Need Help With Cat Behavior

[iamjoy]

I have two cats, a ten year old female and a nine year old male.
Both are altered, I have had them both since they were kittens (got the female first).

Pretty much since we got them, the male has occasionally "attacked" the female, but it seems more like play, his whiskers are forward not back and his fur is not puffed out. Often it starts when he approaches her as if to say hi, she takes a swipe at him and turns to walk away and he chases her. They run out of the room and we (my husband and I) hear her growling and sometimes screaming. A couple of times I have actually seen him trying to pounce on her back.

The other day I caught up with him after hearing them tussle, and he had a clump of her fur dangling from his mouth (she was otherwise unhurt).

So it occurs to me that this behavior is not unlike what cats do when they mate. But how is this possible since they are both fixed (and have been since the time I brought him home) before they ever reached sexual maturity? The male does not engage in any other undesirable behavior (he does not spray).

Any ideas?
:shrug:

[REP]

1. Just Because They're Fixed Doesn't Mean They're Dead!

Some spayed/neutered cats will still engage in mating-type play. Some cats aren't sure what they're doing; some cats are. I had a tomcat who immediately mounted his (spayed) partner as soon as he came home from being neutered, and they, erm, did it for the rest of his life.

We're entering shedding season, so your cats may have more loose fur than usual, and they may have just been roughhousing. As long as no one was injured, and there was no hissing or growling, everything should be cool. If she is growling, screaming or hissing, he's being too rough and you should step in and distract him away from her with a toy (but never with hitting/kicking/any force). He can be taught to rip the shit out of a toy and 'play nice' with his companion.

If this behavior is new and very unusual for him (or her), a check up by the vet isn't out of line. Unusual behavior can mean that a cat isn't feeling well.

[iamjoy]

7. Distracting Him Is The Hard Part

I mean, it has been going on for years. I try to get his attention and sometimes it works, other times he is back to going after her. And she does growl and scream.

My husband and I try giving the male "time out" when he gets too rough, but I keep telling my husband not to soak the male with the water bottle because it only makes the male afraid of my husband. I ponder the wisdom of punishing cats at all, even a time out, but when I let the male out of the bathroom, he (the cat) is usually very calm and affectionate.

It is good to know even spayed/neutered cats may engage in play that simulates mating behavior, I was worried, especially because when I recently read about cat mating behavior and matched it to my male's behavior, I also remembered that (nine years ago) a few days after I brought him home from the humane society. He was already neutered but I was rubbing his belly and it caused a reaction that I never expected to see in a NEUTERED male, even if I thought a human could cause this reaction. I stopped rubbing his belly right away, but have rubbed it since and not had the same thing happen again.

[benburch]

2. If he's not actually damaging her, I wouldn't worry.

Cats are predators. For a predator, violent play is how they get prepared for adult hunting. We never allow our domestic cats to develop their full adult personalities; We infantilise them, and they remain dependent upon us as a kitty would on its mother. (The would be very obvious if you had ever worked with a truly feral cat as I have!) Therefore the desire to play never stops, and sometimes it takes on aspects of the more mature sexual behaviours as even without testes, the pituitary gland sometimes makes enough testosterone to trigger that.

[NJCher]

3. question

The would be very obvious if you had ever worked with a truly feral cat as I have!

Would you expand on this a bit, please? I don't know what you mean. In regard to play, how does the feral cat behave as opposed to a domesticated cat?


Cher

[benburch]

10. They don't usually play at all.

They don't want to he touched, held, groomed. They do not play. They use their voices almost not at all. The vocalizations domestic cats make are their attempts to mimic us. Wild cats make sounds only to challenge, mate, and coordinate hunting activity especially of birds.

[crispini]

4. They're just playing

Mine beat each other up all the time (no injuries, just playfighting and chasing.) No worries!

[barb162]

5. my two males are fixed but they both like to pounce on my other

2 cats. They are both large and strong and bullies. The female especially e doesn't like when they like to come around and play. She is about half their size. She snarls and hisses and tries to get away from them when they start up with that crap. I usually will very lightly swat the aggressor on the rump ( and sharply say "stop it" )to make it clear I don't like the behavior. If you give the aggressor a toy to divert his attention, you may inadvertently encourage him to do the aggressive behavior more because the toy is a reward.

[MidwestMomma]

6. Once my female cat had part of a cat claw in her forehead

I completely panicked and thought it was lodged in there and was afraid to pull it out. Come to find out, it was just stuck in the fur. She didn't even know it was in there.

Cats are very territorial. My female cat growing up was an indoor/outdoor cat and she was always getting into fights with any cats who came in her territory and she was spayed.

