9 Ways to Help Stop your Cats Fighting
When there are two or more cats in a house, cats fighting is always a possibility. There are numerous reasons why your cat might pick a fight with another one, even if the other cat is his/her friend, but if you learn to read the actual fighting signals your cat is sending before the fight starts, you may be able to minimize the chance of occurrence of the fight.
1. Create a territorial space
One way to reduce the urge to fight is by increasing the territorial space or gap between the cats. Make sure that the cats do not share the same hiding, perching and climbing areas. Come up with a separate area containing litter boxes, feeding stations and more playing toys that no other cats can use or utilize at the same time or at once.
2. Use electronic cat doors
With electronic cat doors, only the collared cat can open the doors. This will allow it to access the entire house and retreat to a safe area where the aggressor or attacker cannot follow. The pet doors only open in response to the magnetic key found inside of the collar.
3. Punishing bad behavior
Cats fighting is one behavior you should not tolerate. Giving food or attention to the fighting cat may calm its anger; however, it may encourage it to be a bully. Instead or doing this, you should catch your cat before it starts to get hissy and redirect its behavior with an interactive lure such as a toy or a flashlight beam.
4. Use a spray or consider medication
In case your cat’s brutality or fighting persists all the time, think about talking with a veterinary behaviorist, a professional who will advise you whether drug therapy may be helpful. Drugs control the bully cat aggressive behavior and can also decrease the anger in a cat. Remember that the drugs do not cure this behavior but act as a remedy against cats fighting.
5. Consider a separate feeding area
To neutralize conflict among your cats, consider feeding them in different places, especially if you realize they are not friendly when it comes to sharing food.
6. Maintaining the cat safety
If your cat feels insecure or unhappy being at home, it may act out by getting into fights. You should make your cat feel comfortable and safe by safeguarding its territory from the accessibility of other cats.
7. Chilling your cat out
In case your cat has a personality that seems to attract disagreements with other cats, you should consider chilling them out a little by offering toys, plants or some sort of other distraction that keeps their mind off being aggressive.
8. Regulating the times that the cat goes out
Some cats are prone to fighting at certain periods during the night or the day. Others, on the other hand, may avoid the fight at certain times. If your cat behaves this way, you should be able to determine when to release it to interact with other cats.
9. Neuter and Spay
One of the primary cause of aggression and cats fighting amongst cats is the competition over mates. Un-neutered and unspayed cats breed prolifically, and when allowed to go outside, they tend to roam from one home to another fighting with other cats. To solve this, your first cause of action should be to neuter and spay your cat.
By following these tips, you should be able to control fighting most of the time. Again, if you see your cat fighting all the time and nothing seems to stop it, be sure to isolate this cat and talk with your vet for some professional remedies.
This is a post written by Stephanie Lynch, who is from the Internet’s largest cost-helping database Howmuchisit.org. Here, you can find the unknown costs of just about anything ranging from pet surgeries to professional services. You can follow her on Facebook and Twitter @howmuchforit.