Power Struggle

There is an uneasy truce at my home at the moment, the balance of power is
subtly shifting. Archer is making his play at being alpha cat.

When Da Boyz were still kittens, they were both lowest on the totem pole -
Ozzy the lowest only because of his pacifist nature (he's a *BIG* boy, all
muscle). Since Bandit's departure to the Bridge, Jessie has been
ostentatiously the alpha cat - I say ostentatiously only because Demi is too
shy, personality-wise, to want to take her on. But as fearful of everything
as Demi is, I think she would win in a fight with any other of our clowder -
the frightened fighter is always more dangerous than the bully since he's
fighting for his life whereas the bully is only fighting for power. Sammy
will absolutely roll over and give in to Jessie - even though she's three
times bigger than Jessie, she still hasn't gotten over being soundly
chastised by Jessie when she was a kitten - so in her head she's still a
tiny kitten to Jessie's "big sisfur". Sammy will try to bully Demi, but she
doesn't pursue it because I think she can sense how dangerous Demi could be
if she really got into a serious fight. Jessie and Demi just ignore each
other.

Now, enter into that mix the fact that Archer and Ozzy are now adult cats
and the balance of power starts to shift. Archer will jump on Ozzy, "mount"
him and bite the back of his neck. He's displaying dominance by doing that.
Ozzy, being the big ole pacifist that he is *lets* Archer get away with it
just because he doesn't want to fight (if they did fight, Ozzy would mop the
floor with Archer). Archer routinely jumps on Sammy and bites at her neck
and stomach, but Sammy gives back as good as she gets so that struggle is
still playing itself out. [It's interesting to note how a male will display
dominance differently to a female than a male - Archer won't try to "mount"
any of the girls, just Ozzy, with the girls he just fights normally.] Now
Archer is trying to face down Demi. She runs, but when cornered she'll
growl and display - so far there's only been a few swats between them, but I
think Archer will eventually decide he's the dominant one without a full
blown fight, just like the rest of the clowder, not knowing how dangerous
Demi could be. For the time being, Archer is just eying Jessie warily - he
hasn't worked up the courage to face off with her yet (and MAN will he get a
big surprise when he does - that little girl is FEISTY!)

I keep everyone's claws clipped, and a squirt bottle on hand for any serious
fights that might break out, so I'm not worried about damage, so it's quite
interesting to watch the action while everyone shifts around in the pecking
order.

This was brought on by Archer and Ozzy reaching adulthood, I'm interested in
seeing if this will be an ongoing struggle. What about you guys, do your
clowder constantly fight for dominance.

Hugs,

CatNipped

"CatNipped" wrote in message
...
There is an uneasy truce at my home at the moment, the balance of power is
subtly shifting. Archer is making his play at being alpha cat.

When Da Boyz were still kittens, they were both lowest on the totem pole -
Ozzy the lowest only because of his pacifist nature (he's a *BIG* boy, all
muscle). Since Bandit's departure to the Bridge, Jessie has been
ostentatiously the alpha cat - I say ostentatiously only because Demi is
too shy, personality-wise, to want to take her on. But as fearful of
everything

Ach - I mean ostensibly! Darn spellchecker!!

as Demi is, I think she would win in a fight with any other of our
clowder - the frightened fighter is always more dangerous than the bully
since he's fighting for his life whereas the bully is only fighting for
power. Sammy will absolutely roll over and give in to Jessie - even
though she's three times bigger than Jessie, she still hasn't gotten over
being soundly chastised by Jessie when she was a kitten - so in her head
she's still a tiny kitten to Jessie's "big sisfur". Sammy will try to
bully Demi, but she doesn't pursue it because I think she can sense how
dangerous Demi could be if she really got into a serious fight. Jessie
and Demi just ignore each other.

