Whose top cat in your house?

We have an obvious hierachy in this house. Callie is at least a year younger than her brother and sister but showed her alpha cat-ness from the beginning. Even as a little kitten, she would beat up on her brother and sister. :rolleyes: She rules the roost and we are but her lowly dominions.

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/...d/f4daf535.jpg "What? I can't help being boss I'm so cute!!"

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/...4/f4daf548.jpg

Whisper is next in line. He gets bossed around by Callie but beats up on his sister Shadow. :rolleyes:

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/...d/f4daf54f.jpg

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/...0/f4daf557.jpg

The pics are out of focus but I thought they were pretty.

Shadow is the lowest on the totem pole. Poor girl. Everyone picks on her but she is such a mama's girl.

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/...8/f4daf53f.jpg

AND if we are really honest, Jason and myself are truly servants of kitties' whims. Every door must be opened if they cry, food must be served on demand, backs must be scratched, toys must be collected out from under furniture..you get the idea. We were only born to make them happy and oh, how happy I am! :D

You know, I have no idea!!! I can't figure out if we have a dominant cat or not. Dylan is the most gentle and humble - but he also doesn't take any guff from any of the others. Eliot sleeps the highest and can always get a place he wants...

Your pictures are great though!!! Callie is a beauty:) She looks like Scout in that second pic.

Allen is KING. Must be the orange? All the others bow down to him. When Pouncer gets frustrated in any way, he takes it out on the kittens... he's smart enough to know to leave King Allen alone! :D

Mr. Jones was top cat, that was, until Malfi got here.

They are all 'afraid' of Malfi. He's got a huge low voice, and they don't know what to think of it. And Malfi will swat anyone who gets to close.
Mr. Jones will give Malfi a 'wide berth' when he walks be, so I think Mr. Jones has been de-throned by a 7.5lb little old guy.:rolleyes: :p

Our George is the top cat in this house. :)

Is there always a "top cat"??? How can you tell:confused:

Top cat can be determined by who defers to whom.
Who chases whom.
Who eats first.
Top cat may keep themselves up high. (high perch)

They may be playful, but they decide who and when to play, or they may be keep to themselves type, keeping the others in line.

I made the mistake of thinking the most active, playful cat must be top.
I called Snowy my Alpha-male, when he is really my laid-back male.
Mr. Jones is really in charge (when Malfi is not downstairs) but when Malfi comes around Mr. Jones defers to him.
Sort of a co-top cat situation.
They all know Malfi is kind of old.

It hard to say around here. I would say Jazz but I'm not positive. Everybody has at least one other kitty they boss around and no single cat bosses them all. If things keep going like they have been I bet that in a few months Rumor will be the alpha around here.

Thanks for the pictures of your adorable crew.:D

Its clear cut as to who is King because even strangers notice how the others defer to Allen. If he wants to groom, and they want to play, one swat of the paw, and they are being groomed. If he wants into the basket, someone will either leave or make room for him. If I am playing with string with Pouncer, Harry jumps in and tries to steal the game away from Pouncer. If I am playing with string with Allen... nobody tries to steal the string from him.

The bad part? He refuses to cover his poo. Thats a definate dominace thing. As soon as he leaves the room, the kittens will cover it for him (I think thats too funny! :D )

One thing is that he's also a good King, he makes sure the little ones eat first, then he eats. He's always been like that since we got Pouncer. He really is a good boy, making sure they are all groomed and happy too. I love my big orange fella!

Tinkerbelle is alpha queen here. Nobody messes with her and no other feline comes near her when she is not 'in the mood' without getting the 1-2-3-4 smack upside each of the heads.

They never argue back with her, what she says goes.

She eats first, she must be fed treats first, she must christen the freshly cleaned litter first, she must be closest to me 90% of the time.

I call her She who must be obeyed.

Then there is the odd time she'll walk by one of the other three and groom them and then just walk away.

Our top cat is Sammy. He is the oldest and was here first so he is deserving ofthe title.

