December 2023, The Feline Purrspective

Cats staring — The direct stare is not a friendly behavior.

It is increasingly common for people to own more than one cat. With more than one cat in the home, conflict between cats of the same household is also increasing.

managing aggression in the multi-cat home

It can be challenging to identify aggressive behavior. Cats play roughly and what looks like play might be a fight in progress. Subtle signs like staring and tail twitching are hard to recognize from across the room – overt behaviors such as chasing, wrestling and vocalizing are more likely to catch our eye and ear and alert us to trouble. [Reference 1]

Things to keep an eye/ear out for:

aggression

vocalizing: growling, hissing, long drawn out meowing
chasing where one cat is the “chaser”
offensive postures: stiffened legs, stiff tail
defensive postures: crouching, tucked head [References 1, 2]

play

Frequent and long-lasting wrestling/chasing
You may hear occasional short, soft meows or chirrups [Reference 2]
Reciprocity – cats take turns being on top or chasing

things in-between

There are interactions that combine both play and aggression but do not result in a fight [Reference 1].

One cat wants to play and the other does not, responding with a swat and hiss to end the play sequence.
Cats of different social groups may need to pass each other. There may be some hissing but body postures are not stiff nor crouching.

interventions – Managing Aggression in the multi-cat home

When you hear yowling/hissing/growling or see stiff or crouching postures, it is time to investigate. Intervention may just consist of opening a door wider so that both cats can pass through. If things are a bit more serious, separate the participants using noise or a barrier. See Managing the Indoor Cat Fight.

It is important to identify the social groups in the house. A few aggressive interactions between cats who sleep snuggled together, groom each other and share resources most likely will not require intervention [Reference 1].

Gus and Marley tolerate each other with the occasional spat.

PLAY can become AGGRESSION

A cat becomes too exuberant and begins to scratch and bite harder.
Reciprocity stops – cats are no longer taking turns.
Hissing, growling increases as the other cat tries to end the play sequence.

Decreasing aggressive play towards other cats

By reducing the desire to play, cats will play less, decreasing the chance that aggressive play happens [Reference 2].

Provide play-time for the whole group at predictable times: scatter toys around the room for the group to interact with; play with the aggressive/energetic cats with a wand toy or other interactive toys.
These more active cats can also benefit from play time away from the other cats in a separate room [Reference 2].

non-play aggression

Play aggression starts with positive, friendly emotions, whereas non-play aggression arises from fear, anxiety, and frustration [Reference 2].

Common scenarios include cats blocking other cats from accessing resources, or trapping another cat in a place that has no escape route. And there are those “bully” cats that “pick on” timid or shy cats, who respond with crouching down and scooting away.

Have plenty of resources spread out through the house (a cat can’t block two places at once).
Have multiple, separated play/resting/observation areas.
Monitor “bottlenecks”: provide places for cats to avoid each other, e.g. a high cat tree near a doorway, offering an escape from another cat passing through.
Enrich the “bully” cat: give him time away from cats not of his social group with access to food puzzles and novel toys.
Enrich the “victim”cat: give him or her time away from the bully and his buddies.
Put a collar with a bell on the “bully” so that other cats know he or she is coming. [Reference 2]

redirected aggression

Something happens that frustrates or frightens a cat, and the cat strikes out at whomever is closest. The cat cannot strike out at the cause of the arousal – it may be out of reach or too risky to confront.

A frequent scenario is a strange cat appearing at a window. The cat indoors cannot engage the stranger and redirects her frustration and anger at another cat nearby. Other triggers include high-pitched or loud noises, unusual odors, or visitors in the house.

Dealing With Redirected Aggression [Reference 2]

Separate the cats and reintroduce gradually.
Desensitize the aggressor cat to whatever stimulated the aggression: if it was a noise – play this sound (or something like it) when the cat is around. Start with a low volume and gradually increase to full volume while offering high value treats.
Visitors in the house: train the cat to go to a safe place when visitors come in.
For more information, see Redirected Aggression in Your Cat – When It Becomes a Problem.

other interventions – managing aggression in the multi-cat home

Medication may be helpful for very timid cats, highly aggressive cats, or to manage redirected aggression where the cat will continue to be exposed to the trigger [Reference 2]. See Dealing with Anxiety and Misbehavior in Your Cat.
If conflict continues, you may need to set up a time-sharing plan and have different social groups use critical areas in shifts. See How Cats Get Along – Timesharing.
Rehoming the aggressor cat with his social group or the victim cat with her social group may be viable alternatives [Reference 2].

Managing aggression in the multi-cat home requires careful observation of how the resident cats interact with each other. Knowledge of the social groups in the home can help in deciding whether intervention is needed. The cat owner must also be willing to respond to problems by adapting the environment, providing opportunities for cognitive enrichment, such as group and individual play time, and separating and reintroducing cats, when necessary.

