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melgrj7 Oct 10, 2011 07:05 PM

Hi, I have 2 cats, Snickers an 11 year old tortie who is in great shape and a medium haired tuxedo, Jake, who is about 7 or 8 months old now. They are fed canned food and are being switched over to raw. They have 2 cat trees, 2 litter boxes, 2 cat beds (plus dog beds, my bed and so on), tons of toys. I take Jake for little outings almost every day and play one on one with each of them twice a day for 10-20 minutes each time with those toys on string. Snickers recently had a full blood work up done and is in excellent health. They are both fixed.

The problem: Jake is constantly jumping on Snickers, tackling her, biting her scruff, mounting her. He goes after her when its time to eat. It initially started out as play for sure, but now I'm not so sure it isn't just aggression. Or heading that way anyway. Snickers hisses and smacks him when he does this, or tries to get away if she can. He is now a little bigger than her. I try to redirect him when I see him about to pounce on her, and that was helping for awhile, but it seems to be getting worse again. I got a feliway plug in and put that near the cat tree they both spend most of their time (by the window). That doesn't really seem to be helping much.

Is there anything I can do to help stop this? Will it stop when Jake grows up? Snickers is older and doesn't need to be getting tackled when she tries to walk across the room. When he was little they used to cuddle and she would groom him and attempt to carry him even. Now if he goes near her at all she hisses. He does not draw any blood, he seems to have decent bite inhibition.

Help?

Replies (1)

PHKitkat Oct 20, 2011 03:05 PM

Hi There,

Mounting behavior is very common in neutered male cats. All 3 of my males do it, and they range from 6 - 12 years old. I have found that the best way to deal with this is by redirecting the cat. It's best to try and catch him before he actually mounts another cat. This would be a great time to take Jake out, or grab one of his favorite toys. One of my boys is clicker-trained. A couple of clicks stops him in his tracks and he comes right to me.

Mounting can be a dominance thing. Torties are often the top cat in a household, but Jake may want that spot. I think part of the problem is that he is young, healthy, and full of energy and Snickers is most likely not interested in playing. This is possibly frustrating to Jake.

Hope this helps some.

Regards,
PHKitkat

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