Strategies to Prevent and Stop Cats from Fighting

1. Introduction

When two or more cats in the same home fight, it can be upsetting for the cats and their human guardians. Almost half of all pet cats in Australia live in homes with one or more other cats. A better understanding of fighting between cats is important to help protect the welfare of our cats and improve life for anyone living with them. Cat fights can result in serious injuries to the cats involved. The time and money spent on treating cat fight injuries and emotional strain can be considerable. Money spent on vet bills for injured cats is not money available for other things, like vaccinations, food, and toys. The amount of strain that fighting cats cause depends on the nature of the relationship between the cats in the home and the resources available to separate and reintroduce the cats. High-quality scientific information on which management strategies work is needed. The aim of this essay is to alleviate tensions in multi-cat households. This review aims to consider both pre-conflict indicators and intervention techniques to help with stopping and preventing cat fighting in a household. In a multi-cat household, it is normal for cats to carefully maintain a distance between each other to avoid conflict. If they do fight, they cause each other physical harm, and they make it harder for themselves to function in a group environment. Despite being independent, once they satisfy the need for a protected fecal site, elimination is more likely to occur away from the residence where cats fight each other.

1.1. Significance of Addressing Cat Fighting

It is important to have a focus on preventing and stopping cats from fighting, as this can greatly impact the welfare of pets and their owners. There can be considerable damage inflicted on cats if they fight, including physical injury and psychological harm. It is therefore incorrect to view cat fighting solely as a behavioral issue. Felines who fight can create a poor pet-owner relationship due to potential fighting. This can negatively impact owners and create personal stress due to concerns about the welfare of their pet, the need to treat any wounds, and parting with money for vet fees. Furthermore, cats are seen by some sectors of the community as

2. Understanding Cat Behavior

It's easy to blame aggressive behavior on your cats just not getting along. Unfortunately, it's not quite so simple. Cats are territorial animals, which means that they want to defend their space. This is a natural instinct and is often exaggerated by them being confined in a relatively small space. Cats spayed or neutered too late may also be prone to very exaggerated territorial behavior. Understanding these behaviors can help you prevent conflicts between your cats and, if a fight happens, intervene when necessary. Cats can live in a social group composed of a leader and its followers. These cats rarely engage in prolonged fights, with the leader simply needing to intimidate its group, also by getting the best sleeping spots and providing them with preferential attention. Fighting and bickering are common among groups with two or more leaders. Your cat must claim his or her owner's affection; a fight puts things in focus. This is also a type of small fight, between submissive and domineering cats; a little intimidation to put things right. You may hear the word "dominant" or "dominance" referred to regarding a cat's behavior. It does not apply to a cat's behavior. Aggressive or non-aggressive actions are largely driven by instincts and hormones. The elimination of "excessive" areas is not designed to show who is in control and over whom. In a group of cats, each cat has its own place. If anything, it could better be linked to excessive disruptive behavior rather than a desire to dominate.

2.1. Natural Instincts of Cats

Like all animals, domestic cats have certain instincts that drive them to do what they do. In addition to just going about the business of staying alive, those instincts can help keep them safe from both predators and rivals. Unfortunately, most of those instincts show up as some pretty bad behaviors in a lot of cats. The "house cats" we have today are still very much like their ancient relatives, and their survival instincts are still intact. And while we don't much like the results that those instincts drive, it can certainly be helpful for us to understand the thinking that goes on behind the cat's behavior.

Cats may be hunters, catchers, and killers by nature, but in multi-cat households, where hunting has long been taken care of for the cats, all of that predatory energy has to go somewhere! Cats tend to have a very specific social ranking that determines who gets first dibs on all of those great resources like food and attention. There are a few key rankings, but when it comes to multi-cat households, everyone has to find their own unique place where they fit the best. Cats have several pheromone glands that let them "scent mark" their territories. The most commonly known are, of course, those two little scent factories under their chins, but they have them all over their bodies as well. In fact, they produce tiny amounts of scent and are always "topping up." One of the results of all of this marking and looking for territory is that your cuddly little kitties can sometimes get themselves in a little over their heads with their neighbors—especially if the neighbors tend to overstep their social boundaries. In some cases, stress factors can cause a cat to act really out of character and be much nastier than normal.

