Some advice, please

Hi All,

Am a very new member of this NG, but find it great. I need some advice
please? We have two male cats, who were originally strays. We have had
the one about 6 months longer than the other and have had them both
neutered (as per the vet's instructions). Problem is, although we have
had both for almost 2 years now, they still fight somethimes. It's one
of those 'on-again' 'off-again' things. Sometimes they will sleep on the
same bed, not 3 feet away from each other and other times they attack
each other if one comes into the room after the other. I think it could
be a bit of jealousy, but we give both of them as much attention as we
can. They are very much 'outside' cats, as we live out of town and have
plenty of space, but they do like to come in at night. They eat
together, and that seems okay....

Any suggestions? Are we doing something wrong?

Thanks

Cathy

"cathy" wrote in message
...
Hi All,

Am a very new member of this NG, but find it great. I need some advice
please? We have two male cats, who were originally strays. We have had the
one about 6 months longer than the other and have had them both neutered
(as per the vet's instructions). Problem is, although we have had both for
almost 2 years now, they still fight somethimes. It's one of those
'on-again' 'off-again' things. Sometimes they will sleep on the same bed,
not 3 feet away from each other and other times they attack each other if
one comes into the room after the other. I think it could be a bit of
jealousy, but we give both of them as much attention as we can. They are
very much 'outside' cats, as we live out of town and have plenty of space,
but they do like to come in at night. They eat together, and that seems
okay....

Any suggestions? Are we doing something wrong?

Thanks

Cathy

How bad are the fights? It isn't always easy to tell fighting from playing.
Anyone screaming or getting injured or trying to run from the fights? If
not I wouldn't worry about it.

Jo

Jo Firey wrote:
"cathy" wrote in message
...

Hi All,

Am a very new member of this NG, but find it great. I need some advice
please? We have two male cats, who were originally strays. We have had the
one about 6 months longer than the other and have had them both neutered
(as per the vet's instructions). Problem is, although we have had both for
almost 2 years now, they still fight somethimes. It's one of those
'on-again' 'off-again' things. Sometimes they will sleep on the same bed,
not 3 feet away from each other and other times they attack each other if
one comes into the room after the other. I think it could be a bit of
jealousy, but we give both of them as much attention as we can. They are
very much 'outside' cats, as we live out of town and have plenty of space,
but they do like to come in at night. They eat together, and that seems
okay....

Any suggestions? Are we doing something wrong?

Thanks

Cathy


How bad are the fights? It isn't always easy to tell fighting from playing.
Anyone screaming or getting injured or trying to run from the fights? If
not I wouldn't worry about it.

Jo


It's not playing, I am afraid. Once or twice it's come close to a vet's
visit. They seem to take it in turns to be the instigator. If one of
them is feeling a bit off-colour for any reason, the stronger one tends
to start the fights...

cathy wrote:
Hi All,

Am a very new member of this NG, but find it great. I need some advice
please? We have two male cats, who were originally strays. We have had
the one about 6 months longer than the other and have had them both
neutered (as per the vet's instructions). Problem is, although we have
had both for almost 2 years now, they still fight somethimes. It's one
of those 'on-again' 'off-again' things. Sometimes they will sleep on
the same bed, not 3 feet away from each other and other times they
attack each other if one comes into the room after the other. I think
it could be a bit of jealousy, but we give both of them as much
attention as we can. They are very much 'outside' cats, as we live
out of town and have plenty of space, but they do like to come in at
night. They eat together, and that seems okay....

Any suggestions? Are we doing something wrong?

Thanks

Cathy

I don't think you're doing anything wrong. I only have one cat but someone
here is bound to mention Feliway spray or diffusers (Google or check
Petsmart). It's a synthetic pheromone supposed to have a calming effect
when there are spraying or behavior problems. A lot of folks here swear by
it. Good luck!

Jill

"cathy" wrote in message
...
Hi All,

Am a very new member of this NG, but find it great. I need some advice
please? We have two male cats, who were originally strays. We have had
the one about 6 months longer than the other and have had them both
neutered (as per the vet's instructions). Problem is, although we have
had both for almost 2 years now, they still fight somethimes. It's one
of those 'on-again' 'off-again' things. Sometimes they will sleep on the
same bed, not 3 feet away from each other and other times they attack
each other if one comes into the room after the other. I think it could
be a bit of jealousy, but we give both of them as much attention as we
can. They are very much 'outside' cats, as we live out of town and have
plenty of space, but they do like to come in at night. They eat
together, and that seems okay....

Any suggestions? Are we doing something wrong?

Thanks

Cathy

Welcome Cathy,

Glad that you are here. Can't help you with this particular problem as the
worst situation I have with my three is that one will bap the other because
he's getting his head groomed to much and his ears are soaking wet!

You are so nice to have taken in strays, what are their names? When you
have a chance please post pictures and tell us your cat stories.

