Why do Cats Fight?

Cats fight are a matter of utmost tension for the owners. At the slightest sign of a fight you have to run to your cat to stop the fight and always have to be at guard. This situation is very stressful for the owners with multiple cats.

Cats see their siblings from the moment they are born. They always have company when they are Kittens.

We can assume cats will remain friendly with each other till old age though It is not always true.

As cats grow up, you will see that every cat has its personality and Nature.

Jealousy, territorial issues, hormones are few reasons for tension between the cats.

Socializing Cats are very important when you are bringing a new cat into your home in addition to your pet cats at home.

Why do cats fight?

Cats fight due to many underlying reasons. Each cat has its own cause to get into fighting .

It’s important to understand and notice the behavior and activities of the cat to know what is the reason for a fight.

Cats will always give you hints. Their activities, facial expressions and body language are the ways to understand those hints.

There is always a reason for everything. There must be some discomfort your Cat might be having with any other cat. Find out what is bothering your cat which is leading to fights.

Secondly, there are cats who Bully, called Bully cats. It is the personality of bully cats to get into fights. Bully cats are those who feels senior in the cat’s strata. These kind of Cats will try to dominate the more subdued cat, the more peaceful one or the most friendly one.

Other factors leading to fighting in cats are explained below.

Reasons for Cat Fight

Underlying are the detailed reasons for cats fight:

Territorial Nature

• Cat’s have specific personalities that are exclusive to them. By nature, they are very territorial. Male cats are more territorial as compared to female ones.

• You must have seen in the animal documentaries, how the big cats would fight for territory. For claiming the land their own, they would die fighting or get seriously injured. The domestic cats are no different. They have the similar nature imbibed in them.

• Most house cats fight over capturing cat tree houses, beds and condos. They want to own a particular area of your home and this compromised division of home into multiple cats leads to unrest and stress among them.

• To mark the territories, cats would spray urine in the area which they want to own. urine marking is done to make other cats in the house understand their limits. They will practically spray on the walls and the vertical objects.

• Sometimes, the spray markings cannot be seen with naked eyes and can only be seen under ultraviolet lights.

• On the floor, they will pee to mark territories.

• Dominance the territory is the most common reason for cat’s fight.

Bullying Nature

• Bully Cats are those cats who want to dominate the subdued, softer and more peace-loving cats. They would bully them by starting petty fights on trivial matters.

• It is very difficult to change this kind of nature in cats. You always need to be at guard and keep a watch to avoid bullying.

• Do not let the bullying happen often. Continued bullying will add up to the stress level of the victim cat and it affects the other cats as well in a multiple cat house.

• If the victim is younger, you might notice that this bullying nature gets is transferred unto him and as a result, he/she in turn will do the same with another cat. This way, it will become ongoing negativity among the cats, as a result, it turns into a vicious circle.

• Another side effect of too much bullying is the victim cat ending up having an anxiety attack. Excessive bullying can cause this kind of psychological problem in cats. Any slightest sign of unrest in between the cats would trigger the victim cat to go into a state of extreme anger and viciousness. He/she can attack the bully cat which turns into a dangerous fight situation.

• These ongoing circumstances can turn into a major behavioral psychological problem. Eventually, you will see that the victim or the subdued cat is getting ferocious only by the sight of its bully cat. Take Precautions to avoid these kinds of unwanted conditions.

Jealousy

• Female cats can get jealous of other female cats in the house. For instance, one female cat sees that you are being close to another cat, she might feel jealous of your closeness to them.

• Since the jealous one can’t do anything to you therefore she will take out the anger on the victim cat as result things end up in fighting.

• Dominating and jealous-natured cats have these kinds of characters.

• Cats always feel that the other one is getting better food than me. There can be instances of fighting over food. You would notice from the way your cat would want to look over the other one’s bowl or would want to have a bite at others’ food. They even have a problem sharing their food as well. This can lead to a situation of a fight over food as every cats wants their hearty meal.

• Jealousy is not a problem in female cats only. Male Cats can also be of this temperament.

Hormonal Factor

• The hormonal factor is a very important factor in cats fighting. The male and female cat reaches the mating age by the age of 2 yrs. This triggers a hormonal change in their body, as a results their behavior also changes.

• When the cats reach the sexually mature age, they would start looking for mates. In this process, the territory and fighting for females become the evident reason for two male cats to fight.

