who is the alpha cat?

I adopted a kittie at 8 week old - now Tigger is almost 16 weeks old and is about 3 lb My resident cat Tiki is about 2 year old spayed female and is 17 lb.

Tiki is a laid back cat that loves to go out. When she is inside she normally just lie around. Tigger loves to attak Tiki's tail or put his front paws around Tiki's neck and try to bite her ears, or he will get on his back and slide under Tiki and kicking Tiki's chin with all his four legs. Tiki ignore him mostly, and fights back once in a while when she is really annoyed.

Tigger also loves to eat Tiki's food, Tiki allows it. Sometimes if she is not that hungry, she would even walk away. Is Tigger the alpha cat? or Tiki just can't stand Tigger?

I think Tiki understands that Tigger is just a baby and is letting him get away with so much. When he is a little older they will work it out. I would say Tiki will win that hands down.

Make sure to get Tigger fixed and all that jazz. LOL

My Tigger is like that too! He grabs Gizmo's fur sometimes and acts like...well he bites her and mounts her even though they are both fixed. Luckily he doesn't do it that much anymore, but once in a while I catch him. I just clap my hands and give a holler and he stops.

We have three cats, Tigger is the fattest and he gets most of the food too, but the other cats get what they need, none look hungry that's for sure.

My youngest boy Apollo has taken over though. He is just one year old and he chases the other two around alot just playing. I'm interested too...do all cat groups have an Alpha male?

Kristy

The alpha cat can be male or female, though in colonies in which the cats are not neutered, I believe it is most often male. In my household of 6 cats, the alphas have always been female and the cat who is alpha changes from time to time.

My alpha cat Stumpy rules the food bowl, must eat first with any other adult cat, but he usually allows new kittens to get in the food line before him. When an alpha cat accepts a new kitten, they show this by being very tolerant of them at the food bowl. It's almost like a parental sense comes out of them, even though they aren't their parents. Stumpy never allows any other male to eat first - only the kittens. It sounds like your adult has fully accepted the presence of the new kitten.

I would say that your older cat is the alpha cat. I think that rule sort of just applies for now... It MAY change when your younger cat gets older, or when he becomes sexually mature as he IS male and may feel the need to exert himself over 'his' colony...

But i don't think it will be a huge problem... The situation may just gradually change, or it may not change at all.

We have three girls and Bobbie the oldest has never been a very agressive cat but she has maintained her role as Alpha cat in very subtle ways. Such as her demanding of attention from me, and her general aloofness towards the other two... And the fact that when she calls they come....

It's quite interesting watching them interact.

I think your older cat is just being nice. Corkscrew was like that when I first got Tibby, if I would bring out the feather wand he would sit back and let her play with it. If she wanted to attack him he would just roll on his back and let her, but now that she is older things have changed. They are both full grown now and Corkscrew is almost twice Tibby's size, he makes it clear that he is the alpha but sometimes he still lets her get away with things. Like if he is sleeping he'll let her climb on top of him and he won't do anything about it. And he still bathes her, but now that she's older if I bring out the feather wand he'll go for it full force and let her fend for herself. I think Tiki might just be nice since Tiger is just a baby.

Is it possible to have two alpha cats or none at all?

My 4 cats hang in 2 groups. Bleu and Dottie, then Penny and Duffy. Bleu and Dottie are 14yo and 16yo respectively. Penny and Duffy are 8mo and 11wks. The 4 rarely interact as a group. When they do Dottie is definately charge cat. When Dottie and Bleu are together alone, she's dominant. As hard as Bleu trys to steal the throneship from the Dot, she reigns. Of course, Dottie makes a racket when someone challenges her. I'd give up too if I had to take her beatings about the head.

When Penny and Duffy are together, Penny is dominant. However, Duffy is gaining on Penny. It won't be long until he rule's Penny's roost. Poor Penny, she's always getting the short stick.

So, who will rule over all, Dottie or Duffy, will they both rule their respective areas, or will neither rule?

Well at the end of the day...
Catz Rule... Dogz Drool!

jmvito: It's so hard to judge at 11 weeks if a kitten is going to be dominant or not. The 8 month old might simply be humoring her and 11 week old kittens don't always hold anything back when they play.

My guess is that as your kittens mature and Bleu gets older, one of the young cats will become alpha. Of course, I'm always surprised when my oldest male Bogart (12YO) smacks around the alpha male Stumpy (8YO) just to remind him who was in the house first.