Do You Know Why Cats Fight?
Surely many times you have seen street fights between cats. Or even if you have more than one cat, you may have had these fights in your own home and know that it is better to stay away. But why do cats fight?
Hey?
Cats can fight for a number of reasons that are generally boiled down to two: fights for territory and fights over a female. Cats are highly territorial and have great fighting instincts. If the fighting cats are your own, try to avoid territorial fights by placing separate litter boxes and feeders in different places around the house and make sure that you give both of them the same attention.
Fights between your cats should be stopped as soon as possible using rewards to reinforce good behaviors. If the fight is in the street, it usually occurs between non-neutered cats that can have or contract infectious diseases, which would aggravate their fights.
What are the types of aggressive behavior that cats can display?
Cats can display different types of aggressive behaviors.
If the aggression is territorial, the cat can be aggressive towards some cats but tolerant towards others. The typical behavior of this type of aggression includes the case, the chase, ambushes, hisses, loud meows and even the aggressor cat may try to prevent the other from accessing places such as his litter box or his bed. Although it appears that males are more aggressive, female felines can be as aggressive as males in terms of territory.
However, males may fight each other simply because they are males, for a female, for a higher place in the hierarchy, or to defend their territory. The fact that one cat is threatening another can be seen by the aggressor cat harassing the other, the staring gaze, the arched back, and the bristling fur. If the other cat doesn’t turn around, a fight will ensue.
A third form of aggression is defensive aggression. This occurs when a cat tries to protect itself from another animal or human that it thinks it cannot escape from. It can occur in the face of punishment or the threat of punishment by the owner, an attack or attempted attack by another cat or any incident that makes the cat feel threatened or scared.
The defensive posture that the cat adopts in these circumstances is to crouch with its tail and legs under the body, flatten the ears against the skull and roll slightly to the side. Approaching a cat in this pose can make it feel more threatened and lead to an attack. Cats can redirect their aggression against another animal or person, even if they did not provoke the attack, simply because they feel threatened or nervous. Even if your intention is to comfort the cat, it may attack you because it is nervous about something else.
If your cat attacks others frequently, consult your veterinarian, since your cat may be sick and is paying for his stress with others.
How do I separate two fighting cats?
Don’t ever get in the middle of the fight or touch them while they’re fighting, because you could be badly offended. To separate two fighting cats, you should give a really loud clap or yell, as close to the fight as possible, or use a jet of water against the cats. In short, something that distracts your attention. Under no circumstances should objects be used or thrown at the cats or they will believe that you want to participate in the fight. Once separated, you must get them to relax, and then comfort them separately.
Don’t count on your cats to solve their problems on their own. You should be the one who mediates between them, looking for the cause of the problem and putting solutions to prevent it from happening. Above all, when they fight, do not touch or punish them, since you will only aggravate the fights. And under no circumstances introduce more cats in your house.
