Territorial Aggression

I have half a dozen cat's so I definitely qualify as what people sometimes refer to as "crazy cat lady". But this "label" is something that can carry a hidden merit because for anyone else who has housed more than a few cat's before, they will know the difficulty of social aggression between cats in a house.

Terrorial behaviour can stem from numerous reasons, but usually these are not applicable to cats who have lived together for a while. This is because the hierarchy of cats within this small 'society' have been established. However, in certain circumstances, the dynamics of group may experience change, or have externalities come into play. For example, if kittens are introduced, they are usually not considered a threat to existing cat's but in a few short months they become large enough and mature enough to start seeing their own territories. In a lot of situations, it's not even the older cat's who are aggressive to the young ones.

Signs of this aggression are usually not immediate, they start from little bits of aggression such as hissing or growling, then escalates from swatting, chasing to full on attacking and fighting. This gradual escalation of aggression can cause the victim to gradually become distant from the household, hiding most of the time and only coming out when the aggressor isn't in sight.

It is never pleasant to let any member of the family feel threatened in their own home and so it is the duty of you, the owner, to find a safe haven for the victim. Sometimes the only solution is to rehome one of the cats but in most situations, there are other things you can do. For a starters, gradual reintroduction in the same way you introduce new cats to the family should be practiced.Neutering is another way of lowering the aggression as hormones definitely play a big role. Finally, I use a special kind of hormone treatment which is harmless to humans called "Feliway". This little diffuser spray uses a diffuser to spread happy pheromones around the house and this greatly improves the mood of all your cats. Use this in conjunction with re-introduction best practices and even the worst cases of aggression can be dealt with.