female cats fight...why?

my mom has a femle cat and i have a female cat, and i live with my mom and theyre always fighting...i got my cat last year in january and she was 9 months old from a shelter...and they fought a lot then and its seemingly getting worse after over a year of living together..and when blue is meowtie (comes in heat) the fighting gets worse (my cat is spayed..i cant imagine if both of them were in heat how bad the fighting would be) i thought that once cats lived together for a long time they became good friends...but our cats are always scrapping over the spot on the chair...or sometimes one nips at the other ones thigh as she passes by and that starts a fight...its not a big problem but i wish they would get along better and not fight so much...one time blue got a claw stuck in her eye and her eyes got watery and stuff for about a week and shes had some bites on her that i know were inflicted by stripey (my cat) my cat is bigger so she usually wins the fights, blue is 7 lbs and stripey is 11 they also attack the dog but he just runs away usually...i just wanted some advice on why they do this and what i can do to help them get along better

Female cats are territorial, moreso than males. The fact that one is not spayed is not helping. Maybe a Feliway diffuser or something similar to calm them down a little?

The biggest problem is that one is spayed and the other is not. Why isn't the one spayed? That will help a lot once she is done. Females do tend to be more territorial then males and even more so if not spayed.

my cat (stripey) was bought from a local pound...and having her spayed and getting her shots was free...my moms cat (blue) was purchased from a pound also but they did not offer to have her spayed for free...my mom can afford now it but she hasnt really got the time besides my cat needs boosters and she hasnt had the time to get around to that yet eitherher going into heat isnt really a big problem other than the fighting and meowing really loudly all day and night...we never see any male cats around our house when she does this and she still uses her litterbox the same as if she wasnt in heat...my moms cat is being territorial since she was here first but i am trying to get them to get along without having to go through the trouble of scheduling an appt and asking my mom to take a day off of work in order to take her...blue goes outside but we dont let her out when she in heat as we dont want kittens...its not a big deal...the vets is not open on sundays and my mom goes to church on saturdays and she is a seventh day adventist so she does not drive anywhere but to church on saturday and she works from 9-5 weekdays and our vet closes at 5...so she will have to take a day off of work in order to take blue to be fixed...it will be a hassle as she recently got promoted and is trying to get everything ready for her new position at work...but it seems as thats the only solution..thanks for your input

Some cautions:

1. Unspayed cats are at a higher risk for cancers or pyrometria (which is infection and can kill her).

2. Cats do NOT need to be in heat to get pregnant.

3. If she is allowed outside and not supervised the entire time (in an enclosure or on a leash) then you are playing Russian roulette in her getting pregnant.

4. Just cause you don't see the tomcats, doesn't mean they are not out there. Again, if she is out of your sight, the tomcats will mate with her and one day you will have a houseful of kittens.

Please do not let her outside unsupervised until she is spayed!

I second this -- please, please spay her as soon as possible and don't let her outside until you do. There are too many cats in shelters without homes, wouldn't you feel terrible if she got pregnant and added to the problem?

It will help with the fighting issue too. They may never be good friends but they should learn to tolerate each other.

Since your mom is very busy, is there any way you could take her in to get spayed? Or perhaps a friend could take her to the appointment?

Sorry we are all harping on the spaying, but it really is best!

Spaying really is the ONLY way you are going to solve any problems. It is really unhealthy for her to remain intact and continuously go in heat. Never ever let an unspayed cat outside, she WILL get pregnant whether in heat or now. You are very lucky she hasn't yet. I would worry about the spay before you worry about your cats shots, the spay is more important that this point.

Take her yourself or find someone who can provide the transportation. Just get it done asap. She is at a huge risk for Pyometra (which is deadly) and various other cancers as well.

Hi
It is very normal for female cats to fight, cats are very territorial animals. The fact that your mom's cat is not spayed is part of the problem.

I am lucky my females never fight. They all get along real well.

this is a bigger deal than i thought it was...and i heard that a female will only allow a male to mate with her if shes in heat...shes 4 years old and we've done the same thing all those years and shes been ok and not gotten pregnant, and i have heard of pyometria and i do know that its dangerous so it seems that the best thing to do is to have her fixed asap... a few weeks ago she did get into a fight with another cat but we havent seen it...we're thinking she chased it off of her territory one time she did accidentally get out when she was in heat and she got in a fight with a cat (who we truly believed was a male) we're keeping her inside for right now because there were some strays...although we do believe them to be female and we havent seen anymore cats around here for months but we're still keeping her inside so that she wont seek out any strays that might be around here...im not worried about her having a litter of kittens although i would hate to add to the overpopulation...she rejects other cats strongly even when she is in heat...im just sick of all the fighting and yowling...i know virgin queens can get those types of problems such a pyometria but my mom had lots of cats when she was growing up that lived a long time without and problems (although they were outdoor cats and had litters of kittens) so she said its nothing to worry about but i know we need to have her fixed and it seems like the only solution...i'll have to sit my mom down and tell her that we need to have blue (dubie) fixed pretty soon before heat season comes back again....but she only goes into heat like 3 times a year and ive heard that they come into heat like every three to four weeks until they are mated...and she doesnt spray or pee anywhere but her litterbox (we've NEVER had that problem out of blue) because if she did that then we would probably have been had her fixed a long time ago...but i'll lock my mom down in one of her spare moments of time and discuss having blue spayed as it seems she really needs to have it done...thank you all for your opinions and advice

Originally Posted by ilovestripey

this is a bigger deal than i thought it was...and i heard that a female will only allow a male to mate with her if shes in heat...

Click to expand...

She will only be 'in the mood' when in heat, but the males don't care about that. They want to mate all the time, so some serious fights can break out if he tries to mate her when she's not receptive to it.

I hope you can convince your mum to get her spayed.

we had a spayed female and an unneutered male and he was always trying to mount her and she fought him really bad and lots of the time he got really injured...one time he developed and abcess on his face from a bite from her then another on his shoulder...we eventually got rid of him because of the spraying and pooping everywhere and fighting with smitty and always costing us a whole bunch of money for pills to treat abcesses...cause my dad got fed up and made us get rid of him he didnt start spraying until he was like almost 2 years old...which i heard can happen but he was still crapping everywhere and the fights got on our nerves...and once the spraying started my dad made us get rid of him...but yeah blues most definitely going to stay inside until i can have her fixed...because i dont want any vicious fights with strays and/or a houseful of kittens! so ill talk to my mom asap thanks

Spaying and neutering will solve 1/2 the problems. Shame your boy was not neutered sooner - you might still own him!