Pearl's Attacking Poor Colby

[Freedom]

My goodness, Pearl and Colby . . . my sympathies. Considering cats live in colonies, I never understand how they decide WHO can be part of the group and who is not allowed.

My Mandy can't stand Tommy, who is twice her size. They will both taunt one another, and being both are black, black fur flies. I insist they live in harmony, even if not best friends. Mandy lives in the spare bedroom. The door is closed at night, so I can rest in peace. During the day it is open. Mandy could come out, chooses not to. Sometimes, Tommy will go in, turn and walk out, other times go in, sit and groom, just to get her started. Other times, she will charge him with he has turned and is walking out.

I hope you can find a way to get your 2 to live in peace. I used a water squirt bottle A LOT at the start of their battles. Since he is almost 3 times her size, I can't let them fight and sort it out themselves.

[Randi]

Tracy, I'm sorry Colby is having such a hard time with Pearl. Female cats can be really tough and she probably feels that Colby has invaded her space. I hope you'll be able to keep them separated for a while, and hopefully they'll get along.

Best wishes!

[pomtzu]

Tracey - hopefully they will eventually live in harmony. When I had cats, the most I ever had at one time was 3, and they always got along great. I guess that's why when I read of folks here having to separate theirs so they don't hurt one another, it just seems so strange to me. I guess I was just fortunate. The 2 of my son's cats in residence here are fine together, female twins that were litter mates, so that may make a difference. It must be nerve wracking having to play referee all the time.
Good luck with them, and maybe time and patience will make a difference.

[sasvermont]

What can I say? I am going through the same thing, after eight years of having the cats live together in harmony... Go figure. Juni, the aggressive one, is taking her medication nicely but Chloe, the submissive one doesn't seem to want to eat the treats/pill pockets etc. anymore. So, I am seriously considering re-homing one of them.

It sounds to me that Pearl needs to be an only cat or at least with cats that are not timid. Once the aggressor senses they can keep the upper hand, it's all over. I know some people do have success with medications but without them, I don't know how anyone could tolerate cats fighting all the time. I don't like living in a divided home.

Maybe your vet would be willing to medicate Pearl for a while to see if that chills her a bit.

Last night I let Juni and Chloe mingle a bit and it didn't work at all. I am going to up the dosage and try to figure a way to have Chloe eat her meds! She's the one who needs it the most.

So, I wish you lots of luck and please do keep us posted, as you are not alone with this problem!

C A T S !!

[krazyaboutkatz]

Thanks for the "good luck and best wishes" comments everyone. I really don't want to medicate Pearl if I don't have to. I've been dealing with her aggressiveness towards Storm for a quite a while now. He's the alpha cat and now that he's gotten older I think that Pearl is trying to take over. Ziggy can also be a handful but she seems to be more vocal and a major drama queen than being the attaking aggressive type. She'll hiss and growl loudly at the younger cats to warn them to stay away. Pearl will sometimes do this but she'll also attack and become very aggressive if she wants to. I guess I should be glad that she's as petite as she is at about 9lbs or a little less. Now Ziggy is at least 14lbs or a bit more so if she was as feisty as Pearl I know that I'd have some major problems.

My mom's solution is to rehome Pearl and she also thinks that Ziggy seems very feral to her. She just doesn't know them the way that I do and of course she isn't attached to them like I am. I have a squirt bottle all ready to go in case I need it. So far I haven't needed to use it because I've been watching Pearl like a hawk when she's out with the others. Both Colby and Finnegan are very sweet boys and far to nice to be beaten up by Pearl. Ziggy didn't want to spend the night with me last night so she spent the night with all of my four younger boys Alani, Blaze, Colby, and Finnegan. Everyone was fine this morning so I think I can trust her to be around them. I hope that in time things will start to calm down and Pearl will get used to having two more younger brothers. One thing that I will say is that I will never adopt another female cat again. They are just too territorial for me and it seems like most of them prefer to be the only cat.

[cassiesmom]

I hope that in time things will start to calm down and Pearl will get used to having two more younger brothers.

Paws and fingers crossed that everyone will get along !

[katladyd]

Believe me when I say that males are just as territorial as the females. It's been over a year now and Mac and Ming still hiss, growl, and attack Kimba. Kimba is scrappy and doesn't back down, so sometimes the fur flies. Plus, Kimba waits for either one of them to be preoccupied with something else and then he POUNCES! I refuse to lock any of them in the bedroom, so they are just learning how to live together. Fur doesn't fly anywhere near as often as it used to. Now they mostly growl and chase each other. It's a start. Don't be in a hurry for them to get along. Ming is on anxiety meds and it does nothing about the agressiveness he shows to Kimba. Sometimes he is the agressor and sometimes Kimba is, they take turns. As long as no one gets really hurt, you can pretty much leave them alone to sort it out. Pearl has been through some major changes in the household the last couple of years and I think she may be the most sensitive of your cats and this is how she shows it. I wish you luck with this and if you find a way to get them all to get along, share it with me....PLEASE!