Fighting / Bullying

[Lynds]

Hey Emma,

A lot of people think it's play fighting, but having had cats all my life you know the difference between play fights, rough play fights and sheer evil bullying. Obviously I know how you feel. I have to let Nobo out to play in the garden then when he's had his fun, bring him in and then let Izzy out. It's rather draining.

If my Izzy would just not run away, Nobo would be put right in his place.

I'm going to try some of the techniques I had PM'd to me, perhaps they will be of some use to you? I'm moving house in a few weeks so I'm going to start afresh when I move (as if moving home isn't flaming stressful enough).


Lynds x

[Millys Mum]

  what a good idea!

[em1209]

I'm hoping it is just Fergus wanting to play and Polly (now she's a grown up beautiful princess) not wanting to play rough and tumble with her silly little brother anymore!!

Thats exactly what it is, girls dont like all that whereas 2 boys will rough each other up regularly. Iv got a mix of 3 boys and 3 girls,

So you mean I should get another cat or 2    ???!!!!

Thanks everyone though xx

[Kirst]

Fred cat has just spent the last ten minutes trying to beat up Jerry - and every time Jerry came back for more!! 

Unless it gets really nasty I tend to leave them to it - they are all friends again within the hour!

[Gill (sneakiefeline)]

Franta is a 15yr old kitten and if one of the others runs he will chase and they hate it. Misa hisses at him but he is part deaf so seems not to hear and Sasa hates him cos he sits and watches her and last night he was guarding the flap cos he knew she was out........sigh

None of mine are under 7yrs .............sigh

The worst thing they can do is run cos the other cat thinks its a game,,,,,,,,,,,,,,try getting them to understand that though !!

[Millys Mum]

I'm hoping it is just Fergus wanting to play and Polly (now she's a grown up beautiful princess) not wanting to play rough and tumble with her silly little brother anymore!!

Thats exactly what it is, girls dont like all that whereas 2 boys will rough each other up regularly. Iv got a mix of 3 boys and 3 girls, simon is the most dominant lad and is too rough for the other 2 boys so they attempt to get the girls to play - this always end in hissing or growling. They pay particular attention to their sister who they do aerial launches on 
I having more of it at the moment which is also getting to me so i know how you feel. My lot are virtually indoor cats at the moment due to the 2 strays who are trying to move in and have set up camp on the doorstep. Cant wait til i have the space to sort the 2 of them out things can get back to normal

[em1209]

Thanks for the words of encouragement, I guess I'm just wanting someone to say, yes it's kind of normal, let them get on with it.

Leanne, like yours they do get on the rest of the time, they don't curl up together very often, but sometimes wash each other and are more than happy to be in the same room together. They have got loads of toys (!!) and a tall cat tree which they have great fun climbing and scratching on.

I'm hoping it is just Fergus wanting to play and Polly (now she's a grown up beautiful princess) not wanting to play rough and tumble with her silly little brother anymore!!

E

[Dawn F]

do you have a cat tree?  I do think mine like to have a place out of the way of others sometimes

[Leanne]

Emma I understand your post totally.

Jess and Milo do much the same. This morning I caught Jess trying to push Milo down the stairs. To be honest I leave them too it and put it down to play fighting. Every now and then Jess will hiss at Milo and go and hide away when his had enough, Milo then leaves him alone.

We often hear running and chasing around, I don't get involved and tell Hubby not too much as he wants to. I feel mine get on as they curl up together and spend hours grooming each other and sitting togther.

Have they got lots of toys and places to hide?

[em1209]

Morning,

I have read the post and helpful comments by Lynds but my situation is slightly different.

Fergus just seems to be bullying and chasing Polly quite a bit now and it's starting to really upset me. It's not all the time, but he'll suddenly go into attack / hunting mode and pounce on her, she'll scream out, hiss and then runs off with him chasing her, you can then hear them running around upstairs, her still hissing.

The weird thing is it's not all the time as in every time they see each other. For example, 2 mins after it all happening if I feed them, they'll both come in to the kitchen and sit beside each other to eat. They'll go outside together and go off and sit in the garden together very happily. So it's not as if she's scared of him constantly. But it just seems to be getting more frequent and it's really getting me down, I was in tears this morning. I don't know what to do about it, should I be trying to stop him when he starts or should I just leave them to it.

I just don't want it getting worse and to the stage where she is scared of him all the time. I don't know if it's just a brotherly sisterly play fighting, with him wanting to play rough and tumble and her not wanting to join in anymore, they're 18 months old now.

Do you think he might be bored? The stay indoor whilst we're out at work (8am - 5pm) and then they go outside for a few hours in the evening when we're back. Again at the weekends they go out when we're there. They've got lots of toys to keep them occupied in the day, maybe I should get more "interactive learning" toys for them though, rather than toy play things as it were?

Any tips or advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks
Emma