Aggression Toward Other Cats

If cats that have previously lived together in harmony suddenly start fighting, the first thing to do is to take them to the vets for a check-up. Illness or injury can cause pain and bad-tempered behaviour or even confusion, which, in turn, increases the likelihood of aggressive behaviour. If the vet can find nothing physically wrong with the cats, then the following recommendations might help you to help your cats put their differences aside. They may also be helpful when introducing a new cat or kitten to existing family cats.

Separating the Cats

The first thing to do is to separate the cats from each other completely - in separate areas of the house. Ideally there will be no adjoining room where they can paw at or smell each other under the door. If there is an adjoining door, place a barrier at the bottom of the door to prevent this. Each cat should have its own food, water, litter tray and bed in their area of the house. They must each have regular interaction with you - playing and/or cuddling. A very important factor is to make sure that each cat gets enough exercise and playful interaction; often fights will occur because one cat wants to play but the other doesn't. Hence, by providing the playful cat with enough exercise you can often prevent these fights from occurring.

Identifying triggers

The next thing to do is to think about what it is that triggers the fighting. Before re-introducing the cats, you need to think about how to deal with each trigger. Examples of triggers and possible solutions might include:

  • Fighting over access to you and your attention: teach them both that such behaviour actually drives you away by getting up and physically leaving the room at the first sign of aggression or anxiety (dilated pupils, growling, staring, waving tail etc.) It is crucial that you catch the very first sign of trouble because otherwise they will have already worked themselves up for a fight and will go ahead regardless of your presence
  • Fighting over preferred sleeping / lounging around places: create more such places around the house for them, in the style of those that are currently preferred choices
  • Fighting over access to food: it is easy to guard one or two food bowls, so provide multiple food bowls e.g. two or three different dry food bowls and two wet food bowls
  • Fighting because one cat wants to play but the other doesn't: provide more activities for the playful cat (e.g. activity centres, scratch pads, toys) and spend more of your time playing with the playful cat so that he / she doesn't feel the need to pounce on the other, less playful, cat
  • Fighting when they see another cat (or other animal) outside: block their access to windows by using opaque 'window wallpaper'

Another technique you can use to avoid a fight is to teach the cats to come to you when called. At the first sign of anxiety or aggression, you call them to you and then reward them for doing so. Keep a packet of their favourite cat treats or their favourite toys to hand so that you can give them each a food treat or play with each of them individually as a reward.

Teaching a cat to come when called is actually fairly easy. You start off by calling out e.g. 'Gizmo come' every mealtime, as you approach the area where their food is kept. Your cat will begin to associate mealtime with you calling their name. After about a week, you should start calling 'Gizmo come' at random times during the day. Every time your cat obeys, reward him / her with a special food treat or playtime with their favourite toy. Keep practicing this several times per day. The cat soon learns that if they come to you when you call, they will always be rewarded. And treats or playtime with you will be far more interesting to your cat than fighting with the other cat. You must make sure never to give a false call i.e. ALWAYS give a treat when you call the cat to you.

In addition to the techniques listed above, another aid to reducing aggressive behaviour is the use of synthetic pheromones. Cats have glands in their cheeks which produce pheromones, chemical substances that help to relieve anxiety and which provide information about the cat producing those pheromones. Whenever your cat rubs his / her cheeks against doorways, walls, chairs, or your legs, pheromones are left behind. You can purchase a synthetic pheromone spray or diffuser and this has a calming effect on many cats (e.g. 'Feliway' which can be bought at many online shops such as www.petmeds.co.uk). This should therefore help reduce aggression. You use the spray in locations where the cat likes to rub e.g. doorways, and the diffuser is plugged into the wall in a room which is commonly used.

Reintroducing the Cats

Once you have decided which method to use, you can start introducing the cats back to each other. Initially try carrying one cat into the other cat's territory. You must make sure that there are places for the cat on the floor to hide so that they can avoid eye contact if they want to (staring is very rude in cat language). After a minute or two, take the cat in your arms back out to their territory. Do the same thing perhaps a few times a day for a few days, gradually increasing the time spent in the room, and swapping which territory you go into so that both cats get used to the sights and smells of each other.

A useful exercise to try is to feed each cat a small bowl of special treat food (e.g. a bit of fish), one on either side of an adjoining door. First place their bowls approx five feet away from the door (so that the cats are approx 10 feet away from each other through a door). After the cats have started eating and are tucking in, open the door between the rooms. If either cat shows signs of aggression, close the door immediately and remove the food. Try again, later on, starting with the bowls a bit further apart this time. Repeat this exercise a few times a day, with the cats gradually eating their food closer and closer together. Eventually they learn that if they behave badly, the treats go away but that if they behave well next to each other, they get tasty treat food.

After a few weeks of these exercises with no aggression, you can start allowing both cats direct access to each other but only under your direct supervision. Start with small periods of time at first and then gradually increase contact time until both cats can have the run of the whole house all of the time. Keep each room of the house equipped with special toys and treats and if either cat shows signs of aggression, distract them by calling them to you or walking away (whichever method you chose). Make a mental note of when the behaviour occurred and what seemed to trigger it. Mild aggressive displays such as hissing and then walking away will be normal after a separation period of a few weeks or more.

