Are you asking yourself, why are my cats fighting? If you’ve ever seen two or more cats fighting, you know how upsetting that can be to everyone involved.
So, what is that fighting all about? Why do cats fight and what can you do about it? What if you have two cats in your home who like to fight a lot?
Why Are My Cats Fighting?!
There are many different reasons why cats fight but the first thing to know is that this is natural behavior. Cats are territorial creatures, so it’s common for them to fight over space.
If you’ve just introduced a new cat to the household, this is a common time for them to fight. If you’ve recently moved, this could also account for the fighting.
So, what can you do about it? Cat behavior is very complex so there are stages in the process of sorting out what to do about cat fighting. You will need to be patient and you may need to try more than one thing before you find the one that works.
First, you should try to get to the root cause of the fighting. When you understand the reasoning behind it, you can start taking the right steps to do something about it. If it’s a territorial issue, then you can make arrangements, for example.
Here are the most common reasons why cats fight:
- “New cat smell” – When you bring a new cat into the home, the other cat will sense this as a foreign invader to their territory
- Hormones – Male cats will often fight during the hormones when they grow into social maturity (usually between two and four years of age)
- Jealousy – Sometimes cats fight because they are jealous. Are you giving one more attention than the other? Are you giving the new cat more of your time?
- Territory – Again, cats will fight over territory. It could be a small space like the end of the couch, but if they see it as theirs, and another cat invades it, a fight will ensue.
Now that you know these reasons that cats fight, you need to know what to do about it when they do. When you understand the reasons why cats fight, you can work to prevent them in the first place. This is always the best approach.
If you can’t prevent it and cats are fighting, you may need to break them up so they don’t get hurt. However, how you break up the fight is important to make sure you (and the cats) do not get hurt.
You should never hit them, chase them with a broom, or throw things at them. This will scare them, make them more aggressive and could injure them.
You could squirt your fighting cats from a distance with a water gun. They won’t know you’re the source of the water and this should break up the fight. Never reach in and try to separate fighting cats on your own. You may get hurt!
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