# My Cat is a Bully!



## Kobster (Feb 1, 2007)

My three year old neutered male cat Thurston is a big bully! He is constantly picking fights with my female cat (also spayed) Mocha. There are daily squabbles. Mostly just hissing and growling, but they occassionally come to blows. He has put two of my pets in the hospital. He attacked my old cat, Puzzles, last year and put her in the hospital for three days. She almost didn't survive. He also scratched my very placid, elderly sheltie on the eye, causing him to eventually lose sight in that eye. He gets along with Kobie, my other neutered male, but often plays so rough he causes Kobie to scream and cry in pain, he pulls out hunks of fur and sometimes draws blood.

We;ve tried yelling at him, shaking a bottle at him, hissing at him, etc to get him to stop, but we don't know what is causing him to be such a bully. If he was a dog I would call him aggressive dominant. He has lived in the house now for over two years so I would think he would have asserted that dominance by now. Why is he still picking fights? We have to separate him from the other cats at night just so we can get some peace/sleep.

I think I need a cat whisperer! Help!


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## nastusha799 (Feb 5, 2004)

I have similar problem....I have 3 casts...2 spayed females(white domestic short hair, and a mix between British short hair and Russian blue) and one neutered male(British short hair). So..****** is about 7 pounds and Jagr (British short hair) is 15 pounds.

****** hates Jagr beyond belief...she corners him,hisses at him, growls at him,picking up fights...even when she looks at him..that poor cat runs from her like there is no tomorrow. To get some sleep..Jag actually tore up bottom of my chair..he goes inside my chair and hides from her. She found that out and when he goes there she stands on her back paws and with her front paws she hits the chair. 

I feel sooo bad for Jag because he is a very sweet cat....I tried spraying ****** with water..but unfortunately she LOVES water (she takes showers with me every day). I can't do anything else with her because she is deaf.....does anybody have an idea how I should handle this?

Thanks a lot!!


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## manitu22 (Apr 25, 2003)

It sounds to me like Thurston might need a new home where he is the only pet. I know decisions like this can be difficult and I went through something similar myself but it ended up being the best for everyone. Your cat must be very stressed to be acting out towards other animals like this and obviously is not in the best welfare of your other pets. I would suggest speaking to your vet about this if you haven't already and exploring the idea of maybe rehoming this cat.


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## Kobster (Feb 1, 2007)

Okay, lets not go overboard. I am not getting rid of any of my cats. A cat is for life, pets aren't to be thrown away or given away when something about them is inconvenient for me. 

What I do now if keep them separated when no one is there to monitor them. 

I would say, there is peace in our house 98% of the time. If we are all in the living room watching T.V. they can all be in the room with us, at the same time, no squabbling. 

The problems seem to come on Thurston's whim. He gets, what in a dogs behavior I would call the "zoomies", where he goes tearing around the house, meowing and attacking anything that moves. I think its play but Mocha doesn't appreciate it. Thing is, he won't back off. He doesn't seem to know his boundaries, like maybe he was taken from his litter too soon, and never learned appropriate play ettiquette. So then, I need to teach him those boundaries. 

If Thurston was a dog then I would have no problems. There is so much out there on dog behavior. Are cats so elusive, that no one is studying their behavior? Seems like everything I've read so far is "squirt bottle". Dog training went through the "squirt bottle" phase about twenty years ago, and has progressed far beyond it to techniques that actually work. 

So I guess what I am asking is Who is the the authority on cat behavior? can you point me in the direction of someone who will tell me to do something other than squirt my cat in the face with water, or give him away.


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## manitu22 (Apr 25, 2003)

I am sorry if you think what I suggested is going overboard. When I had to rehome my cat Lily it wasn't because I just wanted to throw her away because she was inconviencing me. I did it for the both cats mental and physical health. Really it was one of the hardest things I have ever done. When I took her in I didn't know that she would hate other cats. I did everything in my power to make my 2 cats get along. My other cat had no issues with her. Lily was constantly hiding, hissing, swatting, growling, pooping and peeing in inappopriate places. She started suffering physicals problems due to the stress. I tried feliway, different litters, reintroducing them, ruling out medical problems, etc etc. 

IMO if one of my cats was causing severe bodily harm upon my other cats/dogs I would think this wasn't the right living situation for that cat. 

There are other very knowledgable and dedicated members on this board who have had to do the same thing.

I never said this is something you had to do either. Just something to maybe be prepared for.

Truthfully in a case like this I can't offer any other advice than maybe to see an animal behaviorist. There is no guarantees with that either.


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