Feline aggression in multicat households and catteries.

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Types of Feline Aggression

Territorial Aggression

This type is aggression is characterized by one cat pursuing another with an intention of attacking it. The aggressive cat may even stalk any cat coming into his or her territory. An example is a cat who claims a litter box as his or her own and attacks any cat that goes near it. The cat may even stand guard over the litter box. The aggressive cat may growl, and warn others before actually attacking.

**Fearful or Defensive Aggression**
Drawing by Julia Birmingham

Even a small kitten can become aggressive if backed into a corner by another cat. The adrenaline kicks in and the "fight or flight" response takes over. Often when this occurs the little kitten is actually successful at scaring off the bigger cat. Often times the larger or older, more dominant cat, is just curious and only wants to smell or "check the new kitten out."

**Status Related Aggression**
Drawing by Julia Birmingham	Cats, especially cattery cats, have a well defined social hierarchy. Stud cats are at the top of that hierarchy, but an aggressive queen may attack a tom cat if she does not want to be bothered. He usually retreats and leaves her alone. A challanging male would not be pardoned as easily. Among the females, queens usually have a higher status than that of spayed females. Older queens that have been raised with young adolescent females are dominant over them. Social hierarchy is easily studied in catteries by simply placing a platefull of cooked, chopped chicken among the cats and simply observing who gets to eat first!

Intermale or Tom Cat Aggression
Drawing by Julia Birmingham	Generally, stud cats in catteries are caged and not allowed to come in contact with one another because they will fight. They are fighting for dominance and the right to breed with the females. They are also not allowed to interact freely among the females because matings are carefully planned so that top show cats can be produced.

Play Aggression
Drawing by Julia Birmingham	When littermates play, they learn a valuable lesson that they carry on into adulthood. They learn through play to inhibit their bites and to sheathe their claws. They experience how it feels to be bitten or scratched by a littermate during play, and learn how to modulate their responses.