# Is there such a thing as an electronic collar for cats?



## sdk1406 (Jul 17, 2004)

It's been three months since we brought in our sixth cat as a stray and our fifth and only male cat WILL NOT STOP CHASING AND POUNCING on her every chance he gets! She is totally afraid to come downstairs and will flee at the slightest glimpse of him. Is there any training technique that will stop him from doing this? Thanks in advance.


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## Bandit_X (May 29, 2008)

Shock collars are never the answer, for any species. 

Have you tried a spray bottle or water or a loud noise? These distract from the behavior, giving you the time to correct it. Once he is distracted, say "NO!" firmly and remove the instigating cat from the situation.


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## doodlebug (May 13, 2006)

I really don't like electronic collars, but I had a similar situation to what you're describing with Kobi attacking Callie (Bridge kitty) when she was sick. I was so desperate that I considered it. They do make electronic fences for cats, but I couldn't find a company that made an electronic collar that I could control. I called one of the dog companies to see if I could use a small dog collar and they said that they don't recommend them for cats, especially in a situation where the cat was already agitated. They felt it might just tick the cat off even more. She had more to say about the differences between dogs and cats and the way the respond to a negative stimulus like a shock collar and the psychology of the whole thing that I don't remember. But I walked away from the conversation thinking that this person/company had obviously researched this pretty thoroughly, more than likely with the idea of developing a product for cats, and determined it wasn't a good idea.


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## sdk1406 (Jul 17, 2004)

Yes, I have tried the water bottle. There are times when the two of them can be laying on my bed, on opposite sides of me, and they're perfectly fine together. She can sit on the steps and look downstairs and he'll just lay at the bottom looking at her. As soon as she makes any kind of a move that's when he goes after her.


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## doodlebug (May 13, 2006)

How old is the new girl and how is her health? Kobi was attacking Callie like this because he knew she was sick. It was the whole survival of the fittest, cull out the weak kind of thing. Not anything I was going to be able to fix and finally ended up separating them for the last 6 months of her life. Just wondering if your guy is having a similar response, especially since he doesn't do it to the rest of your crew.

Have you tried Feliway diffusers? They're not miracle workers but I do find they help. 

Oh...one other thing I noticed is Kobi gets freaky when there's a full moon, usually a few days before. That's the time he's most likely to be a jerk with the current girls even now with Callie gone.


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## sdk1406 (Jul 17, 2004)

The newest girl is about 2 years. We can only estimate. Her health is perfect. He is the only male and is 3 years. He does do this with my 13 yr. old. She lives mostly on top of tables and shelves because of him. I'm thinking he's trying to prove he's the alpha cat, especially since he's the only male. All of them are spayed and neutered. He never is mean or vicious with them. Just chases and sometimes jumps on top of them. Our newest has claws, our male doesn't. I wish she'd get him good sometime so he'd learn a lesson!


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## Heidi n Q (Nov 22, 2006)

Question...
Is he trying to "get" them or is he trying to initiate "play" with them?

...does he jump them and immediately start serious attacking, like biting/clawing and yowling? Fuzzed up? Ticked off?

...does he jump them and sort of 'watch them' to see what they do so he can chase them some more, jumping on them and grabbing them but not seriously biting/clawing, hoping they'll play back?


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## ~Siameseifuplz~ (May 6, 2007)

I would never shock any animal, I think it would just increase his anger or make him shut down if he was trying to initiate play (stop trying to play at all or be curious for fear of punishment as they have no idea what might be a bad move, common in frequently punished/alpha rolled dogs). it will not teach him how to interact appropriately. I agree with the above questions, it is important to know if it is play or aggression, play will be much easier to solve (starting with more play time from YOU). try to make him expend as much energy as possible on a game with you and toys so that he will be less likely to bug the cats or will at least give up quicker. can you tell when he is getting ready to pounce? 

I would try body blocking. When he gets ready to "attack" step right in front of him and block him from the other cat. You can also block him if they are in the middle of play so long as he lets go for a moment, long enough for you to step in. Once he stops trying to get around you initiate play with another toy (preferably a toy he can use himself so he will learn to use that when he feels the urge to pounce). Since your other cat doesn't seem to enjoy playing with rambunctious kitties you'll need to make sure he has a stimulating environment because he really wants to play with her, so whatever you redirect him to must be more fun than other kitties.

If body blocking does not work or you don't catch him until he has already started and you don't have an opportunity to body block, you can also grab him and quickly remove him to a time out spot to calm down. When it is over (1-2 minutes) take him out and play with a toy. The idea is to actually teach him what he can do instead of playing with the other cat, not punish him for trying to play.

You can also try to initiate play with a toy as soon as he looks like he is about to pounce on her but it must be before he does or you will be rewarding the behavior with a game. 

