choking cats

Question
Hi, I have a question.  I have 2 cats one male and one female both are fixed...  we got them both at the same time from the animal shelter about a year ago. They have gotten along splendidly for this time except for a few tiffs here and there, they lay together and clean each other.  But twice in the last few weeks the bigger male cat has tried to choke the female by taking her throat in his jaws and biting...  We have had to break them up and he gets this confused look while still baring his teeth for a minute and then goes back to his normal self after.. what is going on, we don't want to get rid of him, and don't have allot of money to have allot of vet work dons... so I'm hoping someone can help.

Gary

Answer
Gary,

I am not sure why he is doing this.  This is normal dominant cat behavior.  Has he ever broken her skin?

Anyway, what may be happening is that a new cat is hanging around your house and it is upsetting your male, who appears to be the dominant of the two.  He forgets himself when he is upset and carries out this behavior on the female.  Now, this last is entirely speculation.

You can try a Feliway diffuser in the room they spend most of their time and see if that makes a difference.

If he is not really hurting her, you may just leave them be, unless he begins to break the skin and draw blood.

Best regards... Norm.