brother & sister cat fights! help!

i have a 5 year old female that i adopted as a kitten and a 2 year old male that i rescued from the street (abused) a little over a year ago. they haven't gotten along since they met! she is a 11lb. prissy princess and he is a 17lb. "tough-from-the-streets-tom." she antagonizes him until he gets fed up and pounces! they even do this at all hours of the morning. i hate seeing them fight, and although she is a drama queen, he is much bigger and surely hurts her from time to time. any ideas? please help!

without actually seeing them in action I do not know this for certain.....but if she antagonizes him until he attacks that means she knows what she is doing....In other words, if she did not like it (maybe it is play to her) she would not do it... Now if he was attacking her for no apparent reason THEN I'd say you had a problem. Some cats play rough, so if she doesn't seem afraid and no one gets actually hurt, then leave them be.

Purple cat, first of all, welcome to Pet talk. I do not have this problem with any of my furkids, all 12 of them, although they live together each day. It may be that yours will "never" get along with each other. It could be that a 3rd cat may help the situation. As I am no expert on this subject, generally when I choose a pet to live with my menagerie, I will caress their paws and see how they react. If they accept it, then they are usally affable towards humans and other cats, and if not, then they would be best left alone as an only-cat within a humanfamily. Which one of yours can you do this paw caressing with without them rebelling against it, if either will allow it?

.........wayne:)

Wayne, this is something I've never heard before but it could be true. You can carress Tigris' paws and he is the much more social cat. And you can carress Filou's paws from time to time but not always.
Regarding the fighting cats I must agree to Wayne: you cannot be sure that they will ever be friends. But in general they find ways to divide the apartment so that they can get along. You should make sure every cat has a place of her own.
My 2 are in between: Although they know each other since they were 3 months old they fight a lot. In general Filou (7lb) attacks Tigris (13 lb) first and makes a drama out of it, but I am also afraid, Tigris could hurt him. In general it's just hair and no blood:) and there are times where they clean each other and sleep together.

The next best thing is to distract them with a toy or string or something else.

I actually get a kick out of watching my cats "fight" because I know that it is really play.

Animals are also have a pretty good instinct at not wanting to be hurt! I think your female is just fine. She just uses the male to hone her fighting skills. She wouldn't be antagonizing him if she didn't want to play. Our 8 pound female thinks nothing of antagonizing the two males - one is 13 pounds and the other is 15 pounds (almost twice her size!)

Oh, and welcome to Pet Talk!

As long as they do not hurt each other , nothing is wrong ! Don't worry . It is normal that 2 cats , living in the same house , get into a fight now and then . Usually it is only for playing . Of course , it can also be to maintain or get a superior place in the cat-household , but that is not bad either ..!
Have fun with your pets !!:D

thank you all for the kind advice! i've been a pet of the day fan for years and it's a pleasure to feel like a part of the family!

in regards to wayne's reply - the female, miko, has let me massage her paws since kitten-hood. ian, the male, just recently has let me stroke his paws and rub the pads of his paws. i guess you could say that he's "coming around." i hate to see the fur fly, but from what you all have said from your experiences, this is not only normal, but keeps ian on his toes! :D

thanks to all of you for giving me some peace of mind! kitty kisses to all!

Welcome, Purplecat. I don't think I would worry too much about the spats. Although my herd gets along fine, I believe animals will learn to co-exist with one another. They can't really be duking it out all the time in seriousness, so maybe it is just a form of rough play. You could supervise the skirmishes, and let them know you ARE NOT a fan of intra family fueding...let them associate their fights with a loud unpleasant noise, and they may go to lenghts to avoid bringing it on. Also, a third cat will upset the apple cart, probably in a good way. The triangle is easier to deal with- one cat is top cat, and the other two are not....couse, if you add 10 cats...well, that might work, too...he he he..

If there's no blood drawn, it often sounds worse than it is. After appropriate quarantine periods, I allow fosters into the general population. Needless to say the dynamics are constantly changing! I have a big house and it's clearly parcelled out into territories. However, last winter I counted up to nine cats in the living room!