• Male cats are mostly fighting to claim the territory and subdue the females for mating.

• Female cats can fight due to maternal aggression. This aggression comes naturally to mother cats, who want to protect their kittens from any threats.

Redirected aggression

• Redirected Aggression means aggression that has a different source for agitation which gets redirected towards something else.

• When you hear some cats are fighting outside your home meanwhile right at that moment you find your two house cats getting into a furious fight . This is a sign of redirected aggression.

• The fight occurred because your cats in house heard some outsider cats fighting among each other, and the house cat redirected his aggression to the cat next to him. The house cats are stimulated by the two cats fighting outside. They want to indulge in that fight and is not able to do so, attacks the one sitting next to him.

• This type of aggression also happens if your cat sees any other cat near the window and is frightened or wants to attack the outsider, and in turn, attacks the house cat sitting next to him/her.

• It is the aggression that is not lashed out at the source but at the first thing which is in front of their eyes.

• Fear of outside cats or fear of any sudden sound can trigger the cats to fight among each other. When fear takes over the cat therefore they feel the need to safeguard themselves from the fear, as a result become aggressive.

Underlying Sickness

• Cats are good at hiding diseases. You must look for any signs that tell you your cat is sick.

• When your cat is in any kind of pain or suffering from some disease, they will not be in their best mood. Physically and mentally your cat feels weak. At that time, if another cat comes near to your sick cat, as result your sick cat might show aggression towards the other one. Is it called Pain Induced Aggression.

• Discomfort in your cat’s body, any kind of pain or sickness will keep your cat agitated. They want to be left alone till they feel better. Any kind of stimulation to them at that time, be it you or the other cats of the house, can lead to aggression and cat fight.

Status Related Aggression

• Status-related aggression is a problem of cats who are always insecure about their position. They are the one who just feels like ” I don’t feel like I own anything around here, I don’t feel like anything belongs to me, so I am gonna take it!”

• These cats always feel they don’t have enough and nothing belongs to them so they need to take it all away. Even if you offer them everything that they can have but they are not gonna believe you.

• The insecure cat will always try to capture or show its power to other cats. They would chase other cats away over any object, space or cat tree houses.

• This attitude in cats creates an issue to get into fights in a multiple cat household.

• You will see one cat is try to take the space of the other cat, even though it does not belong to him. They are seen fighting over food where one cat eat up the other one’s food even after he had a hearty meal. These are the indications of status-related aggression of an insecure cat.

Non-Recognition Aggression

• Say you have two cats and you take one cat to the vet clinic while another one is at home. Maybe the cat has been in the vet clinic overnight or for a week. When the cat comes back from the vet clinic, they come back smelling like a whole different animal.

• The reason is they have the scent of the vet clinic in them. The resident cat smells the one who has been to the vet and does not recognize him and boom, he attacks.

• Reintroducing your cat, rubbing the cloth which has been at the house to their body are some ways this problem can be solved.

Know whether your Cats are Fighting or playing

Cats can pounce and chase out of the playful mood. Since cats have a hunting instinct, therefore, some hide and seek or chasing goes on between cats.

You will see them pounce on each other but how can you tell when your cat is fighting or playing!

There are body language and signs which differentiate between fighting and playing:

1. Watch the body language. With back hair elevated and in a head stooping down, and walking towards the other cat is the sign of a start of a fight

2. Hair standing up all through its spine and tails are puffed up.

3. Growling sounds with an uptight face.

4. Hissing at each other. Hissing also shows that the cat wants to be left alone. It’s like a warning for the other cat to go away.

5. Ears flattened at the back of their head.

6. Giving a staredown is a major sign that there is going be a fight soon, if not separated beforehand.

7. Both the cats are rolling and at each other, you see furs are flying then they are definitely not playing.

8. Chasing aggressively until they get at each other.

In conclusion, cats will have minor play fights. You can understand from their body language and sense that it is harmless. Above all, when you are a cat owner, you must always have great observation skills to understand your cat’s activities and attitude.

If you already find them fighting, you must not immediately pick up the cats to stop the fight. There are chances they would lash out at you and bite you or scratch you.

It is the best way to put any barrier in between them, make a loud sound, or throw a towel on them to cover their eyes and separate them.

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Photo Courtesy: Image by Gerhard G. from Pixabay

https://www.wikihow.pet/Know-if-Cats-Are-Playing-or-Fighting/