Expert: Norman Auspitz - 10/4/2009

Question
My tom cat, Branston, who is 7 is getting more and more aggressive towards my 4 year old tortoiseshell (Mango) who has deformity of both front legs (her ulnas have not grown to full length leaving the legs bowed) which causes her pain so doesn't want to play or have anything to do with him.  We had him from a kitten and he has always been playfully aggressive whilst playing with other cats but never nasty (he is a big and powerful cat#.  It all started as a bit of fun on his part soon after we got her #rescue cat# at 14 months and he would chase her up the stairs and under the chest of drawers then leave her alone.  But now he has become quite aggressive towards her and we often see fur flying.  They both have free rein of the home, garden and beyond #we live in the country# except at night when they are locked in #we have a road nearby and I'm afraid they will get run over in the dark#. Branston is a very affectionate cat with us and he's fine with our other two cats #7 months old) who we got in the hope that he would play with them and leave Mango alone.  Mango has now become afraid of him and runs if he so much as comes in the room.  His reaction to this is to chase her and try to catch her and attack her.  It seems like a game to him and he now does anything he can to get past us so that he can menace her.  When we tell him off he walks away from her with an air of "what me?".  He knows he's being naughty as he will now run away to stop us catching him.  We have tried feeding them together; giving them plenty of stimulation and toys; giving them loads of fuss; praising them when they are being good; ignoring the bad behaviour;  encouraging them to be in the same room together; separating them (we now shut Mango in one room at night with food water and a tray to give her peace and quiet); scalding Branston - recently started smacking him on his rump to let him know we are displeased with him.  None of this has worked and I am now at a loss.  He was neutered at 6 months but was still trying to mount unnuetered females afterwards.  Mango has been neutered.  Mango tolerates the two young cats. She gives them the occasional low growl to keep them in place but will happily be in the same room as them.  But she is scared of Branston and will run at the sight of Branston who then takes that as his right to chase her and bully her.  Today he cornered her on the stairs and pounced - fur flew and she wee'd herself.  She is also a very affectionate cat with us.  All our cats are happy, healthy, are seen regularly by the vet and are content apart from this. I really feel sorry for her (Nb  when we got her from the cattery she was hissing at the other cats and appeared afraid of them, so her response was predictable). Please can you help?

Answer
Anne,

I have thought about this long and hard.  I have two observations concerning cat inter-relationships (1) Any human interference is counter productive and (2) We humans do not understand the rules.  We also tend to ascribe human emotions and motives to what cats do.  They do not think like us, so we tend to misinterpret rough play as fighting.  

As to the mounting of unneutered females, some neutered males will do this. I suppose you can have Branston's hormone levels checked, but I would suppose they would be normal.

Cats do not respond well to negative reinforcement.  Any punishments we can think of, essentially, have no effect on the cat's behavior.  Cats do respond to positive reinforcement, so if Branston is rewarded for leaving Mango alone, he may get the idea. We use strained meat baby food (only ingredients strained meat and broth or gravy# as a reward for our cats. Other then what you are doing now, without attempting to discipline Branston, I do not see much you can do.

You might try a Feliway diffuser #available at most pet supermarkets), to see if that takes some of the edge off Branston's aggression towards Mango.  Personally, I feel he just wants to play.

Best regards... Norm.



I am sorry I cannot be of more help.