Expert: Norman Auspitz - 1/11/2010

Question
I own 2 Chestnut Oriental Shorthairs, both male and from the same litter. I picked them up at 4 months of age and they were neutered at 6 months. Apartment cats only. Tito looks exactly like the breed but Mannie seems to be the runt. He's smaller and has "tabby" markings mixed with his brown fur. Tito has displayed aggressive "alpha" male behaviour since they were kittens. He calmed down after being neutured except for one peculiar behaviour.

Tito will bite the back of Mannie's neck and not let go. Mannie will tolerate it for a few seconds then begin to let out a tearful, whiny meow as if he's being hurt.

It's almost as if Tito wants to mate Mannie because he stands over him or behind him when biting.

It will happen in the middle of the night when both are sleeping on the bed with me. Out of the blue! I move, look up then they both scurry off.

This past weekend Tito was at it again so I decided to try scruffing. He can hear me coming so he already takes off so I'm not sure if scruffing will have any effect. Tito is not a lap cat and doesn't like being held too much. Mannie is a softy and is my favourite. He loves the attention and purrs like mad but he is very timid. Tito will ask for attention in a different way, by bringing me a toy to throw for him as well as meow long and loudly. He purrs like crazy when he wants to play.

Anyway, do you have any suggestions on how I can minimize Tito's aggression? They do sleep together and play together. It's just this one aspect that I find troubling and don't want to escalate into fur flying battles.

Thank You
Leesa – Toronto, Ontario

Answer
Leesa,

It is possible that Tito is "feeling his oats" even though he is neutered.  You can have a hormone level done by the vet to see if the hormones are correct.  There is hormone therapy available if he has too much testosterone.

Also, you can try a Feliway diffuser (available from most pet supermarkets) in your bedroom to see if that calms things down. It is also possible that the attention paid to Manny is making Tito a tad jealous.  Other then that you do not know if they have developed a "game" of dominance and submission. We always have to be careful in ascribing human motives and emotions to cats as they do not think like we do.

Truthfully, I would ignore the behavior as I believe any and all human interference tends to be counter productive. Tito will not hurt Manny and, if Manny really wanted it to stop, he could make that known to Tito.

Bestt regards... Norm.