Charleen
Mr. Pumpkin,
Aggie Marble,
Victor Velcro

cathy wrote:

Hi All,

Am a very new member of this NG, but find it great. I need some advice
please? We have two male cats, who were originally strays. We have had
the one about 6 months longer than the other and have had them both
neutered (as per the vet's instructions). Problem is, although we have
had both for almost 2 years now, they still fight somethimes. It's one
of those 'on-again' 'off-again' things.


Do you have kids? If not, you should know that no matter how much they
love each other, they will have fights from time to time. If you do
have hoomin kids, you KNOW that they love each other and are still going
to have fights.

Like people, cats have their own personalities. Like people, sometimes
those personalities clash. We have six cats and five kittens that we're
fostering for a rescue group. The cats range in age from 1 to 13 years.
Yes they all fight from time to time. Some of it is personality, some
of it is claiming one's spot in the pride. Cats have their own
hierarchy and they will debate it from time to time. sometimes they
will debate it loudly. Not to worry. Just love them and let them work
it out on their own, so long as there is no bloodshed.

Pam S.

jmcquown wrote:


I don't think you're doing anything wrong. I only have one cat but someone
here is bound to mention Feliway spray or diffusers (Google or check
Petsmart). It's a synthetic pheromone supposed to have a calming effect
when there are spraying or behavior problems. A lot of folks here swear by
it. Good luck!

Jill

Why not recommend it? It's helped keep my crew from committing murder.

Pam S. who's seen some ugly cat fights

tanada wrote:
jmcquown wrote:


I don't think you're doing anything wrong. I only have one cat but
someone here is bound to mention Feliway spray or diffusers (Google
or check Petsmart). It's a synthetic pheromone supposed to have a
calming effect when there are spraying or behavior problems. A lot
of folks here swear by it. Good luck!

Jill

Why not recommend it? It's helped keep my crew from committing
murder.

Pam S. who's seen some ugly cat fights

I can't really recommend it because I've never used it. However, I know a
lot of other people here swear by it so I guess I'm recommending it LOL

Jill

Charleen Welton wrote:



Welcome Cathy,

Glad that you are here. Can't help you with this particular problem as the
worst situation I have with my three is that one will bap the other because
he's getting his head groomed to much and his ears are soaking wet!

You are so nice to have taken in strays, what are their names? When you
have a chance please post pictures and tell us your cat stories.

Charleen
Mr. Pumpkin,
Aggie Marble,
Victor Velcro



Thanks Charleen.

We love cats and have only had two cats that were not strays! They seem
to find us. The current two are called Sox and Shoes!! Sox has white
paws and Shoes does not... hence the names. When we lived at our
previous place, we had two kittens, Scruffy and CC. Unfortunately,
Scruffy was hit by a car when he was about 7 months old and did not
survive (very sad). CC was not too lonely as we were feeding a bunch of
'wild' cats that used to turn up for dinner, but would not be tamed.
Then along came Sox... he had been adopted by one of the staff on the
property as he had been abandoned by someone. Sox decided he liked our
cottage and moved in. He got on very well with CC, who used to play his
'bouncer' against the wild cats. Then we moved to our present house
which is out of town on a small holding and CC and Sox came with us.
They loved all the open space and all was well until CC contracted
feline lukemia from somewhere. (Our vet says it could have been from the
wild cats at the previous cottage). We had him backwards and forwards to
the vet for months, but we eventually lost the battle. That was really
bad. I really miss them!

However, just before CC died, Shoes had started coming here for food. We
had no idea where he came from, but fed him anyway. Once CC was gone, he
got braver and braver and eventually came into the house... we caught
him and had him 'fixed' as well and he is still here....

I think the fact that they were both strays may have a lot to do with
the rivalry - they have found new territory and wish to defend it,
maybe? Our vet says that they should settle down eventually, but we have
had them about 2 years now and although the fighting has abated, it
still flares up too often to be good for our nerves!

Ironically, as I type this, Sox and Shoes are both in our bedroom, one
on the bed and the other curled up by the heater... go figure!

Thanks for listening!!

Cathy

cathy wrote:
Hi All,

Am a very new member of this NG, but find it great. I need some advice
please? We have two male cats, who were originally strays. We have had
the one about 6 months longer than the other and have had them both
neutered (as per the vet's instructions). Problem is, although we have
had both for almost 2 years now, they still fight somethimes. It's one
of those 'on-again' 'off-again' things. Sometimes they will sleep on
the same bed, not 3 feet away from each other and other times they
attack each other if one comes into the room after the other. I think
it could be a bit of jealousy, but we give both of them as much
attention as we can. They are very much 'outside' cats, as we live
out of town and have plenty of space, but they do like to come in at
night. They eat together, and that seems okay....

Any suggestions? Are we doing something wrong?

Thanks

Cathy

It sounds to me like they are play fighting, if they're not actually
hurting each other I wouldn't worry.

Welcome to the group, it's a while since I've seen a post from South
Africa.
--
Adrian (Owned by Snoopy & Bagheera)
A house is not a home, without a cat.