Cat bullying

[animal lover]

Hello,
I have a Cat called Jessica, she is a mother of 4 kittens.
Ever since Jessica born 4 beautiful babies and her sister (Buttons) got hit by a car,
Jessica was very protective,
When we got of 3 kitten's, Button's came out of the cage to be heeled in.
Purdy (the female tabby of Jessica's kittens) started playing Buttons when Buttons was free,

In a couple of day's Jessica started hitting, Purdy and Button's but didn't hit the oldest cat we have of all (Poppy).
Every time Jessica sees Buttons or Purdy she runs up to them and whacked them (not play fighting proper fighting)

My question is...
Q) Why is Jessica hitting Purdy and Buttons for no reason?

[catmandu]

Maybe as a discipline even though they appear to be doing nothing wrong.
Cats have their own sense of right and wrong!!

[Karen]

I am betting she is letting them know she is boss of them, and not to be trifled with. If there's no bloodshed, I'd not worry about it!

[Catsnclay]

We are going through something similar. We just contacted a cat behaviorist after 4 months of growling, hissing & loud screams. (I am/was ready to scream). The cat that is doing the hissing was mothering the kitten before he went on to be fixed. Strange, but we never encountered this before. She suggested we separate them for 4 days then re-introduce -SLOWLY- if there was any aggression then we had to start over. Well I'm excited to say that it worked.....for 2 1/2 days. It is somewhat tolerable but we will try again after Thanksgiving, there is just too much going on now.
So, it's worth the try, but you need to make sure they get along or start over.