Should you try to influence the pecking order?

10 cats here, age 5 to 13. All were born feral and rescued anywhere from 10 days to 18 months. 4 were hand weaned. All are most likely related in some form as they came from the same rural area and I know that some are half siblings to each other. I have a large house with tall cat condos in nearly every room. There is a lot of space for each of the cats to have their own territory.

Stumpy (age 13) has been the obvious alpha since he was 18 months old. He's been ill for the last 2 years and sometimes hands off his alpha status to Spanky (age 5) when he doesn't feel well. Scarlett (age 7) has been the queen since we brought her into our lives at 3 weeks old (orphaned). We know who is alpha at any point in time because she will only play with the alpha male (either Stumpy or Spanky). Koko and Muddy (5 years) were orphaned at 10 days old and don't always realize they are cats. Having hand raised them, they hold very special spots in our hearts and are a bit over spoiled at times.

Enter Eightball (age 12, half brother to Stumpy) and Pinky (age 8, probable half brother to Scarlett). With the elevated status of the cats mentioned earlier, I can see some frustration in their house status. Eightball was attacking Muddy for a while, and Pinky starts to demand attention. The remaining cats have their spots in the house and really don't care about their position.

Feeding time has the primary cats being fed on the counter and dining room table (some of them are on meds so its easier for us this way). The rest are fed in a group on the floor. To counter Eightball's frustration with Muddy, I also started to feed him up there and he has visably calmed down since I started that. (Pinky gets picked up and loved whenever he walks by.)

Husband is very much a dog person and doesn't quite get that the pecking order in cats is not the same as the pecking order in dogs. He wants to stop feeding Eightball on the counter as he doesn't consider him a "primary". I know that height has a big influence on their perception of power/control, and wonder if I should continue to influence the pecking order by feeding them at different heights.

And btw......Feliway Comfort Zone doesn't work in my house. Stumpy will walk up to them and spray them.

First... a word about status... it is not static... it is dynamic. In other words, they take turns, depending on the time of day and the room.

You need to make sure that there is plenty of vertical territory in different areas of the house for the cats. You'll note that this is a recurrent theme. The trees and shelves need to be at least 6 feet tall. You may also want to consider high shelving. I also recommend that you feed the cats in different rooms, to reduce the competition.

It is also vital that you have at least 11 uncovered cat boxes in different parts of the house. I recommend the 66 qt. Sterilite Clearview Storage containers... uncovered.

Marilyn Krieger, CCBC

Amy, this is an excellent question, one we've been wondering about ourselves. Given that we're living in a small space now, we're using the cat trees at "dinner" time. We feed them all in the same place each time - they "set" it themselves the first time we fed them there, and though we encouraged it, they go back to the same places. But we've been wondering if it wouldn't help the occassional issue between Lazlo and Tuxedo if we switched up who was eating on the highest platform.

Marilyn, thank you so much for taking time on The Cat Site forums. But if you come back to review any of the threads you've already answered, it'd be really wonderful if you have an opinion on whether or not we should try to influence the "status" of kitties by feeding them at different heights when it comes to meals?

Thanks,

Laurie

Nope. Don't try to influence the status by feeding at different levels, or picking a cat up and putting him on the bed if another cat keeps him off of the bed. That sort of human activity can result in increasing aggression and not allowing the cats to work it out themselves. Instead, feed the cats in different rooms and provide the cat trees and the vertical territory. Let the cats figure out who is where when...

Marilyn Krieger, CCBC
www.thecatcoach.com

Originally Posted by LDG

But we've been wondering if it wouldn't help the occassional issue between Lazlo and Tuxedo if we switched up who was eating on the highest platform.

Click to expand...

I stopped the riff between Eightball and Muddy by putting them both at the same height at feeding time. But that height is still above 5 other cats that eat on the floor.

To clarify something Marilyn: I have tall cat condos (over 6 feet) in nearly every room of my house and multiples in some of the rooms. Where I can't fit a tall one, I have waist high ones in other rooms. The cats are fed in 2 rooms (3 different places) during scheduled feeding, and 3 separate feeding places for open feeding. Plus 5 water bowls located all over the house. I have an abundance of Sterilite open litter boxes with spares that are disinfected and rotated in to replace the used ones.

Stumpy has been the obvious alpha male for 11+ years and his role doesn't change from room to room, only when his health gets dicey, at which time Spanky takes over and defends Stumpy until Stumpy is feeling better (auto immune disease with flair ups). Scarlett is queen always and every cat defers to her regardless of where she is. She has never had a spat with another cat in the house her entire life. The ranking challenges go on between the rest of the cats, and those statuses are dynamic.