How to Stop my Cat from Bullying my other Cat

Anyone raising multiple cats has probably encountered catfights before. You’re lounging on your couch doing nothing, and before you know it, your cat is scratching and hissing at your other cat.

Well, although cat flights may be easy to break apart, bad blood between cats means there’ll be more fights. You can only endure so many scratches! In this article, we’ll tell you how to stop your cats from bullying each other.

How to Stop My Cat From Bullying My Other Cat?

Indoor cats usually fight because of pent-up energy. When they’re bored with the house or the lack of activities, they find other ways to release their energy. And, of course, the other cats in the house are a perfect way to do that.

You can stop your cats from bullying each other by creating fun activities for them in the house. You can get your cat to chase a treat up and down the stairs. Or, you can install interactive toys and scratch posts to keep them entertained. On top of that, you can include some clicker training in their daily activities. This will both keep them busy and wear their minds out.

Keeping your cats entertained will cause them to stay away from each other, and they won’t feel a need to fight.

There are some other methods you can try if keeping your cats busy doesn’t work. For starters, you can work on creating a peaceful atmosphere in your household. There are a lot of ways to do that, such as installing a calming diffuser. These diffusers are full of a drug-free liquid that smells like cats’ pheromones. This gives your cats natural signs that the house is safe territory. As a result, they’ll feel calm, and they won’t fight.

Furthermore, you can create an isolated environment by closing the curtains at night. Your cats may feel irritated at the sight of stray cats outside, so keeping their sight away may help them maintain their calm posture.

Lastly, your cat’s aggressive behavior may be because of unchecked hormones. This mostly happens with cats that aren’t spayed or neutered.

If you notice your cats fighting, don’t physically interfere. You may get scratched, and they won’t give you much attention. What you should do is direct their attention away from the fight. You can use a feather wand or any toy for that purpose.

Why Do Cats Bully Each Other?

Cats don’t start fighting other cats out of nowhere. They start with some safe bullying that doesn’t involve injuries. If they get along well, they either start avoiding each other or learning how to tolerate each other’s presence.

If they keep bullying, it’ll gradually worsen until you witness a couple of catfights, which may end up with vicious results.

Here are some reasons why cats in the same house bully each other.

Hormonal Changes

If you have two cats and they’re both females, there’s a pretty high chance they’ll start fighting more during the mating season. Most of these issues are easily solved by neutering the cats before they become one year old.

Ranking Differences

Do you know the way chickens have a pecking order? And lower-ranking chickens are often bullied by stronger ones? The same happens with cats but without a pecking order.

The weak or older cats are usually considered a targets by stronger felines. If they’re used to showing submissive body language or sitting around doing nothing, it’ll be an open invitation for the other cats to start bullying them.

General Changes

Any changes around the house or the surrounding environment can distress the cats, causing them to bully or fight each other. If you’ve recently moved their beds, feeding boxes, or litter stations, there’s a high chance they’re bullying each other because of it.

Moreover, changes in the social group can also cause cats to feel irritated. That includes a fellow pet leaving or coming to the house. The cats may feel threatened by the newcomer and start bullying him.

Lastly, routine changes can also cause your cats stress. When stressed, expect your cats to do anything, from peeing on furniture to bullying their fellows.

Territory Issues

All animals have territorial instincts, and they get deadly dangerous when it comes to acting on these instincts. When you get a new cat, she’ll likely walk around the house unbothered. However, she may pass by a territory marked by your older cat without knowing. In this case, the older cat will start bullying the newcomer for trespassing.

Some cats will even purposefully attract other cats to their territories and then fight them once they trespass!

Unfortunately, territorial aggression is hard to solve, especially if your cat is aggressive by nature. The best you can do is create a calming environment to prevent her from fighting your other cat.

How to Deal With a Cat Fight

When your cats start bullying each other, a catfight is inevitable, and you ought to know how to break it up so you don’t end up between their aggressive scratches. The most vital thing to take care of is to avoid interfering physically. You won’t ever be able to break them apart, and you’ll only end up scratched.

Plus, your physical interference could break your cats’ trust, causing them to mistrust you later on.

The best approach to breaking a catfight is distracting the cats from the squabble breaking out. For example, you can create a loud noise so that they turn around to see what’s causing that. However, to do that, you must be out of their sight. Or else, they’ll consider you a third aggressor. You can clap or bang on any pot; it’ll do the trick.

If you don’t want to resort to making noises, you can throw any soft object near the cats to get them frightened. You can use a pillow or a cloth, so it doesn’t hurt them. The cats will then get distracted and run to hide, which will let them forget about fighting, even for a few minutes.

How Do Cats Bully Each Other?

You don’t want to mistake normal actions for bullying. So, you ought to learn how cats bully each other. That way, when you see them doing it, you’ll know you have to do something about it.

Cats can bully each other through physical moves or subtle tricks. Getting physicals, they may jump at each other with their claws out or hiss into the air. If they’re not in the mood for physical actions, they may resort to power moves, such as blocking the other cats’ way to the food bowls or the litter station.

You’ll know the cat’s actions are bullying because they’re usually done out of nowhere. For example, if your cat swats the other cat’s face, and she responds by chasing her, that’s not considered bullying. It’s a mere reaction to an aggressive swat. Meanwhile, if the cat bounces at the other without any reason, you know that’s bullying.

Final Thoughts

Raising multiple cats should be no problem if they get along well. However, if your cats are bullying each other, you’re in for some action!

The best thing to do is create a peaceful environment in your house so the cats feel safe. Additionally, you can engage them in playtime together, so they get used to the presence of each other.

Look out for aggressive signs, such as biting, hissing, or mean stares. If your cats aren’t doing any of those, then you’re one lucky owner!