Strange male kitty problems are erupting at my house and I need help figuring out why. Here's the layout:
Max the Cat is the original cat. He came here as a kitten and is now almost six years old. Early on he imprinted on the dog. I have always thought he thought he was a dog. He is certainly the alpha dog in the house.
Several years ago I acquired a couple of barn kittens (Dodger and Fagin). They are both male and are approximately three years old at this point. They have lived in the house for about 2.5 years now. Dodger has always gotten along with Max. Fagin prefers to poke at Max. They mostly just ignore each other.
Kitty number four is Moon Pie. She is the only female in the house and is less than a year old. She plays with everybody. She has been here since last August.
All of the cats have been fixed from early on (well before maturity). All have mostly gotten along. None of the male cats have ever sprayed. Moon Pie went through a potty training phase when she first moved inside, but she consistantly hits the litter box these days. I have cleaned the daylights out of the areas where she missed and washed all the linens (she was mainly a cloth pottier).
Within the last several weeks, Max the oldest cat has started attacking Dodger the goof ball. Until this point they played with each other and got along famously. These are not play attacks though. These are screaming, hissing, fur flying full out cat fights. Blood has been drawn. Fur has been pulled out. It is clearly Max stalking Dodger and attacking him. I've watched him do it. Dodger mostly seems to want to get out of the way.
Last night Dodger stopped by a wicker chair in the den and did a male spray. It wasn't peeing. It was spraying. None of them have ever sprayed before. They were fixed well before that became part of their world. I'm assuming this spraying can only be related to the fighting, but I can't figure out why the fighting has started or what triggers it. At this exact moment, Dodger is asleep on my right and MAx is asleep on my left. They eat within touching distance. They walk by each other on a regular basis. It is just randomly that the two of them have a knock down drag out kitty fight.
I have no idea what to do. I certainly don't want them to start spraying things. The house already is pretty stinky with the ongoing littler box use and the brooder in the house! How do I stop the fighting? How do I stop the spraying? What do we think has triggered all of this behaviour? Nothing else in the house has changed recently. No new animals. No new anything. I just can't figure it out.
Max the Cat is the original cat. He came here as a kitten and is now almost six years old. Early on he imprinted on the dog. I have always thought he thought he was a dog. He is certainly the alpha dog in the house.
Several years ago I acquired a couple of barn kittens (Dodger and Fagin). They are both male and are approximately three years old at this point. They have lived in the house for about 2.5 years now. Dodger has always gotten along with Max. Fagin prefers to poke at Max. They mostly just ignore each other.
Kitty number four is Moon Pie. She is the only female in the house and is less than a year old. She plays with everybody. She has been here since last August.
All of the cats have been fixed from early on (well before maturity). All have mostly gotten along. None of the male cats have ever sprayed. Moon Pie went through a potty training phase when she first moved inside, but she consistantly hits the litter box these days. I have cleaned the daylights out of the areas where she missed and washed all the linens (she was mainly a cloth pottier).
Within the last several weeks, Max the oldest cat has started attacking Dodger the goof ball. Until this point they played with each other and got along famously. These are not play attacks though. These are screaming, hissing, fur flying full out cat fights. Blood has been drawn. Fur has been pulled out. It is clearly Max stalking Dodger and attacking him. I've watched him do it. Dodger mostly seems to want to get out of the way.
Last night Dodger stopped by a wicker chair in the den and did a male spray. It wasn't peeing. It was spraying. None of them have ever sprayed before. They were fixed well before that became part of their world. I'm assuming this spraying can only be related to the fighting, but I can't figure out why the fighting has started or what triggers it. At this exact moment, Dodger is asleep on my right and MAx is asleep on my left. They eat within touching distance. They walk by each other on a regular basis. It is just randomly that the two of them have a knock down drag out kitty fight.
I have no idea what to do. I certainly don't want them to start spraying things. The house already is pretty stinky with the ongoing littler box use and the brooder in the house! How do I stop the fighting? How do I stop the spraying? What do we think has triggered all of this behaviour? Nothing else in the house has changed recently. No new animals. No new anything. I just can't figure it out.