Now this is all if the cat is just playing, if he is being aggressive you'll have to do more rehab/long intro stuff with them.

I would separate them at night and when you are not home to make sure he cannot rehearse this behavior without intervention or it will be more difficult to stop.


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## sdk1406 (Jul 17, 2004)

There's really no hissing, growling, fur flying, etc, coming from him. The victim cat is the one that hisses. The two of them are separated at night. The new girl sleeps in our bedroom and he has run of the house with the others. If this is just him trying to initiate play, will this eventually calm down as he matures?


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## doodlebug (May 13, 2006)

The Feliway diffusers may help the new girl to chill a bit so she's not so freaked out when he shows interest in her.


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## sdk1406 (Jul 17, 2004)

Is the diffuser a plug-in that would be in the bedroom where she is most of the time? I've never used Feliway before.


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## mstx (Mar 4, 2008)

yes there is a diffuser


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## Zalensia (Aug 25, 2003)

Here is some more information on it, that is a UK site but it is widely available all over the world.

http://www.petvetcare.co.uk/acatalog/Feliway.html


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## sdk1406 (Jul 17, 2004)

Thanks. I think I may give the Feliway a try. Is this something that is used short-term and will modify their behavior, or must it always be used? Is there any smell from this to humans?


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## doodlebug (May 13, 2006)

It depends on how she does going forward. When I introduced Holly into the house I would let the bottle run dry and wait a couple days before replacing it. I stopped using it when I no longer noticed a behavioral difference. 

If I stood right over a brand new bottle I could smell it a bit, but walk a couple feet away and nothing. 

Feliway is expensive, I've found the best prices on Amazon.com. I think the vendor was Entirely Pets. Prices are probably 30-40% cheaper than Petsmart or Petco.


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## sdk1406 (Jul 17, 2004)

Yes, Amazon is where I was just looking at it. This morning I've been blocking Rascal everytime he's tried to dart towards her and when I stop him, he whines and cries and starts marking everything in sight by rubbing his chin. If this is territorial, why does he select only a couple of the other cats to do this?


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## doodlebug (May 13, 2006)

Because he may feel that they're a treat to his 'throne' and the others are not. Age 2-3 is when a cat is fully mature and make his/her bid for alpha cat. I had a couple bad years with Kobi and he finally chilled at age 5. Although I think bringing Holly in at that point helped quite a bit, she was a goofy kitten and gave him a run for his money. And he was in Loovvvvvve...


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## sdk1406 (Jul 17, 2004)

Your Kobi looks just like my Rascal. If it's play he wants, with five other cats here I wish one of them would be his friend! But the others are 10-13. Maybe they're too old for him.


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## Heidi n Q (Nov 22, 2006)

sdk1406 said:


> If it's play he wants, with five other cats here I wish one of them would be his friend! But the others are 10-13. Maybe they're too old for him.


This sounds like the problem. Can you get him a kitten and make it a 6-cat household?
We took Floofy in on Valentine's night. He is a big, goofy kitten in a huge cat body. He just wanted to play with everyone, but he was so big...he'd come bounding towards the other kitties to play and all they saw was a huge 'aggressive' cat and wanted no part of him. Now, I'd say about half of the cats will play with him, or just play chase with him without hissing/growling. He is also learning cat-speak for 'leave me alone' and will back off when they tell him to.


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## sdk1406 (Jul 17, 2004)

It's already a 6 cat household. We have five females and Rascal the male. When I told my husband that we should probably get a male kitten for him, the response wasn't very positive! We had 6 cats before we took in this last stray. We lost one to colon cancer in September and we always say, "no more". Then the strays always seem to find us.


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## doodlebug (May 13, 2006)

Is Rascal a big boy compared to the girls? That is part of the problem with Kobi...he's almost 19 lbs and not fat. He's just huge. That why I decided on a Maine **** when I got Holly...personality wise they're laid back and she's as big as he is in height and length. She still weighs significantly less, but MCs grow until they're 4. Even at the lower weight he doesn't intimidate her much because she can look him in the eye. And her fur actually makes her look bigger than him :lol: I do expect her to fill out some more though and then he'd better watch out! :lol:


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## sdk1406 (Jul 17, 2004)

No, Rascal is actually small and thin. I would guess in comparison to my others he's probably between 10-12 lbs. My 13 yr. old that he chases onto tabletops is 16 lbs. and is my heaviest.


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## sdk1406 (Jul 17, 2004)

I forgot to add, the 'victim' of Rascal is a matted stray Persian that we had to have shaved. She is now beginning to grow back her fur and I was thinking, too, that when she gets all her fur back she will look larger and more intimidating to Rascal. But she is the one that always runs from him.