Remember that aggression is a form of communication for cats and isn't necessarily bad so long as both cats are simply listening to each other’s communication, and not fighting with each other.

The key thing is to be patient - it takes time for cats to learn how to behave aggressively, and so it will also take time for them to un-learn this behaviour. In the majority of cases, providing the cats with adequate playtime, social interaction and learning how you can deal with aggressive situations will resolve the problem.

If, however, these techniques do not work, you should ask for the help of your veterinarian or an animal behaviourist.

Cat Aggression towards People

Aggression towards people is not a common problem with cats and even when it does occur, it rarely causes serious injury.

If your cat bites or scratches you - after you have been petting him / her for a short period of time or after you touch him / her in a certain place - or for no apparent reason at all, or if your cat stalks and then pounces on you, don't despair because there are ways to deal with this aggressive behaviour.

Before embarking on a treatment for your cat's aggressive behaviour at home, you should discuss the situation with your vet. There may be an underlying medical problem causing your cat pain or irritability and this, in turn, can trigger aggressive behaviour. Hence, treatment of the medical condition can, by itself, put an end to the aggressive behaviour.

You should remember, as well, that aggression is actually a normal way of communication for cats. Cats use aggression to tell other cats that they do not want to interact; to claim territory, food or other possessions as their own; and also use aggression in play. In this way, some forms of aggression may simply be the cat treating you in the same way as he / she would another cat. You need to teach your cat that you would rather they communicate with you in a different way.

Protecting Yourself

First of all, you can protect yourself by ensuring that your cat's claws are kept blunt. You can either buy a pair of cat nail-clippers and do this yourself, or take the cat to the vets or a grooming parlour and have someone else do it for you. In this way, if you do get scratched, minimal damage will be inflicted.

Secondly, you (and all of your family members) should avoid doing things that trigger the aggression. Write out a list of what triggers the aggression - for example, some cats do not like being touched on their back or near their rear end; other cats don't like being touched at all when sitting on someone's lap.

Thirdly, learn to identify the first signs that your cat gives you when he / she is about to attack, for example, dilated pupils; a change in ear position; waving their tail; a crouched, tense body posture. Learning to recognise these signs will enable you to remove yourself from a situation before the cat becomes aggressive and thus before you get hurt. Ignoring these warning signs or punishing a cat for aggressive behaviour is very likely to result only in further aggression. Negative reinforcement rarely works.

Providing Social Interaction

A common cause for aggression is boredom, resulting from a lack of social interaction. Many cats live indoors and don't have anyone or anything to play with. So, in an effort to alleviate boredom, they try to 'play' with your leg or with your head while you're sleeping. The key, in this circumstance, to eliminating aggressive behaviour, is to relieve their boredom by providing them with a more appropriate outlet for his / her energy. Providing activity centres, scratching posts and toys as well as making time in your day to play with your cat (with, for example, a toy dangled on the end of a stick) should do the trick.

Cats love novelty and rapid movement. Don't have all of the toys out, all of the time - rotate them perhaps every few days so that there is always an element of novelty for them.

Scent is also important to cats and can make a toy more exciting. Some cats love the smell of catnip toys; another idea would be to leave some toys outside in the garden for a few days so that they acquire the scent of the outdoors. You can even buy treat-dispensing toys that can give your cat something fun to do, working out how to get it to dispense a tasty treat.

Interactive toys (those that you have to manipulate in order to make them fun, such as a toy dangling from the end of a stick) tend to maintain a cat's interest longer than other toys. If you have a playful cat, you should play with him / her for at least 15 minutes each day. Avoid toys that involve using your hand (or any other body part) as an object of play, since this may inadvertently encourage aggressive behaviour.

Solving the Problem

If, after several weeks, your cat is still behaving aggressively towards you despite your diligently avoiding aggressive incidents and playing with your cat regularly, then you should proceed to this next step. Start by revisiting the list you compiled of triggers for aggression. Select a trigger from this list which is the least likely to result in aggression - it is this that you will use for your behaviour modification plan. You will use it to teach them that this aggressive behaviour is simply not an acceptable means of communication with you.

Using the method described above in dealing with aggression towards other cats, you need to teach your cat to come to you when called, at the promise of a tasty treat or play with a favourite toy.

Every time you recognise the trigger for the aggressive behaviour, you say your special phrase 'Gizmo come'. If he / she listens (and comes to you without attacking you), then they get the special food reward (which you can keep in small containers in different rooms of your house) or playtime with the favourite toy. If the cat ignores you, then you use 'remote punishment', such as spraying them with water from a spray bottle or water pistol or dropping a large book on the ground to startle them. The aim here is to interrupt the bad behaviour, not to hurt the cat! Then, when the behaviour is interrupted, you leave the room and close the door, leaving the cat alone for a few minutes. When you then let your cat out, you should ignore him / her for a few minutes and then call him / her to you. If your cat approaches you in a non-aggressive manner, reward them with a tasty treat or playtime with that favourite toy.

If the above recommendations don't work for you and your cat, or if you are worried about being seriously injured by your cat, then you should ask the advice of your vet or an animal behaviourist. The causes of aggression may be more complex than first thought and an experienced behaviourist will be able assess your specific situation and come up with a plan to address the aggression.