Managing aggression in the multi-cat home is essential for the health and happiness of the feline and human occupants.

references

Gajdoš-Kmecová, N., Peťková, B., Kottferová, J. et al. An ethological analysis of close-contact inter-cat interactions determining if cats are playing, fighting, or something in between. Sci Rep 13, 92 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-26121-1
Ramos D. Common feline problem behaviors: Aggression in multi-cat households. Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery. 2019;21(3):221-233. doi:10.1177/1098612X19831204

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Social Groups of cats in the multi-cat home

This post was originally published 8/29/20. This newer version has been edited to incorporate new material and references.

If there is plenty of food around, free-roaming cats tend to form groups called colonies. The core of the cat colony are the females, typically a mother, her sisters, and her daughters. These females share the care of the kittens – they nurse each others’ kittens and even help each other give birth.

Male kittens are driven off by their mothers at maturity to avoid inbreeding. They can become solitary hunters like their wildcat ancestors or become attached to an unrelated colony if accepted by the females.

Smaller social groups of cats often form within the larger social group of the cat colony. These groups of 2 or more cats typically

sleep snuggled together
groom each other
rub against each other
“play fight”.

These cats are comfortable sharing resources: food, water, litter boxes, sleeping and resting places. Often these are cats that grew up together but that is not always the case.

social groups of cats indoors -managing the multi-cat home

In the multi-cat home, some cats also prefer to stay together. Identifying the social groups of cats in the home can aid in allocating resources and reduce conflict among the resident cats [Reference 1].

Identifying the social groups of cats

Members of the same social group may

sleep snuggled together
groom each
rub against each other
engage in mutual social play.

There are no hard and fast rules to affiliation: some cats will not snuggle together, but will groom each other and play together.

A Multi-Cat Household and its Social Groups

There are 3 social groups in this 4 cat household.

Social Group 1

Athena forms her own social group. She is a 15 year old spayed female. She recognizes her housemates but prefers to spend time by herself or with her owners.

Social Group 2

Marley (14 yr neutered male) will hang out with 4 year old Zelda. They will rest together and “share” snacks. They will occasionally “play fight”.

Social Group 3

Zelda and Gus (3 yr old neutered male) groom each other’s heads and play together occasionally.

Gus and Zelda also go on walks together with their owners.

Allocating resources in the multi-cat home to reduce conflict

One of the keys to harmony in the multi-cat home is to provide multiple resources and spread them throughout the house. The goal is to ensure that all cats have access to litter boxes, food and water without having to compete with another cat. Here is a simple diagram showing the location of litter boxes on the second floor of a multi-story home [Reference 1].

When locating resources, watch for “bottlenecks” such hallway doors where cats may have to pass each other. Try and place litter boxes, water stations… away from these areas.

House map cat resources — A simple sketch of your house can help with locating litter boxes.

tips for managing resources in the multi-cat home

# litter boxes = # social groups + 1
Feed cats individually and out of sight of each other.
Have daily play time for each cat
Have multiple sleeping, resting places – have secluded and elevated choices

monitoring interactions between cats to manage conflict

Once the social groups in the house are identified, it important for the cat owner to monitor how the cats are getting along and intervene, if necessary, to prevent conflict [Reference 1].

A cat fight can result in injuries to the fighting cats and the humans who try and manage the fight.
Aggression does not need to cause physical injury – psychological stress resulting from one cat guarding resources from another can result in illness and undesirable behaviors such as house-soiling.

signs of conflict – signs of play

It is important to be aware of potential conflict in the multi-cat home. Signs of conflict not only include chasing, running away, howling and hissing, but also more subtle, seemingly harmless behaviors such as staring and blocking doorways. To make things more confusing, chasing and running away can be play behaviors! For more information, visit “How Do Your Cats Get Along – Conflict Behaviors”.

Cats are socially flexible and can form social groups with unrelated cats, although the strength and intensity of these social bonds can vary. A few aggressive interactions between cats who sleep snuggled together, groom each other and share resources may not point to a deterioration in their relationship [Reference 2]. However, cats whose affiliation is weaker and whose inter-cat interactions are frequently punctuated with hissing and growling may warrant a call to your veterinarian or a cat behaviorist.

The next post will look at identifying aggressive behaviors in more detail and what interventions are available to the cat owner.

references

Ramos D. Common feline problem behaviors: Aggression in multi-cat households. Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery. 2019;21(3):221-233. doi:10.1177/1098612X19831204
Gajdoš-Kmecová, N., Peťková, B., Kottferová, J. et al. An ethological analysis of close-contact inter-cat interactions determining if cats are playing, fighting, or something in between. Sci Rep 13, 92 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-26121-1

Want to keep up with the world of cats? Subscribe to The Feline Purrspective!