Does My Cat Think One Of My Other Cats Is Prey?

[Burnuh]

I’ve seen cats fight before but usually starts off with hissing or growling or you can see their body look like they’re getting ready. BUT with my newer cat I adopted little over two months ago, Gilly female almost 4 months old, my older female Chloe 3 years old, their fighting is different than I’ve seen before. Chloe full on sneak attacks Gilly when she’s sleeping and not by me or fiancé. She waits until gilly is not paying attention and really pounces or swings hard. No warning? I’ve had them in the same room with gilly in my lap a few feet away from Chloe and Chloe won’t make a move but the second gilly is by herself or I turn my head or at night in bed Chloe is attacking. Is it normal for her to be so smart about waiting until I turn my head and silently attack? Obviously I messed up the introduction and am working to try again but it’s just the sneakiest malicious thing I’ve ever seen. Gilly is now locked in spare room at night and during work day with a break at lunch. She has full amenities but I feel so guilty. She and my oldest cat are okay as well as Chloe and the oldest but some reason Chloe despises Gilly. I really want to switch and lock Chloe up at night and gilly during the day? Chloe is just really hard to catch because she is skittish with anyone but me and I live with my fiancé. I’ve posted before about them but more so this time I’m really curious about the way Chloe attacks.

 

[danteshuman]

It sounds like ‘I’m bored so I will hunt Gilly!’ combined with some dominiance issues. Part of that is Chloe being an annoying hyper kitten. Is Chloe spayed? If not you need to do that now. I would suggest locking Gilly in your room at night when you sleep (why should she have to suffer this upset to?!?!?) It might not hurt to try to re-introduce them but I do not think that is the issue here.

Here is what worked on my bully:

1) Wearing my hyper punk out with outside time (with lots of bird feeders) & play at least twice a day! Start with 4 play sessions 15 minutes long morning & night. Really get Chloe to hunt the toys. Drag the wand toy up and down furniture or use a cat dancer you drag behind you as you go up and down the stairs. A bird watching window or a catio are a must.
*Puzzle feeders might help..... my bully was to lazy to bother.

2) building up my victim cat’s confidence with one on one play

3) not letting him attack his brother when he was right next to me or on my lap

4) catify your place. Lots of shelves and trees etc. Watch some ‘my cat from hell’ episodes so you learn how to prevent dead ends. Also a cat up high is a confident cat so you want Gilly to climb not huddle under the bed or in a cat cave (waiting to be trapped/attacked.)

* if in 6 months you still have this problem some people have tried Prozac on their bully cats.
* some people swear by bully remedies or feliway .... it couldn’t hurt.

 

[mandmcats]

Ours does this too. Our resident cat will wait until the new cat is not looking and she sneak attacks. She doesn't always swat but runs up and "stands tall" like making herself taller. We think like danteshuman says it's a mix of dominance and boredom. Ours has a lot, a lot of energy so we have to play with her a lot. Even then she loves stalking the new cat. We've seen it improved over the last month when the new cat has slowly gained confidence. She still will run most of the time. We only step in if we think a big fight will break out; otherwise we watch and let them sort out their pecking order. I think you have to give it some time. Maybe play with the resident cat more!

 

[Mamanyt1953]

Has the attack ever been severe enough that Gilly is bleeding (tiny scratches don't count), or missing hunks of fur? If not, this is not a serious attack, no matter how it looks. It sounds as if there is, indeed, some dominance stuff going on, and this is very normal. Doesn't mean you ignore it, though!

danteshuman gave you some great ideas for dealing with it. A good wand toy, such as Da Bird, can be your best friend, for BOTH cats. Individual play sessions can work wonders. It gives Chloe a chance to get out those pounce instincts in a harmless way, and drain off the energy, and Gilly will gain confidence as she successfully masters "hunt, catch, kill" skills.

I DO strongly suggest that you not isolate one cat all of the time. Switch them out so that they each get equal amounts of "out and about" time. This is crucial for their wellbeing. I'd even go so far as to schedule things so that the same cat is not isolated EVERY night.