Dominance/behavioural issues

Question
QUESTION: Hi Norman

My girlfriend recently inherited property, as well as two cats. They're not purebreds (they look a little Siamese, one's fluffy, the other not) and we're fairly certain that they've been neutered (no spraying or overt agression?). It seems that they've been well looked after, and are approx 5 years old (without any names, would you believe!).

We're now staying at the new place, so the only change is our presence... Since we moved in, it's seemed that the fluffy cat has been the dominant guy, with the other one being a little skittish, and getting batted a bit and run off every now and then by the fluffy one (but no fighting really). We've tried to give both cats an equal amount of attention, whilst trying to ensure that the fluffy one (as the dominant cat) got slightly more attention, etc. So far, we've been here for just over a month now...

Having said that, for the past few days, it seems that the roles have been changing somewhat, ending this morning with a bit more of a fight + hissing, and the fluffy cat being chased off for a change. The only other change in the last few days, is that we put collars on the cats.

Do I leave them be to work things out for themselves? Do dominance roles change or did we perhaps get the hierarchy wrong? I did see a suggestion on the site RE vanilla extract, as well as the Feliway option - is it too early for this sort of thing, or should I play it safe and dip them in the stuff? ;)

Having not had any pets before, any advice would be welcome!

Kind regards
Lucio

ANSWER: Lucio,

Are these indoors or outdoros cats? It is not clear from your question?

In any case, I do not believe in collars for cats.  Cats love to run and jumpo and get into things and, many times, cats with collars can get hung up by the collar and get into much trouble.

As far as hierchies in cat inter-relations are concerned, I have two rules: (1) no human interference and (2) humans do not understand the rules of cat interactions.

So, I would treat them eqully in all respects and let them resolve their "discusssions" themselves with no intereference.  So, yes, they should be left to their own devices, and, no, you should not favor one or the other, and pecking orders can change depending on the activity, the terrirtory and intangibles that we mere humans could not begin to fathom.

Best regards... Norm.



---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hi Norman

As far as in/outdoors is concerned, they spent roughly the same time both in and out...?

With regards to the collars, we'll be moving again in 4 to 8 weeks time - should they get out before they're used to the new spot & it's surrounds, I'd prefer for them to have some contact details attached. I thought that getting them used to the collars before the move might be a good idea - once they've had 2/3 months to get used to the new place, I was planning on taking the collars off again...

Will leave them to it for now, and see what happens - if they do switch to all-out aggression, I assume that Feliway might be a good place to start?

Answer
Lucio,

People have had mixed results with Feliway, so I would not count on that.  Anyway, as I have said before, they have to figure out how they will want to inter-relate in the new household and the best you can do is to be a bystander.  The good news, is that neither one will really hurt the other.

Best regards... Norm.