does your houses alpha cat always win playfights?

just curious?

its so hard to tell whos alpha, the cat in my house who i would assume is alpha, sometimes looses playfights with another cat that seems to be stronger then her physically but not mentally (Hope i make sense lol)

It's also hard to tell who is alpha cat here since they are littermate sisters. I had thought Marble was alpha when they were younger because she seemed to win most of the fights and has always been larger and more brave. But lately it seems like Mia picks fights and will win ~70% of them so I dunno anymore.

IMO, yes, the alphas do win 95% of play fights They only lose because they want to!

Originally Posted by Abymummy

They only lose because they want to!

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I agree

my alpha doesn't even have to fight- just her hiss sends the others running for cover

Originally Posted by katiemae1277

my alpha doesn't even have to fight- just her hiss sends the others running for cover

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They will actually bow their heads down at her, occasionally, Spaz will even humble herself enough to lick their heads or clean their ears.
She mostly keeps her own company though.

You don't necessarily have to have an alpha cat in a cat group. The tendency toward alpha is more of an individual personality trait in cats. If you have three cats and none of the cats is a dominant type, you won't have an alpha cat in your house. And cats often trade off the dominant role depending on the situation, so it's hard to figure out.

Both of our cats are small, but Reagan is alpha and the smaller of the two. She usually loses, but sometimes she'll chase Whisper off if she is NOT in the mood to play.

Delilah is undoubtedly the cat in charge in our house. She would never lower herself to actually playing with her underlings!

In our house, the older they get, the more things have seemed to even out- everybody loses sometimes, it just depends on who wants "it" more, or who is in the worst mood, !

Bird is still Alpha when they go outside though- it may be because she and Meggie go hunting, and Bird (while not Meggie's birth mother) nursed Meggie and adopted her from about 6 weeks until weaning time. I think it is just remants from the mom teaching the kitten how to hunt.

My alpha lets the physically larger cat win in playfights most of the time, but she keeps intruders out singlehandedly

Bella generally wins. As alpha, if she thinks she's losing, she ends the fight.

Our fights usually end when Baby's had enough, so she just leaves and jumps up somewhere. Baby owns the top half of most rooms; Tiny, the bottom half; except for the window perches, which they share. I'm not sure whether that means she lost, or whether she's getting tired of fighting; but neither cat is really alpha here--Baby is often scared of Tiny (though she's gotten over it to a great extent); but she also gets the high perches and the first shot at the food. So I guess there's more of an equitable division than alpha/beta.

How do you know who your alpha cat is? Is there a test to tell?

Our little kitten Dory has so much energy, we can't figure out if she has taken the Alpha role from Elliot, of if it's just good ol kitten enthusiam! Dory might grow into the role, but for now it seems like a cat democracy....

Originally Posted by JellyBella

Bella generally wins. As alpha, if she thinks she's losing, she ends the fight.

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that sounds SO much like Harley!

Hemmy is our alpha. He's a laid back leader, though. Kit often wins play fights. Hemmy doesn't mind losing and often it seems he lets her win. He just seems to enjoy the rough-housing. If he hears cats fighting outside he gets really excited and runs through the house as close as he can get to the sound. It's like he wants to take on the winner and he's thrilled to death about it. He's an entertaining member of our family.