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## doodlebug (May 13, 2006)

Hmmm....maybe she feels naked and intimidated without her fur. You know, no confidence without her fashion accessories :lol:


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## sdk1406 (Jul 17, 2004)

This is Furby back before we brought her inside and Furby now.










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## mstx (Mar 4, 2008)

:lol: I have to snicker bc she is so fluffy!!!! She should be happy without all that fur.....


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## melysion (Mar 12, 2007)

my goodness - look at all that fur!!!


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## sdk1406 (Jul 17, 2004)

I think she likes having less fur. I would like to try to keep her fur shorter. She had her body shaved down to her skin because her mats were pulling off her skin in sheets and causing bleeding and infections.


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## doodlebug (May 13, 2006)

Wow! Who'da guess there was a cat under all that. She's a gorgeous girl though...


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## sdk1406 (Jul 17, 2004)

Thank you! She really is a sweetheart. I used to call her the 'evil kitty' when she was in our yard. Just something about that look in her eyes...


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## ~*Regina*~ (Apr 16, 2008)

HaHa!! Look at that fur. Did she stick it's paw in a light socket?  so cute!.

My roommate has a cat named Meph who always wants to attack my cat Tessie. We actually came up with a solution of when Tessie is roming around the apartment, Meph is either outside or locked in another room.
Meph was a sweethart until my roommate decided to let him outside, now he is sooo evil, even too me .


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## sdk1406 (Jul 17, 2004)

I've tried locking Rascal in a bedroom and all you hear is horrible howling and whining for hours. 

Today Rascal constantly chased two of my other cats, jumping on them and getting a mouthful of fur. When he wants a chair that another cat is in, he jumps on them to make them leave I'm at the end of my rope with him. He can be so loving and docile one minute, the next minute he's the devil incarnate. Still, I could never consider giving him up.

I've sent for the Feliway diffuser. I'm really praying this helps!!


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## Kobster (Feb 1, 2007)

Sorry I don't have anything new to add. I can only echo what has already been said about adding another cat. My cat Thurston was a horrible bully until I got Sully who gives him a run for his money. His bullying of Kobie has diminshed greatly since sully arrived. It sounds like Rascal wants to play, but your other cats are too old/regal for that sort of behavior. A kitten, particuarly another male, may be just what the doctor ordered. 

I know you said it was out of the question, but I felt I should add, it did work for me.


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## doodlebug (May 13, 2006)

Remember what I said about Kobi going freaky a few days before a full moon? Full moon is Saturday...I couldn't believe it, but it really was a factor.


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## sdk1406 (Jul 17, 2004)

As I am reading these current posts, I hear a cat fight in the next room. Rascal has jumped on top of my Cleo who might have a head cold. She's been sneezing with runny eyes the past few days. He had been stalking her in the litter box and I stopped him a couple times so she could go. I ran in to find him coughing out Cleo's fur from his mouth. I was sooooo mad I chased him upstairs and locked him in my bedroom closet!


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## doodlebug (May 13, 2006)

Hmmm....you might want to think about a consultation with a cat behaviorist.


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## sdk1406 (Jul 17, 2004)

My Feliway diffuser just arrived in the mail! I read through the instructions and nothing was mentioned about aggression. Oh, well, keeping my fingers crossed :|


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## doodlebug (May 13, 2006)

Feliway helps to keep cats calm. Many shelters use it, especially in rooms where cats are loose, to help keep the peace. So it should help keep the cat that's being attacked from being so nervous, and also help chill out Rascal a bit.

But it's not a miracle product, it's not going to completely cure the problem. But I find it helps.


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## KeithZ76 (Oct 16, 2008)

I have seriously been considering purchasing a shock collar if available for my cat. I am really having a problem with my cat she is approximately 1 and 1/2 years old female and my wife and myself are barely getting any sleep due to our kitty constantly scratching and howling at night. I can not use vocal commands such as hissing or saying no as she was born deaf. As to squirting her with water that is also a lost cause as most days she jumps in the shower with me. The only reason I can figure that she is behaving this way is for attention because if we get out of bed she is fine and goes to sleep within 15 minutes but as soon as we try to go back to bed she starts the cycle all over again within 30 minutes. I was thinking that an E collar might be the only thing that will work as it was something I i used on our Jack Russell terrier when she would bark constantly at the neighbors motorcycle. I found with using the shock collar only when necessary and using the lowest possible shock setting it was very effective and she has been well adjusted.

I welcome any other options you all might have as I am at a total loss on this


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## ~Siameseifuplz~ (May 6, 2007)

I have a feeling using a shock collar on a cat would cause the cat to freak out and frantically try and get the collar off because it is causing him pain. Is the cat screaming from inside the room or outside? Have you tried wearing the cat out and then feeding him before bedtime?


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