I watched a fascinating documentary one time about house cats and how they establish territory in a house. Seems that they not only establish territory based on square inches but also based on height. By this I mean that one cat will tend to claim the floor area as their own. Another cat will claim higher territory such as tops of dressers, counters, etc.

So my theory is that when my cats start fighting, one of them has invaded the others territory. It's just that we humans can't figure out the nuances of what and how the cats have decided which part of the house belongs to them.

As far as cats being territorial, I'd guess that goes back maybe to the raising of litters as mom cats have to fight off other cats to keep her litters safe. Or maybe it's a throw back to cats in the wild as they have to maintain a certain territory for hunting to ensure they have enough prey to survive. But those are all just guesses.

Cats are fascinating creatures sometimes.

[iamjoy]

8. She Is Rarely Territorial

Usually she's very much "live and let live" - hippie kitty. Other cats come through our yard, she is curious and when the window is open, sometimes my neighbor's female cat jumps on the outside sill, and my female sits on the inner sill and they just sniff each other. She very rarely goes after the male.

He on the other hand, growls at every cat that walks through our yard, but never growls at my female.

Yeah, cats are funny creatures.

[barb162]

9. Yeah, they are extremely territorial, both males and females

My one agressor 15 year old male, goes nuts when he sees a stray walking around outside a hundred feet from the house. He starts banging on the window with both feet and growling and putting his ears back all the way. Then when I let him outside on the enclosed deck he starts spraying in different areas off the deck to make sure ANY stray knows this is his territory. My tallest male, who is 2, tries to make himself even taller when he sees a stray. If one really starts watching, their behavior is making sense but a lot of times we can't figure it out.

[NV Whino]

11. The most obvious reason for long term pals to start turning

on each other is health. Somebody probably isn't feeling well. Have a vet check.

Could be anything. My little female started turning agressive to her male companions and at the same time was more affectionate to me. Odd behaviour for her since she's not a natural lapcat. Turned out she had an abscessed tooth. Evrthing returned to normal after that.

[B Calm]

12. I know they have been fixed, but cats are mating now. They breed

like rabbits..

[Rhiannon12866]

13. I'd run it by your vet, as well.

There could be some sort of health problem that you're not yet aware of. And he's an expert in animal behavior.:shrug:

My two cats did not get along that well, even though they'd lived for years together. I inherited them both when my uncle died. One of them would bully the other and I'd usually end up yelling, because she scared me, or picking her up and taking her away. Mine were both females. The only thing was that the one who was bullied was older, bigger and had claws! The bully did not.
:scared:

I once asked my vet if this little pipsqueak could get hurt, and he said "yes!" So I was very careful and would separate them if it got too bad.:-(

[okasha]

14. Cats and sex

I have two neutered males who will "oblige" a receptive lady cat every chance they get. As the first post pointed out, "neutered" doesn't mean "dead." It doesn't even mean "not interested.":)

[Leilla]

15. Cat Fight

I have two male cats, one neutered and one not. The little unneutered guy tries to mount the other one, and 'P' just endures these episodes with vague annoyance. He doesn't even bother getting up. When I first brought 'B' home, 'P' nursed him with his useless nipples and took on the role of surrogate 'mother'. They have occasional spats but the rest of the time they're slobbering all over each other. Luckily, these two are very compatible. I suppose cats are no different than humans. They may simply dislike their fellow cats the same way we just don't hit it off with certain people.

[Rhiannon12866]

18. My cats were both spayed females

There was no sex involved, only hissing and swatting.:shrug:

[neebob]

16. I have the same problem

Female fixed, male not. I think he just wants to play with her, but she hates his guts. He's the newest of three cats, although I've had him going on six years. The other male, who's also fixed, she has no problem with. I just keep a squirt bottle handy.

[Lisabtrucking]

17. He needs a Valium. n/t

[Rhiannon12866]

19. My vet isn't big on using Valium with cats

He said that cats have a much greater sensitivity to a lot of meds. For a sedative, he often recommends acepromazine. He suggested it for a cat that was moving across the country, traveling by car, and my 18-year-old cocker, who just got too stressed at the groomer.:shrug:

[Canadian Socialist]

20. Well

my male cat was fixed fairly young, but my female was very very small so my vet recommended she go into heat at least once before she was fixed. When she did, Nigel (the male) mounted her as she was "presenting" but then wandered away in boredom. Needless to say, she was in the vet's the next day. They then went on to spend more than 15 years together in relative bliss. He died at 16 and she just passed away at 19. I still miss her. But enough about me. I think that the pheromones were probably flowing in your particular case.