Male cat issues

CityGirlintheCountry

Green Eggs and Hamlet
12 Years
Jul 7, 2007
6,950
140
311
Middle TN
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.
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I wonder if there are any cats outside your house that they can see or smell. Cats have been known to get territorial over cats that are outside that they can see through the window. They will display redirected aggression toward another household cat. you could try a feliway diffuser and see if that helps

http://feliway.com/us
 
We had this happen with a male and female cat, minus the spraying. It got so bad that the male cat wouldn't come downstairs to eat, and we had to get a second litter box. The next time we went on vacation we boarded the bully and left the other two cats at home. When the bully was reintroduced, they recognized each other, but the poor male cat had re-established his territory in the rest of the house, and she was the newcomer. It is a mystery what caused the initial bullying, but taking the bully out of the picture for a week was like hitting the reset button. It never happened again. My poor little boy kitty died of heart failure a year ago, but had gone back to being friends with the other cat. They even slept together.

I don't know if you have someone who could take your bully for a few days, but that might do the trick. The spraying is territory marking, so there may just be some dominance fighting going on that will resolve itself.
 
Fred the cat lives outside. He is a very mellow fixed male cat that adopted my house a year ago. He's been around for a while now. Dodger HATES him. Grudge match, rip your head off HATES him. Max doesn't seem to care either way.

Other than that, there is a feral male cat that shows up every now and then scavanging for food. He's been coming around since I moved in though. Dunno... weird...
 
Could be the outside cat causing the aggression and the indoor kitty getting the snot smacked out of him cause he's close. My cats hate the neighbor's cat and will get riled up and go after one another after hissing out the window at the EVIL FIERCE BAD KITTY.
 
Have you had the "sprayer" to the vet? Sometimes there are underlying health issues that you can't see. Call your vet and see what he/she thinks. Cats are EXPERTS at hiding things! Just a thought.
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Jen
 
I wonder if its because you have the one female cat? A kind of competition?
OR... they could be fighting for top cat position... mine do that sometimes... test each other..
And my brother swears that he cant have a female cat in house because all his males will start to fight... even though they are all fixed.
And i'm starting to notice the same thing...
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I've never had a female cat before. Moon Pie is just now reaching maturity. I'd guess she would be a year old in May or so. Max seldom interacts with her though. Max either ignores her or tolerates her. Dodger is her buddy and playmate.
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The thing is that Max is mostly a wuss and HE is the one starting these fights. He has always run away from conflict. If he was going to brawl it out for dominance I would think he and Fagin would be the fighters. Dodger is just a big idiot goof ball. He plays with everyone and is happy to do so. His only failing is his hatred of Fred and I can only assume that grew out of his outdoor living period. Dodge and Max have NEVER had conflict or dominance issues before and they have lived together for years.

I had already thought of calling the vet. Could be some weird urinary tract thing going on. Dunno. I always like to check in here first in an effort to start the research process before I call the vet.
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Quote:
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My two older cats, Angel and Sassie, use to do the same thing (and on occasion still do). It was only recently, at a vet visit, that I learned Sassie is diabetic and has a condition called FLUTD (feline lower urinary tract disease).
I recommend keeping a journal of the behaviors (i.e. growing, increased aggression, having accidents or spraying, etc.) exhibited (by all the cats), then bring up these 'behaviors' at your next vet visit. Also, if possible, monitor them at 'mealtime', or if they are free range eaters set out some treats, and see how they interact. This will help identify the bullying behaviors or abnormal health issues (i.e. diabetic cats tend to eat and drink A LOT! They may also be food aggressive.).
I hope you and your furry friends are able to resolve whatever the issue is.
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CATS!
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i cant say why this behavior has started, but i can say that i had a problem with my male spraying and my female peeing. completely out of nowhere. AND ONLY ON MY BED!
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i tried EVERYTHING. changing the litterbox, getting three litterboxes, trying to keep them mellow, this that, everything, whatever.

i would honestly reccomend buying one of those plug in pheramone thingys for cats. Theyre pricy but holy cow it worked WONDERS. weve gone three months without a pee and havent had the thingy plugged in for almost two weeks. They also work as a natural calming agent for kitties. lowers their stress levels...its worth a shot, right?
 
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