Inter-cat aggression

[Raelene71]

My husband & I have 2 gorgeous Maine Coon cross male sibling cats (Louie & Ruby) who are just coming up to 2 years of age & have had since they were 9 weeks old.

We had noticed that from the age of approx. 9 months Louie started running over and hitting Ruby for no apparent reason. It would mainly be after Louie had been sitting looking out the window or because Ruby had the cat bed by the window. It carried on intermittently so we didn't take too much notice of it but about 3 months ago Louie developed acute gingivitis and had to eventually have a tooth removed. I say eventually because it was about 6 weeks before the tooth was removed & during that time he was barely able to eat. There were also several unpleasant trips to the vets with dogs violently barking in the waiting room so I feel that all this has had a rather traumatic effect on him.
During this time Louie started getting more & more aggressive toward Ruby, with him again running over & hitting him and now he won't even be in the same room as him. He growls, spits, runs at him, hits him & then runs away. He has never bitten him though.

Ruby is a very placid cat on the other hand & never tries to fight back. He used to just lay down on his back submissively whenever Louie had a go at him but now he runs & hides whenever Louie starts running towards him & he is terribly jumpy & nervous. We have also noticed that he is over grooming his stomach which I guess is a stress thing & it seems to be getting worse.

We keep them separated at night or if we have to ever go out. During the day they both go outside & keep out of each others way pretty much.

I would really appreciate some advice as to whether this can at all be resolved, I can't bear to see my cats unhappy but at the same time cannot bear the thought of having to give one up.
Please help!!

P.S. I am using the Bach Flower Remedies on Louie which I feel has helped to make him less fearful but hasn't removed any of his aggression.

[KOPsarah]

hi raelene 71, and thanks for your post,
First of all I was wondering whether your cats are desexed? As they have now reached sexual maturity high hormone levels will be a factor. Also along with the flower remedies you can try Feliway. Feliway spray or diffusers mimics the feline facial pheromone, used by cats to mark their territory as safe and secure and thus is very settling and calming for cats. It should therefore help improve Louie's behavior as well as reducing Ruby's stress behaviors such as over grooming.

You can also try showing louie that his behavior is unacceptable by shaking a can of coins or nails loudly, or spraying him with a water pistol when he goes to pounce on ruby. It is possible that Louie became more aggressive to Ruby when he was ill as a sort of defense mechanism to protect himself and his dominant status, however if you are confident that Louie is now healthy and not in pain it is important that you do not comfort him or in any other way validate his aggressive behavior now. He needs to know that it is not ok to be aggressive anymore and he no longer has an excuse.

It is also important that you do not validate Ruby's nervous behavior with comfort and attention. While you will feel upset and protective of Ruby when he is being bullied, by comforting him you are telling Ruby that running away and hiding is the best response however this response may just encourage Louie's chasing and it would be much better if Ruby lay submissively but without moving away, as he was doing previously.

In the wild cats are often fairly solitary and many domesticated cats still feel the need for space and independence. For this reason it is important that you provide your cats with several sleeping areas (elevated with a good view is best) and several feeding/drinking and toileting stations (if you use litter pans). These areas should be spaced well apart and should all be of about equal value to the cats for example should have the same food available and similar types of bedding. This should stop the need for competition over resource areas such as the fighting over the window or favorite cat beds.

Hope this helps and please let me know how you get on working with your cats.

[Raelene71]

Hi, I just wanted to update you on our cat aggression situation.

We have started seeing some amazing results from Loui in the last 1 week-10 days.
I contacted a local cat behaviourist several months before this and she mentioned putting Loui in a cage in the sitting room for a period of 2 - 6 weeks which would reduce his status in the house and give Ruby a chance to gain confidence being around him again.

Anyway, she said before we go down that road to try something called Zylkene for a minimum of 10 days. It is made from a form of milk protein and it binds temporarily to certain receptors in the brain. This has a calming influence which is similar in some ways to tranquilliser drugs such as diazepam (“Vallium”), but without the side effects. It has been clinically proven to be effective in dogs and cats (as well as rats and humans) and is supplied in 3 different sizes of capsule, chosen according to the size of the animal to be treated.

So we have had Loui on it for about 3-4 weeks now and the change in him is AMAZING! The 2 cats are starting to play together again and Loui has all his playfulness back again.

The other changes I have made are: adding another 2 litter trays to the household (we only had 1) and I have added more feeding stations around the house. I also tried to keep them away from each as much as possible while he was at his worse by keeping them in separate rooms at night and just generally making sure they weren't together in the same room at the same time. I was hoping this might reduce both of their stress levels a little and give them a feeling of having more space. It was a bit of a juggle I can tell you but seems to have paid off!

I wanted to pass this info on to others who are in the same situation, I never in a million years thought I would see him accept his brother again so it just goes to show that there are things out there that help!

I am not sure whether Zylkene is available in the US, if you can find a supplier that will ship overseas then please do try it. I actually bought mine off eBay and most eBay sellers ship o/s.

[KOPsarah]

Hi again,
I'm really glad to hear things are going much better for you and that your cats are both a lot happier!