Another cat question

[patandchickens]

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OK, if it's that sort of thing, personally I would not worry about it (just tell the kids to ignore it) -- as mentioned, I've had and known a variety of cats who did that, especially if they thought it was getting near mealtime, and I've NEVER seen it progress to anything, um, pointier

I have one cat who rarely does it but when he DOES you can actually hear the sound at the other end of the house as his paw 'palm' smacks into your leg

The vet tells me the kittens are about 10 weeks and too young for fixing.

Ah, ok, then it's not likely to be a sexual maturity thing, for sure

I think you are right- he is trying to train the human kids now along with the kittens. Should we reassert the human children as dominant?

I wouldn't. Like, really really wouldn't. The best you could do would be to train him to avoid y'all like the plague, which is probably not something you want. IME the only way cats know "peaceful companionship" is when it happens on THEIR terms. Not being hardwired to take a happily subordinate place in a herd or pack social order, they tend to take any human attempts to leverage them into a different social position as grounds to flee or fight.

Besides, you never know, he may turn out to be GOOD at training kids

My youngest cat is like that, and she is making a definite positive contribution to my 2 kids' upbringing and education <g>

Good luck, have fun, hi to the cats

,

Pat​

 

[Bec]

Quote:
Absolutely right! This is all very normal and they will sort it out themselves!
Also about the swatting at people...I agree with that too! They should stop when everything calms down a bit!

No worries!!

 

[Akane]

so i honestly believe there is a alpha cat in a pride of cats

There are dominant cats and submissive cats but it's not a pack like dogs, chickens, etc... Like others have said trying to dominate or punish a cat mostly just results in the cat avoiding you. They don't have the social desire that those other animals have. Also your cats are forced to live near each other and interact. Usually when cats form groups it's because they have to for food or shelter not because they just want to belong. Dogs will form a pack or chickens a flock just to have company even when there is no competition for resources. They feel a need to know their position in the group and therefore set up a strict hierarchy. Cats prefer to have their own territory and only share what they have to. If you make being with you undesireable a cat is more likely to just strike out on it's own or avoid you in the house than to submit and try to please you like a dog would. There are some things that you have to lay down the law with and say you aren't going to stand for that but overall trying to be the dominant one in a relationship with a cat is just going to make an unhappy cat.

Lions are actually an exception in the cat family. Most wildcats do not form prides and neither do most of our domestic cats. It's hard to explain the difference but if you watch a lot of herd/pack animals and a colony of cats you can see there are major differences in how they interact. The same training methods and attitude will not work with cats as dogs and chickens.​