I can tell this because no one seems to bother him. He does what he wants, when he wants and does not tolerate silliness nor interruptions in his plans. He simply has to meow in his very special way and they move off and leave him alone. Very rarely does he need to raise a paw. Normally when that happens its because the goofball Leroy decided to test the waters. He never wins though!;)

Well, Colin is the top cat, but since Lily is his wife, so he usually lets her run the place:p

The Only Time,taht I ahve seen a Cat relly get his way,is when I put,out thw Whiskas Temptations.Cover your dainty ears HH Edwina,but JJJ3,becomes a Treat Devouring Monster,and will do anything,to get those precious goodies,pushing the other Cats,out of the way,mmmeeeeooowing ,to distract them,and grabbing,all the Treats for himself.Not a pretty sight.Other,than that they are all pretty equal.at The Found Cat Hotel

CalliesMom, I have two females and one male like you.
Insert Schatzie’s name for Callie – Phoenix for Whisper – Auggie for Shadow and you have the same scenario in my house.
Maybe we need to even things out and get another male.
:D

Quote:

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Originally posted by auggie
CalliesMom, I have two females and one male like you.
Insert Schatzie’s name for Callie – Phoenix for Whisper – Auggie for Shadow and you have the same scenario in my house.
Maybe we need to even things out and get another male.
:D

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LOL I've tried that scenario with hubby and he laughs at me. Unfortunately, he is not a true cat lover and does not appreciate our kitties. :rolleyes: He really loves Whisper, as they take naps together and Callie was supposed to be "his" cat since he found her..but well I feed her so she loves me. He has issues with Shadow as she is nawtee and expresses her anger by peeing outside the litter box or leaving little presents outside the box as she runs out. :rolleyes: :eek: :D

Quote:

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Originally posted by catmandu
The Only Time,taht I ahve seen a Cat relly get his way,is when I put,out thw Whiskas Temptations.Cover your dainty ears HH Edwina,but JJJ3,becomes a Treat Devouring Monster,and will do anything,to get those precious goodies,pushing the other Cats,out of the way,mmmeeeeooowing ,to distract them,and grabbing,all the Treats for himself.Not a pretty sight.Other,than that they are all pretty equal.at The Found Cat Hotel

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I like what I see in the background of that picture.
Is that Diane's tongue?:p

I still wonder about this "top cat" alpha thing. The only bossy, eat first, treat first, toys first kitty around here is Lizzie. Isn't she rather young and small to be top cat?;)

Dylan is laid back but smacks the others around if they bother him enough. (Robbie gets smacked ALOT) Maybe he just has a hot temper - but he really does take alot before he gets mad.

Eliot sleeps the highest and runs the others away if they are sleeping where HE wants to sleep - except for Emily who never lets him push HER around. She doesn't mind smacking Eliot ionto shape if he messes with her....Eliot goes the otherway when she gets the LOOK. He won't even EAT with the others though. He waits until they are done to even approach his food. (unless I put it up on the counter which I usually do - and he also prefers his treats on the counter, too :D)

Emily - nah!

Robbie - nah! ....though he is dumb enough to mess with the others but *never* wins. His elevator does NOT reach the top floor :rolleyes: I think he is probably at the bottom of the totem pole. (good thing he is so cute:D)

Lizzie - gets her food first, steals treats, gets the good toys - but runs from the others if they raise a paw.
Lizzie is probably top female and I don't think Emily will do anything about it unless Lizzie sucks up to her daddy but that is not likely because Lizzie is no suck-up.

hmmm...I guess Eliot is our top cat - longest running male with a totally docile sister. Yup - must be Eliot:D But, one of these days, he and Dylan are going to rumble and if size matters - Eliot will get his tail whipped.

That was a long post to figure THAT out! <WHEW>

Storm is the top cat in my home. He's also the oldest and was here first so he deserves this title.:) Sunny and Sky are too easy going to be top cat but Cirrus could take over if Storm wasn't around. I think that's one of the reasons why Storm doesn't like Cirrus.;)

Inka is defenitely the boss around here!! SHE decides who sleeps where, SHE decides who gets the mice, SHE is chasing Maya, and not the other way round :rolleyes: :D ! It is weird, as Maya was here already for 3 months when lil Inka arrived. But the little stinker was bossy from day one!! Luckily, Maya is an easy cat, and she always gives in ....:rolleyes: . Inka, you stinker!!!:p

http://users.pandora.be/bernardgabri...je%20ruzie.jpg

I think all 3 at one time or the other try to be top cat. :)

MooShoo is the Alpha Male in my house and Maya Laquita Linn the the Alpha Female.

Beavis is King and Gypsy is Queen:
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/...7/f9b8e987.jpg

I believe it to be Monte. And my reason for thinking this is he gets the least grief. It is like the others KNOW not to challenge and go elsewhere to pick fights.
I think Jim is a wanna be top cat. He never sleeps with others, is always picking fights and chasing someone down, but never Monte.

Our late, great Patty, used to be top cat. Now it seems to be up for grabs. I would have to say our middle cat, Louis, is slightly dominant. He has the ability to freak out the females by staring intently at them.