Signs Cat Is Trying To Pick A Fight

[brokenheart]

What are the signs that a cat is going to pummel another cat? I think my "foster" has decided to bully my old guy. She walks up to him very slowly, he lies down (submissive) and she makes a kind of yowling sound. Her movements are all very slow and sometimes she sort of twists her neck a la The Exorcist.I intervene but I can't be here all the time. She doesn't do it to my other old cat whose attitude toward her when she gets pissy is f-u. It's really weird to see my other cat submissive, because he once tried to beat up a house-call vet who was trying give the other (scaredy) cat a rabies shot - I think Cat 1 thought he was saving Cat 2's life. I'm very protective of Cat 1 because he was a rescue and he's now 16 (she's 3) and I don't want him tormented and afraid during his final years. I had a couple of people lined up to take her when I rescued her from abandonment but was giving her a chance first; if she's going to keep this up and especially if she's really going to hurt him, she'll have to go to one of those other homes. 

It's so unusual for him to be taking this treatment (he went after a 6 foot man and he and my other old guy have always been on equal footing) that I wonder if it's he won't "hit a girl" or is that silly? 

Thanks!

 

[Ms. Freya]

They might just be playing or sorting out the pecking order, but a good way to tell if there's actual aggression is to look for these signs:

• Wide open eyes.
• Dilated pupils (in case of a perceived threat), or very constricted pupils (as the cat tries to threaten back).
• Flattened ears.
• Tail lashing or straight tail with bristled fur.
• agitated meows that turn into growling and snarling.
• hissing voices and sometimes even spitting.

Cats don't usually have a sense of gender when it comes to fighting, but they will have a sense of which cat is the most dominant (and it's not always the biggest or oldest! Our biggest cat is the least dominant in our house).