I have a 7 year old, female, spayed cat. the family 2 doors away have a
female cat and 2 female kittens. recently I have noticed that 1 of the
kittens, who is about half the size of my cat, keeps chasing my cat off. is
it natural that my cat should be scared of a kitten half her size?
Laila - 13 Nov 2004 21:44 GMT
>I have a 7 year old, female, spayed cat. the family 2 doors away have a
>female cat and 2 female kittens. recently I have noticed that 1 of the
>kittens, who is about half the size of my cat, keeps chasing my cat off. is
>it natural that my cat should be scared of a kitten half her size?
it's the kitten's territory. cat's are very territorial. our cat at
home chases off all animals, including dogs.
-L
Type Name Here - 13 Nov 2004 21:52 GMT
> >I have a 7 year old, female, spayed cat. the family 2 doors away have a
> >female cat and 2 female kittens. recently I have noticed that 1 of the
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
>
> -L
the kitten isn't chasing my cat from near the kittens house but from my back
garden, front garden and driveway.
what I am more surprised about is that my cat runs away from a kitten that
is half her size. I could understand her running away from another cat her
size.
Mary - 13 Nov 2004 22:24 GMT
> > >I have a 7 year old, female, spayed cat. the family 2 doors away have a
> > >female cat and 2 female kittens. recently I have noticed that 1 of the
[quoted text clipped - 13 lines]
> is half her size. I could understand her running away from another cat her
> size.
Maybe babies creep her out. Has she had any?
Type Name Here - 13 Nov 2004 23:23 GMT
> > > >I have a 7 year old, female, spayed cat. the family 2 doors away have a
> > > >female cat and 2 female kittens. recently I have noticed that 1 of the
[quoted text clipped - 17 lines]
>
> Maybe babies creep her out. Has she had any?
No.
something else that I have thought about it that this kitten used to follow
my cat about and even sleep near her in my back garden in summer when my cat
would go to sleep in the grass. at the time I thought it was cute, she was
almost treating her like her mother.
my girlfriend thinks that it might be because:
a) our cat is not aggressive at all, neither of us has ever witnessed any
aggression from her. if she gets annoyed at to much attention she will just
get up and move.
b) our cat has grown up without any other cats in the household, the kitten
was the 3rd cat introduced into a house that already contained a fully grown
cat and a slightly older kitten. so maybe my cat is not used to having to
fight and be aggressive where as the kitten may have been bullied by its
house mates and "toughened up". she also mentioned to my just known that the
guy who owns the kitten has said that at first the kitten was bullied
especially by the older kitten, but now it actually bullies the older
kitten. so maybe this kitten is just naturally aggressive.
I thought that it was male cats that were more aggressive and that female
cats didn't really challenge each other.
ceb - 15 Nov 2004 18:43 GMT
> I have a 7 year old, female, spayed cat. the family 2 doors away have
> a female cat and 2 female kittens. recently I have noticed that 1 of
> the kittens, who is about half the size of my cat, keeps chasing my
> cat off. is it natural that my cat should be scared of a kitten half
> her size?
Some cats are just non-confrontational, aka "big chickens" -- my Madeline
was like that, she just wouldn't assert herself with anyone (other than
voles).
And some cats are really dominant and terrorize other cats -- one of my
friends has the sweetest little dilute tortie who is the terror of the
household -- it is incomprehensible to human observers -- she has some
talent for making the other cats cower in fear.
--Catherine
& Rosalie the calicohead