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How long before the pecking order is determined.

post #1 of 11
1/8/10 at 12:36pm
Thread Starter 
Jersey seems to gladly accept Jordan's Alpha status (none of the cats ever question him, I have to wonder why but that's another thread). Yesterday Isaac let him eat from his bowl, but today Isaac put him in his place. He didn't hurt him, just let him know that he is not 2nd in command. I don't mind if he ends up 3rd, 4th or 5th in rank. I know they will work it out, I'm just wondering how long people think this generally takes. I know no one can tell me for sure, but I want to hear about others experiences.
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post #2 of 11
1/8/10 at 12:39pm
In my household it takes 1 - 2 months for everything to really be established. That said, Gumby has been here for 3 months now & she is continually challenging Ophelia Rose (bad idea - Ophelia Rose is NOT nice!). So it will really come down to the individual cats.
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post #3 of 11
1/8/10 at 12:42pm
Hard to tell here because everytime things seem to settle down I bring home another new furbaby.

But it's been about 3 months (I think?) since I took Armani in and things seem to be figured out now. Kipper is the Alpha, followed by Callie, then Mira, then Armani. Missy seems to want no part of it and the kittens I think are too young to really understand (though they are all afraid of Kipper so at least I think they do acknowledge that he's the alpha). The fighting in my house was horrible so I think when it finally stopped that meant they had all reached an agreement. That took about a month from the day Armani walked through the door.
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post #4 of 11
1/8/10 at 1:23pm
This article is a good read: http://www.thecatsite.com/Herding/13...er-2004/1.html For us it usually takes a couple of months, though the last two adoptions (6 and 7) each had one cat that took from 4-6 months to a full year to fully settle down about it.
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post #5 of 11
1/8/10 at 5:21pm
I'm not sure how long it takes for a heirarchy to be established in a cat home because everyone was quite accepting in my house when a new member came in. We got hercules first and he is a pretty laid back cat and didn't really play just slept and ate. When we got fatman herc took to him and had let fatman know he has no interest in being the alpha male. When we adopted gigi she pretty much took princess status she will antagonize anyone in her path but this works well with herc cuz when he started exerting his maleness she was the perfect playful companion for him especially since he got fixed and it has become more aparent that he was testing the pecking order. As it stands now we use our parental status to reenforce that fatman is alpha to all pets including franklin, just so gigi and herc don't antagonize him too often. Next goes herc and gigi in the same rank and lastly franklin because he is a dog and wishes he was a cat lol. Our house is dysfunctional sometime but they all know their place and while they don't repsect it all the time it works lol. It only took us 2 yrs to get all the animals and have things in this functionally dysfunctional nature lol!!
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post #6 of 11
1/12/10 at 6:19am
Thread Starter 
It is interesting to watch Jersey try to find his place in the ranks. The big thing in my house is always feeding time. He can't figure out where his food bowl is. He runs from bowl to bowl trying to steal food until I put him by his bowl.
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post #7 of 11
1/12/10 at 6:30am
Thinking back over the years, I recall it taking different periods for each cat.

One of the shortest was when we introduced Solomon (kitten) to Sheba (kitten). We had got Sheba the week before and in seconds after introducing them, she had whacked him across the head and he gladly accepted #2 status. (He adored her.)

With my current two, I'm not even sure who is alpha. It might even be me.
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post #8 of 11
1/12/10 at 8:20am
Interesting thread.

Sneaky Pie was #2 when we had Mistoflees. And it was very obvious from the beginning who was going to be Alpha

Well- we lost Mistoflees in August Sneaky's been by herself since then- until Saturday. A friend of mine took in a kitty, she wound up pregnant before they could spay her, and she had 5 black kittens. I told her we'd take one, so we got the newest member of our house- HollyHeart on Saturday.

And I think Sneaky's trying to become alpha. And I guess "pecking order" can change when you lose/gain a cat.

Though I don't know how that works since they're both girls (but Sneaky's spayed) Today Sneaky whacked HollyHeart in the face when she got "too close for comfort".

Cheryl
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post #9 of 11
1/12/10 at 11:31am
It depends on the cat. Sometimes they never relent..

In this house Isabell is Alpha and EG is 2nd in command. Awhile ago I ended up living with my mom and her boyfriend who also had a cat. Needless to say, Isabell will never relent Alpha status. The new cat Genie was also any only-Alpha cat beforehand so naturally the two girls fought constantly for Alpha role. For about a year. Neither cat was relenting even to the day right before I moved out. While EG is okay with not being Alpha he was quick to sustain his role as 2nd in command as well.

Probably not what you want to hear but eventually they should co-exist. It doesn't sound like Jersey is a Isabell vs Genie situation where neither cat wanted to relent previous Alpha status. Those two cats could never live with each other.

As for the situation with Isabell and EG, it took them 3 months to establish the hierarchy.
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post #10 of 11
1/12/10 at 1:13pm
Thread Starter 
I don't think Jersey wants alpha, but rather I think he just doesn't know where he fits. He LOVES to suckle, so I am wondering how early he was away from Mom. If he was away early, I am wondering if he just doesn't understand how to fit into a group. He is still a kitten (about 7 months) so I think he will figure it out eventually.
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post #11 of 11
1/16/10 at 12:52pm
Took a full year for Jack and Harley. Jack is clearly alpha over Harley. When we added Pepper at 8 weeks old I wasn't sure how it would go. She's almost 9 months old now, and I'd say by 6 months I knew that she was ranking above Jack. Jack continually shows Harley he is above him, even though Harley never challenges it. With Pepper its just understood she is number 1--Jack will occasionally challenge and she smacks him or takes him down and thats the end of it.

Oddly though if Pepper attacks Harley, Jack will defend Harley.

Its all very interesting.

Leslie
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