Being too boisterous, Play-biting, Play-fighting:

Question: My cat, Harry is very lovable and friendly indoors but always starts fighting with other cats when I let him out. He is constantly returning home battered and bleeding. How can I stop him fighting with other cats or will I have to resort to keeping him indoors all the time?

Answer: I presume he is neutered? If not, neutering will help considerably as it will reduce his desire to fight with other cats to claim the territory for himself.

Apart from that, it is difficult to know what to suggest as he is out of your control as soon as he steps out of the door. It may help to let him out at certain times.

Dawn and dusk are times when cats actively hunt and this is often when ‘bullies’ try to see off others from their territory.

Try keeping him in during those times, letting him out during the middle of the day and getting him back in for a feed in the middle of the afternoon. This may help to stop the conflict with others and perhaps, in time, help him to settle into the surrounding cat society in a more peaceful way.

Question: We have two seven-month-old neutered kittens who are brother and sister. They have always played a lot together, slept together etc however recently the female's behaviour towards the male has changed.

She seems to have become less tolerant with him, although she will play when she feels like it. She often likes to go and sit by herself and then gets irritated when he comes bouncing along. She also hides from him when she wants to go to sleep. Of more concern though is the fact that she does not want to eat next to him anymore.

She will go to the bowl and have a nibble but then go away and only come back when he's gone (unfortunately he is such a pig that there's not much left then). I have noticed that once or twice when they've been given a treat he has growled at her and guarded his treat but I have never seen him do this with normal food.

Answer: Like most males, he is probably taking longer to grow up than her and so she keeps away from him if she needs to rest or is no longer interested in playing. He may also have grown up a bit stronger and may be more rough than her until he reaches maturity and so is less fun to play with than he used to be.

Don’t worry too much about this, although you could make more of an effort to play with him yourself so that his energy is diverted into playing with toys rather than pestering her.

Of more concern is the feeding. Make sure she is getting enough to eat and he is not overeating by feeding them in separate rooms with the door closed. Only let them out when both have finished. Growling over treats is also normal and nothing to worry about, but it does indicate who is the strongest and more confident of the two.

Question: My tabby cat Tiggyenta has terrible mood swings. One minute she's happy the next she goes black-eyed and jumps at me, biting my arm or leg and scratiching it.
I've tried spraying her with water but I don't always have the water spray on me so this is not always possible. Any advice?

Answer: Usually, this type of aggression is a result of the cat directing it’s hunting/play behaviour at its human owner instead of onto prey or toys. Any punishment usually doesn’t work as, at best, it confuses the cat and, at worst, makes it more aggressive by making it fearful.

The answer lies in giving your cat an outlet for her energies. If she doesn’t go outside, consider whether she should do so as this will give her interest and stimulation far exceeding anything you can give her. If this is not possible, it will be necessary to give her a more stimulating environment indoors and to play more satisfying games with her.

Think of your house from your cat’s point of view. They like to climb, jump, attack small moving things, hunt for food, go in and out of things etc. Toys that allow her to use up her hunting energies, such as those with a prey-like object on the end of a elastic string attached to a wand are ideal. Play little and often throughout the day, particularly at times when she is likely to be most aggressive to you, and you should see a marked reduction in her problem behaviour.

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