3. Identifying Triggers for Cat Fights

The first step to help prevent or stop cats from fighting is to recognize the triggers your cats are reacting to. The goal is to identify potential problems before they ever develop. Proactive observation leads to effective intervention to help curtail disagreements in multi-cat environments. A wide variety of potential triggers and social and environmental factors can lead to cats fighting and creating an unsafe home environment. These can include irritants in the cats' environment, such as other cats outside the home, or an occurrence within the environment, such as there being something at the window the cats cannot get to, putting them at an agitation level that results more easily in taking that agitation out on each other.

Emotion-related aggressive behavior is often territorial, with cats becoming intolerant of the approach or presence of others. They often perceive no way to escape from the problem and attempt to deal with it themselves. These can be dogs seen through the window, other cats, noises outside the house, and even the approach or arrival of people. It can also occur with a perceived difficulty regarding territorial access to food or litter, and cats can become anxious about potential conflicts while sharing resources. Changes in the competitive nature of relationships between cats in the home can occur when other animals are introduced, when other cats or pets are present, or when cats are not separated or given any other option until they are comfortable with the presence of the others.

3.1. Common Causes of Cat Fights

Cat fights are often the result of behavioral or environmental stressors. Many things may stress cats, but some of the most common reasons why cats fight with other cats are territorial conflicts, competition for resources (such as food, spaces that allow cats to be alone or with other cats, and pleasant safe places to eliminate or scratch), and hormonal influences. Female and male cats that have not been spayed or neutered are more likely to fight. Many fights, however, occur because one cat does not understand or properly interpret the behavior of another. Because fighting can result from a variety of stimuli, each cat fight context should be analyzed separately if it is to be effectively prevented or stopped. Cats living in the same house may respond to the same stimuli in completely different ways. What upsets one cat might not bother another. In addition, different cats may have a number of motivations when fighting, and these can vary depending on the time of the fight.

When dealing with fight causation, we need to consider the motivations of the cats that are fighting, and these can be quite complex. Most owners are able to make the changes needed to keep their cats from hurting each other, given accurate, relevant information that is specific to their cats. Helping owners understand the common causes of fights provides foundational information upon which they can make informed decisions for their cats. Explaining common causes of fights educates owners about normal feline behavior and thus begins to dispel many common misconceptions. Understanding normal behavior can help prevent unrealistic or unhealthy expectations for owner-owned cats. When owners are given complete information, they are empowered to make good choices for the well-being of their cats.

There are various techniques to stop and prevent fighting from occurring or to teach cats new methods of behavior to coexist peacefully. Regardless of the specific strategies selected for use based on an individual cat and the behavior issues they display, it is important to keep in mind that behavior change can, in many cases, be a gradual process, and it is therefore essential to be patient and persevering. A thorough understanding of feline behavior and the specific types of behavior exhibited by the affected cat(s) is a requirement for effective treatment. It is essential to be consistent and coherent in practices and activities, as well as to be proactive about beneficial behavior and providing encouragement when carrying out any form of intervention and interaction, and to have practical expectations about the results. One line of action focuses on preventive measures and aims to train cats to better develop advanced social skills and accordingly prevent fighting incidents. Behavior modification: This approach aims to help the cat(s) establish new and improved behavior patterns related to events and the environment, with modifications in behavior. The rewards are adjusted according to the degree of change and expansion in the desired behavior. There are basic techniques that can be applied proactively both in households when integrating cats with children and with other cats, and with controlling wild cats. Several of these are: scheduling meal times and playing with cats at the same hours; also, there are different techniques used for stopping cats from fighting.

4.1. Positive Reinforcement Training

One way to both prevent fights and stop fighting between your cats is to use positive reinforcement training. Positive reinforcement is simply providing rewards for behavior that you like, and not providing rewards for behavior you don't like. Encouraging good behavior is much more effective than punishing or trying to stop unwanted behavior, and it builds a better relationship between the cat and the owner. In positive reinforcement training, desirable behavior is usually rewarded with praise, attention, or treats, but never punished. Cats learn through this kind of training that "good things happen to me when I do this," so the behavior is more likely to be repeated. Ideally, both a clicker and treats are used in training.

