Cats can be solitary creatures sometimes, and other times act as the dominant cat in a group. This is because cats act on instinct with trying to be the dominant one in the group. People may sometimes wonder if some domestic cats can kill other cats. This question can obviously confuse people and lead them to many different answers, which isn’t fun when you’re dealing with cats that may be attacking each other and displaying dominance. Here, we discuss if domestic cats can kill other cats and answer other questions you may have regarding this topic.
Will a Tom Cat Kill Kittens?
Kittens are very vulnerable and weak when they are young. It is actually the mom cat’s responsibility to nurture these kittens and keep them safe from other predators and even humans. If you have ever noticed that when female cats are pregnant and are about to give birth, they often go to a safe and hidden spot from others – this is natural to keep the kittens safe from predators’, humans, and yes – male tom cats.
In actuality, male cats aren’t even known to be fatherly towards kittens, and they often don’t get involved with raising them either. But it is also known that they will attack and kill kittens that are not their own. This behavior is because of genetics, they want to advance their genes as much as possible, and will stop at nothing to do so – keeping their genes alive. But this isn’t the same for every male cat, in fact, in rare circumstances the male cat can and will help with raising the young with the mother. Though there are some that won’t even care, and won’t bother with new-born kittens at all, and ignore them and not pay any attention to them.
Why Is My Cat Attacking Other Cats?
Cats attacking other cats can be caused by a number of things. This can include things such as lack of space, social maturity, environmental changes, or even a medical issue.
As discussed previously, cats tend to operate on social hierarchies and there tends to be one cat that is dominant over the rest. This is usually a dominant female cat that is the oldest of the group. Because of the structure of groups of cats, the dominant one will usually display dominance over the others, which includes aggression and aggressive hissing and meowing. This goes hand in hand with the lack of space for cats, because they operate in hierarchies, they tend to also have territory spread by their pheromones.
Social maturity could be another reason why your cat is attacking other cats. This is shown typically with younger cats that are still adolescents and haven’t had the time to properly mature with other cats and get along with them. This might take some time for them to get used to and mature. This can go hand in hand with environmental changes too, because a young cat that someone just brought home may need time to socialize to other cats in the locality and adapt.
Should You Break Up a Cat Fight?
Cat fights can often be vicious and actually can lead to one of the cats killing the other cat if it goes on for too long. Because of this, people often wonder if they should ever intervene in breaking up a cat fight. The short answer is yes, yes you should break up a cat fight. But not in the way of directly getting in the middle of the fight. To stop them from fighting, a good way is to make a loud noise that will distract them from fighting and the cat fight will naturally break up on its own.
Also, this should also be said – don’t punish your cat for fighting. It isn’t their fault; they act on natural instinct. Punishing them will often lead to them being more fearful and/or more aggressive. But at the same time, don’t reward them or soothe them, this will enable the behavior and it is telling your cat that this behavior is okay in your house. Instead, give the aggressive cat some space away from you and other cats, which should help solve it.
See Also: Do Domestic Cats Gather Together Socially?
And: Can Domestic Cats Catch Rabies?
How Do You Stop Your Cat from Attacking Other Cats?
Many people have seen cats fight and have broken up a fight, especially if they have more than one cat in the household. People often wonder how on Earth they can solve this issue.
First of all, the biggest and most powerful way to stop your cats from attacking each other is getting your cat neutered or spayed. Fighting is actually very common between male and female cats who are not spayed or neutered. This is because of maternal aggression from the mom cat that is likely to have a litter of kittens.
Another good way to stop cats from fighting is to have more hiding spots for your cat to run and hide to when they are being bullied and threatened by an aggressive cat. Boxes and cat trees are very good for this.
Having plenty of cat supplies can help. This includes extra food bowls, toys, litter boxes, and perches, so they don’t fight over who gets what.
Pheromones are also very good for decreasing cat aggression. These are products that can mimic cat odor or pheromones and you can buy them almost anywhere.
Keep cats separated from one another that are aggressive to each other. Only reintroduce them to each other when you think it is an appropriate time. This can be from days to weeks.
Conclusion
Here we talked about questions that have to do with cat aggression and catfighting. We talked about how male cats might kill other new-born kittens. We also talked about why your cat is attacking your other cat and how to stop your cats from attacking each other, and if you should break up a cat fight. We hope this answered some of the most basic questions you may have when it comes to catfighting and we hope it cleared up any confusion.
Featured image: A Cat Disagreement. Cats Can Fight for Many Reasons!
