cat behavoir

Question
i have a cat that like to attack our other cats for no reason. she is a female mix and weighs 8 pounds.our other cats out weigh her but she still fights them away from food and sometimes she just attacks them if they simply walk by. why is she doing this? if its because she is alpha female why does she have that rank when she is so much smaller then the other cats are? she only shows sympathy for our two kittens but the other three get it alot.

Answer
Hi
in nature who becomes alpha animal is usually the one with the most guts regardless of size. It sounds like this cat just has that dominant nature and that the other cats are happy to let her be dominant. This is normal in a house with more than one cat. you will always have a situation with one cat being boss and the other s either accepting it or fighting to regain dominance.

Also the alpha cat will always have to make sure the other cats know she is top cat as it were and that is why she will always swipe at them etc, its saying "hey don't forget whose boss". usually it won't develop into a full blown fight as this is not in the cats interest, usually it is  just a lots of hissing, spitting and swiping.

I know for us humans it can be difficult to accept this sort of behaviour after all we are taught not to fight but to get on, but then we use language to get what we want, cats use behaviour like this.

You may find that her behaviour towards the kittens changes as they get older as she will have to make sure that as adult cats they too know that she is boss.

Hope that answers your questions best wishes kate