What do I do about my demon of a cat?

Kill it with fire.

No, I’m kidding. Honestly, my cat like harassing my other cat, too. There’s little we can do to stop it, we’ve found, but we try to watch the food both cats have. We give the older bully only a small amount of food and try to continually refill the younger cat’s dish. I know it’s not really a solution, but it’s a way to try to fix the problem.

You can feed the non-bully cat in another room and lock the bully out. Non-bully might not eat right away, but if you give him half and hour or an hour with the food, he might. (Not a small room, like a bedroom or something. I guess it depends on the relationship you have with you cat. My boyfriend’s cat meows when he wants a door opened, so I could see this working with him. He would clearly let you know when he wanted in or out.

In other news, I’ve heard that you often need one more litter box than the number of cats you have. Don’t know how accurate it is, but I’ve heard it.

I’m with Empress. We have two dogs who are almost exactly the same as you described, and often have to put the non-dominant one in my parents bedroom with food and keep the dominant one out so that he gets to eat something.

Make Basil “outside cat for a day!” Maybe not a good idea in LA, though.

You have one too Andrew?

I think your Basil and my cat are twins, separated at birth. We call ours the demon seed.

I’d go with EP’s suggestion of feeding the submissive cat, separately. Problem is, cats are creatures of habit- this might take some doing to get him to eat.

Do they already have a set feeding time, or is it just random – food out all the time?

@cak: It’s a set food time. But it’s more the behavioral stuff that I want to change. Brat of a cat.

I’m a mean mom. I do the water bottle trick – I have to do something. (I’ve considered using it on my son, too.) My cat terrorizes my dog – big dog, at that. The direct stream, so I’m sure not to hit the dog and punish her, too, seems to deter him long enough to redirect him.

The feeding is only to help the other cat, if he’s losing weight, especially if he’s older. Unfortunately, though, I haven’t had much luck (when we had two cats) we deterring the alpha cat behavior, outside of the water bottle trick.

there has got to be a good “cat whisperer” on Fluther! Sorry I wasn’t any help! Good luck and I’ll be watching out for any good advice. :)

I may be wrong, but I don’t think cats are trainable the way dogs are. :(

Cats are trainable but not for the same rewards that work for dogs.

A dog appreciates the treats that come with training but really wants to know what the proper thing to do is in various circumstances. In other words, a dog will want to please his/her person once he/she understands what the person wants them to do.

A cat on the other hand thinks in terms of what’s in it for me as well as what do I avoid if I change what I do or how I do it. He/she does care what you want. So the squirt bottle works on a cat, as does getting the treats, but it has to be done with greater repetition than with dogs, and the cat won’t do it just because it pleases you. A cat has to see a clear advantage to behaving in a particular way.

Thus, squirt Basil any time he is aggressive towards Bacio. Feed Bacio in a separate room or a separate place but give Basil his food first (and squirt him if he tries for Bacio’s). Make sure there are several cozy hideaways so Bacio can be in one, but there are several left for Basil (and squirt Basil if he tries to shove Bacio out). And have cat boxes in more than one place so Basil can’t always be there to hound Bacio.

Good luck!

^^^see! I knew there would be a cat whisperer on Fluther! I should have known it would be Darwin, she’s so smart! :)

I’ve been living with cats almost constantly for 50 years. I don’t presume to understand cat politics. But I can tell you this: there is always a top cat. Top cat may not look to you or me like the one who ought to be top cat, but the cats always know.

It is bad to mess with the pecking order. You have to let top cat be top cat, and then it will be all right for the others. If you try to balance things, so much the worse for the lower cats. Let top cat have his fill, let top cat have his way, and then look to the others, and it will be all right. Anything else and the lower cats will pay.

Burn it at the stake?

this is why I have a dog. Cats are trouble.

@evelyns_pet_zebra, Hear hear! Here here?

“Hear, hear” is right.

Thanks.

Aw, my kitties are the same! I have one that’s 19, and a newer one that’s 3. He always picks on her, and stalks her around corners, and jumps on her and pin her down, and things like that. He’s very jealous also, and sometimes he gets quite angry to the point where he bites me if i try to keep him away from her or try to calm him down! (nothing too serious, i think he’s just a rough kitty – it sounds worse than it really is…..). There’s no problem here with the litter box, as only she uses it, the younger one goes outside, and they don’t fight over food either, they take turns, and when i give them tuna or treats, i think the younger one still somehow knows is place, because he’s wait for the older one to finish before he eats what’s left.

I don’t know what to do stop his jealousy either, goodness knows he already gets more attention than her, but also ‘cause he likes being picked up. But it’s not so serious, i just have to tell him to cut it out all the time, picking on her. But then sometimes, he also just licks and licks her. A really strange relationship if you ask me.

:)

okay, u have to understand that sometimes they are playing. but when you see it getting really out of hand here’s my suggestion. buy a spray bottle and fill it with water, whenever you see your bully cat going to far and eating non bully cats food, spray him, if he doesnt stop, separate them. put the bully cat in the bathroom or laundryroom. let the other cat rome. Also, if there just chasing eachother, don’t worry, theyre probly just playing. but if it goes to far than do those steps. pretty soon, demon cat will get the message. good luck!

Exorcism?

I used to have a cat just like this.The first and last.I brought her to a humane shelter where she was too feral,and had to be humanely euthinized.Really sad though.She was just too violent towards people and other animals.

Lock the bitch in a room while the skinnier cat is eating?

Sell it and get a dog?

My younger cat oreo, harasses the hell out of the older one molley, he is just being a brat and I think he just likes getting a rise out of molley. if he keeps it up for a lon time ill gab him and keep him away from molley for a wil till he calms down.

I agree with @mrrich724. I was thinking the same thing. No reason to make the nice cat have to change. Put the mean cat in the room till the nice cat had time to eat where he always eats. He may have a harder time adjusting to the change. The mean one will just have to learn to wait. True that animals have a pecking order but they also see you as part of that pack. You should be top cat.
I think the squirting water thing should at least eliminate some of the fighting . Especially when it is violent. If you spray kitty in the face it should keep him busy trying to paw his face dry for awhile.