Help - one of my boys is bullying the other

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Alissa - 27 Apr 2007 15:19 GMT

Hoping someone can give me some advice.

I have two 3 year old persian boys who have grown up togther and
always got along.

Bailey is a mommas boy, cautious of others and can be a tough little
kitty.

Cooper is just a sweet cat who loves everyone and never causes any
touble.

Lately, Bailey has just started bullying Cooper terribly. It started
whenever Cooper revieved more attention, Bailey would screetch, jump
on top of Cooper and bite him. This happened every so often. Now,
Bailey has started doing this to poor Cooper several times a day.
Cooper will be laying down and Bailey will stand next to him, stare
him down and attack him in this manner. My poor Cooper. Now Bailey
is kicking Cooper out of all of his favorite spots and claiming all
the territory. He kicks Cooper out of my bed out night so he can
sleep with me.

I just do not get why his behavior has gotten so aggressive towards
Cooper. I thought at first it was jealousy but now he does it all the
time. It is getting harder and harder for Cooper to get out of his
grasp.

Any suggestions? Thank you so much in advance for your input. My
EMail is alisdawn@aol.com

Regards,

Alissa

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Catlover Medway - 27 Apr 2007 15:50 GMT

Age can be a factor in changing relationships between siblings. I've read
that the best of times are up to the age of eighteen months. After that,
siblings can begin to perceive one another as competitors. It would be
interesting to know if the environment has been restricted in any way, or
whether a vet visit by Cooper may have changed his scent profile.

The advice of the UK behaviourist Vicky Halls is to increase favoured
resources to one cat per resource plus one. So, in your case, three of the
following (in different locations):

Litter trays
Feeding stations
Water bowls
Beds
High resting places
Scratching posts
Toys
Secret hiding places

The rationale is that it is impossible for the bully to deny access to them
all. As the resources are plentiful, it can dramatically change behaviour.

You'll find Feliway helpful, but get both the spray and the diffuser as the
diffuser can take up to a month to work.

http://wizz-catz.co.uk/multicat.html

>Hoping someone can give me some advice.
>
[quoted text clipped - 28 lines]
>
>Alissa

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Rene S. - 27 Apr 2007 16:34 GMT

> Lately, Bailey has just started bullying Cooper terribly. It started
> whenever Cooper revieved more attention, Bailey would screetch, jump
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
> the territory. He kicks Cooper out of my bed out night so he can
> sleep with me.

I have a similar situation with my cats (though they didn't grow up
together.) For a while, I had to separate the cats and re-introduce
them because things got so bad. I added Rescue Remedy to their water
(an herbal blend, very safe) and used Feliway diffusers once they were
back together.

If you see Bailey get in "the mood" to bully Cooper (dilated eyes,
ears back, etc.), try distracting him by calling him over to you
sweetly. When he does, praise and pet him. It makes him "forget" about
what he was going to do. This sounds lame and takes many tries, but it
does work.

As catlover said, increase the resources to prevent any bad behavoir,
especially litter box avoidance. And be sure to play with Cooper to
wear him out and eliminate that energy.

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