Now, enter into that mix the fact that Archer and Ozzy are now adult cats
and the balance of power starts to shift. Archer will jump on Ozzy,
"mount" him and bite the back of his neck. He's displaying dominance by
doing that. Ozzy, being the big ole pacifist that he is *lets* Archer get
away with it just because he doesn't want to fight (if they did fight,
Ozzy would mop the floor with Archer). Archer routinely jumps on Sammy
and bites at her neck and stomach, but Sammy gives back as good as she
gets so that struggle is still playing itself out. [It's interesting to
note how a male will display dominance differently to a female than a
male - Archer won't try to "mount" any of the girls, just Ozzy, with the
girls he just fights normally.] Now Archer is trying to face down Demi.
She runs, but when cornered she'll growl and display - so far there's only
been a few swats between them, but I think Archer will eventually decide
he's the dominant one without a full blown fight, just like the rest of
the clowder, not knowing how dangerous Demi could be. For the time being,
Archer is just eying Jessie warily - he hasn't worked up the courage to
face off with her yet (and MAN will he get a big surprise when he does -
that little girl is FEISTY!)

I keep everyone's claws clipped, and a squirt bottle on hand for any
serious fights that might break out, so I'm not worried about damage, so
it's quite interesting to watch the action while everyone shifts around in
the pecking order.

This was brought on by Archer and Ozzy reaching adulthood, I'm interested
in seeing if this will be an ongoing struggle. What about you guys, do
your clowder constantly fight for dominance.

Hugs,

CatNipped

On Dec 2, 3:50*pm, "CatNipped" wrote:
"CatNipped" wrote in message

...

There is an uneasy truce at my home at the moment, the balance of power is
subtly shifting. *Archer is making his play at being alpha cat.

When Da Boyz were still kittens, they were both lowest on the totem pole -
Ozzy the lowest only because of his pacifist nature (he's a *BIG* boy, all
muscle). *Since Bandit's departure to the Bridge, Jessie has been
ostentatiously the alpha cat - I say ostentatiously only because Demi is
too shy, personality-wise, to want to take her on. *But as fearful of
everything

Ach - I mean ostensibly! *Darn spellchecker!!

well, you *did* spell ostentatiously correctly, so spell checker did
its job. Now, if only *I* could get 'grammatik' to work in email.

8---snipped....8

Now, enter into that mix the fact that Archer and Ozzy are now adult cats
and the balance of power starts to shift. *Archer will jump on Ozzy,
"mount" him and bite the back of his neck. *He's displaying dominance by
doing that. Ozzy, being the big ole pacifist that he is *lets* Archer get
away with it just because he doesn't want to fight (if they did fight,
Ozzy would mop the floor with Archer).


Smeagol was/is our big ole pacifist. I say was/is because he doesn't
fight, but... The time the cats were playing Pinata Smeagol (after he
got tangled in mini-blinds, which I've still won on not getting
anymore), he basically kicked crap outta ev'rbody. Now, they all
*still* give him a wide berth if he's walking "purposefully".

If he's just strollin' along they all still jump on him, but he when
he is obviously "going" somewhere? Everyone moves to the wall and
watch him strut passed, then each cat will follow as he passes them
(for all the world like a parade). My video was too dark to view, but
I'll keep trying, 'cause it's really cute.

Smokie Darling (Annie)

"CatNipped" wrote in message
...
There is an uneasy truce at my home at the moment, the balance of power is
subtly shifting. Archer is making his play at being alpha cat.

When Da Boyz were still kittens, they were both lowest on the totem pole -
Ozzy the lowest only because of his pacifist nature (he's a *BIG* boy, all
muscle). Since Bandit's departure to the Bridge, Jessie has been
ostentatiously the alpha cat - I say ostentatiously only because Demi is
too shy, personality-wise, to want to take her on. But as fearful of
everything as Demi is, I think she would win in a fight with any other of
our clowder - the frightened fighter is always more dangerous than the
bully since he's fighting for his life whereas the bully is only fighting
for power. Sammy will absolutely roll over and give in to Jessie - even
though she's three times bigger than Jessie, she still hasn't gotten over
being soundly chastised by Jessie when she was a kitten - so in her head
she's still a tiny kitten to Jessie's "big sisfur". Sammy will try to
bully Demi, but she doesn't pursue it because I think she can sense how
dangerous Demi could be if she really got into a serious fight. Jessie
and Demi just ignore each other.

