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Help! My cat is att...
 

Help! My cat is attacking my other cats!

Joined: 3 years ago
Posts: 1
28/08/2021 2:54 am
Topic starter

I have a two-year-old cat (Tom) that we adopted from the shelter.  We also have two older cats, of which one is named Princess.  Tom keeps attacking Princess out of the blue.  When we are downstairs, he will purposely go upstairs to look for her and attack her to the point of pulling out her fur while she is screaming.  We got two more kittens from the shelter 6 months ago to "keep him busy" and while the attacks happened less often, they still happen at least once a day.  Now Princess is so upset she's peeing on beds.  Recently, I just caught Tom trying to "have his way" with one of the female kittens, even though he himself was neutered as a kitten.  If he was by himself, he'd be a great cat because he is social, gets along with the dogs, and likes to hang out.  I can't find anyone to adopt him, and I don't know what to do except take him back to the shelter.

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Joined: 4 years ago
Posts: 41
28/08/2021 5:43 am

Hi Summer

Thank you for reaching out.

Please forgive me if I’m wrong but I get the feeling that your mind is made up and you’d prefer to re-home Tom particularly since you have got your hands full with two more kittens and Princess is so upset. Unless you’re willing to put in the time, money & energy which includes both a medical plus behavioral evaluation and modification, I’d agree with you that Tom could be more suitable with another family based on the sociability traits mentioned above.

I would suggest getting in touch with the shelter you adopted him from to get their recommendations and perhaps even take him back.

Furthermore to make sure there’s less competition for resources once both kittens socially mature, give each cat in your household their own designated territory and individual resources. Provide all resources in this formulation: ‘one per cat plus one’ positioned in several locations to limit rivalry. If there are separate social groups and space is restricted than the formulation is: ‘one per social group plus one’.

Sincere apology it’s causing distress to you and Princess, however Tom likewise deserves the best life possible, so you’ll be doing the correct thing by him.

 

Hope this eases your mind a little.

Melina

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Joined: 3 years ago
Posts: 1
01/09/2021 5:57 am

Hi Summer,

 

I dealt with the very same thing. In watching Jackson Galaxy, My Cat From Hell, I was able to utilize the strategies he teaches the pet guardians and it worked!  I have one girl that acts very scared. So when my other 3 are bored, they would attack her as if she was a play toy. so I retrained my cats by redirecting them when I could see one of them locking eyes with her or going after her in an area that was an "ambush." I also placed furniture pieces in places to redirect the flow of traffic, where she'd get cornered or stuck and gave her a superhighway above and below/behind so that she could always escape. It has worked. I have worked on her confidence so that she doesn't act like the "prey" or toy. I have also played with my 3 cats to get their energy out, about 15-20 mins a day. These are great strategies that work. If he goes back to the shelter it could shut him down and he may not make it out again. If you need to contact me you can. I have volunteered in cat rescue for over 8 years and have a degree in behavioral psych, which has totally helped in dealing with these types of issues. I didn't think it would work but it did and I encourage you to do this, your older girl will become more confident through this process. The cat the other three would gang up on is now very confident and sleeps with me every night. She is no longer afraid of anything. It was worth it all. [email protected]

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