Clicker training is a powerful way to provide feedback, and it has the advantages of being more precise than just verbal praise or verbal praise paired with an attitude or physical movement. The sound of the clicker can even be used to distract or redirect an aggressive cat, and it doesn’t carry any angry tones that can upset a cat who is already feeling anxious. Use the clicker every time you reward a behavior you like, and your cat will soon begin to think of that sound as a promise of good things to come. Positive reinforcement training requires that a treat is given immediately after the correct action, so good timing and delivery are essential. Also, be sure to be consistent in when you provide the treat for a given action, because varying the timing will slow training progress.

This humane training technique is beneficial to both the cats and the cat owner. It provides a method for the cat owner to help manage who, where, and when the cat interacts.

5. Creating a Peaceful Environment

To prevent cats from fighting, it is essential to create a peaceful environment. Doing so can limit already established cohabitation tension from evolving into a fight or escalating an existing mild one, help foster familial harmony from the beginning, and put an immediate stop to newly forming disputes. A good living space can ease intra-species relationships and aim to foster social interactions. Cats need many high surfaces to feel safe; an environment with high shelves, window perches, and other sturdy surfaces to jump and sit on will help facilitate multi-level living arrangements. It also calls for having some hiding spots and, in larger and stress-prone facilities, bedding such as cardboard boxes and shoeboxes for additional protection. A rule of thumb is that every cat should always be capable of getting to a hiding spot or sleeping area without having to come into contact with any other cats.

Each cat should have separate resources such as towels and a preferred sleeping area. Enough food bowls, water stations, litter boxes, and scratching areas should be available. Cats guard their favorite hiding, sleeping, litter, scratching, and feeding areas because of limited resources or because they feel less secure than other cats in that position. As such, all of these should be provided in at least the same number as sleeping cats and pets in order to avoid aggressive competition. In addition, these resources should be spaced out and distributed to avoid overcrowding and therefore compounding conflicts. In order to avoid escalating upcoming fights, constructive and common sensory enrichments should be provided, with particular attention to areas near resources. Interactivity is also important in a latent phase to maximize each cat's development. Toys must vary from transparent, bell, and laser to captures and slinky, which can be rolled from corner to corner. Owners should alter their cats' environment as an ongoing project by incorporating these enrichments into their daily routines and making adaptations and alterations relating to each cat's preferences. The feline house should be structured so that the cats' mutual distribution can provide the impact of human behavior, such as walking past, going about in a car, or moving to the kitchen for dinner. In essence, having an environment built with a "go ahead and" attitude can go a long way in controlling the behavior of our cats.

5.1. Providing Adequate Resources

Providing enough resources to prevent competition in a multi-cat household is crucial in order to minimize resource competition and conflicts. Owners should allocate resources, such as sufficient amounts of food, water, hiding places, litter boxes, toys, and scratching posts that correspond to the number of cats in the household. No one cat in the household should feel threatened by another, and withholding food is not the way to reduce aggressive behaviors. Aggression among the cats will increase if they feel the resources are too scarce and must guard and protect them to ensure an ample amount.

Separate agreement guidelines are often suggested as a rule of thumb. Household dynamics may not always match this rule, and changes in resource distribution, location, and sight lines should be observed for aggressive and directive behavior for adjustments. After considerable modifications have been made, allow two to three weeks of observation to adjust and determine if there will be any improvements in social compromises. The most common resource-induced fighting seen is caused by not having enough distribution boxes, causing a competition shortage and then stress-related illness. Timely, all resources should be maintained and kept in an easy-to-access area.

References:

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Legge, S., Woinarski, J.C., Dickman, C.R., Murphy, B.P., Woolley, L.A. and Calver, M.C., 2020. We need to worry about Bella and Charlie: the impacts of pet cats on Australian wildlife. Wildlife Research, 47(8), pp.523-539. publish.csiro.au

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