Now, enter into that mix the fact that Archer and Ozzy are now adult cats
and the balance of power starts to shift. Archer will jump on Ozzy,
"mount" him and bite the back of his neck. He's displaying dominance by
doing that. Ozzy, being the big ole pacifist that he is *lets* Archer get
away with it just because he doesn't want to fight (if they did fight,
Ozzy would mop the floor with Archer). Archer routinely jumps on Sammy
and bites at her neck and stomach, but Sammy gives back as good as she
gets so that struggle is still playing itself out. [It's interesting to
note how a male will display dominance differently to a female than a
male - Archer won't try to "mount" any of the girls, just Ozzy, with the
girls he just fights normally.] Now Archer is trying to face down Demi.
She runs, but when cornered she'll growl and display - so far there's only
been a few swats between them, but I think Archer will eventually decide
he's the dominant one without a full blown fight, just like the rest of
the clowder, not knowing how dangerous Demi could be. For the time being,
Archer is just eying Jessie warily - he hasn't worked up the courage to
face off with her yet (and MAN will he get a big surprise when he does -
that little girl is FEISTY!)

I keep everyone's claws clipped, and a squirt bottle on hand for any
serious fights that might break out, so I'm not worried about damage, so
it's quite interesting to watch the action while everyone shifts around in
the pecking order.

This was brought on by Archer and Ozzy reaching adulthood, I'm interested
in seeing if this will be an ongoing struggle. What about you guys, do
your clowder constantly fight for dominance.

Hugs,

CatNipped
Well, I have 2 passive cats, goofy Robin, a boy, and Oreo, a girl, and 2
dominant cats, Tucker, my former feral boy, and Midnight, my strong-willed
female, and these 2 are always testing each other about who's dominant.
(This is how I know about the Anti-Icky Poo enzymatic cleaner I recommended
in another thread.)
Christine

"CatNipped" wrote in message
...

What about you guys, do your
clowder constantly fight for dominance.


Yup. Rhett has been trying for a while now to dominate Shamrock and most of
the time succeeds, but occasionally Shamrock just slaps Rhett for no reason
I can see, so it isn't all one sided. But, Rhett sure can get Shamrock
running and hissing better than anything else.

"CatNipped" wrote in message
...

This was brought on by Archer and Ozzy reaching adulthood, I'm interested
in seeing if this will be an ongoing struggle. What about you guys, do
your clowder constantly fight for dominance.


Around there the battle is for 2nd place (Beta spot) as everyone
acknowledges that QC is top cat. For whatever reason, Qui Gun Kit has
decided that Pine Cone being in the second spot isn't acceptable and is
battling his way up the ladder. He has been trounced by Sonya, Huey,
Merlin, and Miss Calico Girl, who is a feisty pacifist and won't battle,
unless it is forced upon her. He hasn't been stupid enough to take on
Piney, but it is a matter of time. Tanada is always a preferred target as
she is not as sturdy as the rest of the gang. She does try to protect
herself, but QC usually has to come to Tanada's rescue. Never a dull moment
in this house of chaos.

Pam S.

"CatNipped" wrote
| do your clowder constantly fight for dominance.

Sort of constantly... Tommy and Eli still fight and attack other cats, most
often Abelard and Lily. Billy and Buzzy are more laid back but do get
rambunctious now and then.

Baby Eyes remains the undisputed Queen of All She Surveys. No other cat
would dream of challenging her, they all believe she is their mama and they
all adore her, the more so when she hisses and swats at them.

I don't really know who the alpha cat is around here. LB seems pretty
mild mannered. If someone beats her to one of her favorite spots, she
just goes somewhere else. OTOH, if she is there first the only one who
dares disturb her is Sammy - Sammy can join her in the recliner or on
the bed, but never displaces her. Everyone else stays clear.

Sammy and Princess seem to take turns bossing each other around. If
one or the other wants something bad enough they hiss and the other
gives way - but they never do more than hiss and it seems about evenly
divided on who gets their way.

Furby usually gives way to everyone but Spotty - though when she gets
excited she'll even back talk to LB before backing down.

Poor Spotty gets grief from everyone. She gives way to everyone. Happy
to say we never have any real fights here, but someone chasing Spotty
under the bed is a frequent occurrence.

Back when Rocky was still alive he was definitely the boss. I never
saw him hiss or anything to get his way. If he wanted something he
just bulled his way in and took over, ignoring any hisses or anything
anyone threw his way. If he wanted to nap in a certain spot, he just
laid down on whoever beat him there.
--
Steve Touchstone
Little Bit, Sammy, Spotty, Princess, Furby
and Rocky (RB)
Pix at http://tinyurl.com/22pfn8
Vids at http://tinyurl.com/4yb6nj