Jealousy :-(

Why is my kitty (Zeus) so jealous? he always attacks my other cat, Camielle, who is smaller then him. he rips the hair off her sometimes!! we give them all the attention they could want, but anytime Zeus sees me petting Camielle he gets very angry and attacks her when i walk away
is there a way to put an end to this? every time I catch him I usually give him a good rap on the butt, but it doesn't seem to phase him. I used to spray him with water, but he doesn't care about that at all! other times he's such a sweet little boy! he cuddles up with me when I'm sleeping, he plays fetch. . . He's a very intelligent cat, but he has jealousy issues. Have any ideas for me??

This sometimes CAN be frustrating. Is everyone spayed and/or neutered? That could help.

If they are, sometimes it is a personality problem. I know that Tammy-Timmy, being the low man on the totem pole so to speak, has it in for ChanKahli, but they are both females.

I am surprised that a male will attack a female, but I guess sometimes that happens too. Perhaps you could put a little (very little) spot of vanilla under each one's chin and on top of the base of the tail. That way, both of them smell the same and may give them both a chance to break the cycle of attacking.

I donâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]t know if our situations were similar but I thought I would throw it out there and let you decide.

My other cats (mostly males at the time) used to attack Melba a lot. Even as an adult she is very tiny, and she would scream like they were murdering her so of course I would run over and save her every time. (followed by lots of cuddling) I thought that maybe she was just the pariah and the other cats just didnâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]t like something about her, so I felt really bad for her. Then one day after I had lavished her with attention I caught her prancing up to one of the top cats and smacking him in the face! When the cat responded she began screaming like she was being beat up, which is when I normally would come rescue her. The more I watched her I began to realize she was actually instigating fights with all the others all this time! Part of it was my fault because I was unintentionally rewarding her reactions and bailing her out after she had attacked them, which had messed up the hierarchy my cats had. Once I realized my own role and stopped rewarding her the behavior stopped.

Iâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]ve had this happen since then with another female and again found the cat that was being harassed was the biggest bully of the bunch and attacking the other cats when I wasnâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]t around. I definitely donâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]t think this is the case in all situations, but it has made me keep a close eye on my guys to try to figure out what is really going on in a situation.

All my males have always attacked and chased my females and it's the bane of my kitty mom existence! I just keep trying to chase off the males and protect the females (spoiled or not) because nothing works... I've even spoken to Vet. U. behaviour profs. and a zoologist, but it's their nature and unless they choose to be nice, it's the way it is.

i will defanitly try the vanilla thing, thank you!

I've witnessed Zeus attacking Camielle millions of times, and she is always minding her own business. Sometimes he does it when I pet her, sometimes he does it just for no reason. My cats are indoor, so sometimes I wonder if he feels the need to hunt. Camielle would never smack Zeus in the face. She's afraid of him. Anytime he sees me petting her she acts like she's not enjoying it or like she wasn't even being pet, and she'll walk away and go hide. It's so sad. My sister and I are living together right now, and Camielle is her cat. She's planning on moving out in April, and I was trying to figure out whether or not she should take Camielle with her. Because there are times where Camielle and Zeus get along well. . they sleep together and stuff sometimes. . . But I dont know if seperating them would be better off for her, or if they'd miss eachother. Plus, I know I'd miss that cutie little girl so much! But I'm not going to be selfish about it, I just want whats best for her.

Both of you keep your cats, but get new, more suitable friends for them afterward. They will miss having another cat around, any cat (they're nuts that way!), but would feel better if compatible. My females always remained neutral (or better) to each other, though I know they can fight too, and my males are good friends with each other, yet occasionally get into it.

This IS interesting because none of my males have attacked a female at all.

The females sometimes have trouble with each other, but the males usually stay out of it.

Very interesting.

There are suggestions in the "stickys" on this site that I have used and it works. I have three males, one being a year younger than the other two, and still an old kittern a year and 3 months. One male gets along with him fine but the other male I think might be a bit jealous and is sometimes overzealous in his playing and it turns into downright brutality, where the attacked cat runs and hides as soon as he gets a chance. I used to try to intervene loudly, clapping my hands or screaming knock it off, but that seemed to make matters worse. The suggestion is to talk calmly, and I say things like, be good boys, play nice, now now, in a real sweet voice and the attacker always stops. I think by you rapping your attacker on the butt, you are aggravating the situation because you are hitting him because of her. that will make him resent her more. I would try the sweet talk, stop hitting him, and don't make a fuss over her in front of him. give her special squeezees when he is not around. Give him lots of love alone or in front of her so he knows he is number one. You might want to feed him first and treat him as if he is first. It might be enough that he will no longer feel so threatened that he has to beat her up.