Top Cat

In my experience, age does not seem to be important in cat hierarchy. I think it's more about health, courage and hunting skills. I can include size too.

In my experience, it matters not. We brought Hannah home at 7 mos old. She became the top cat of the 2 kitties we had at the time. The resident cat was 10 yrs old. We brought Tumbles home when he was about 10 weeks old. It soon became apparent he was going to be the dominant cat. Hannah's still not in agreement with that! Age, size, birth order have nothing to do with. It's all about the personality and genetic makeup.

Buddy w/ 6 cats now found a stray that was not only the friendliest ever seen (rubs up on strangers like its nothing), but also is HUUUUUGE (overly thin but really tall/big)! His skull was twice the size of his other biggest cat and tail craaaaaaazy long too, and nope, was a DSH not a Maine Coon!!!

In any case, brand new cat, within seconds it was obvious he would be alpha if left there. Instantly walked around confidently like he owned the place, and other cats were submissive.... should be too, he dwarfed them all and was super confident, heh.

Haven't really had much experience with multiple cats until this past August. I don't think age matters though. Lynxx was an only cat for 9 years, and he wanted nothing to do with Luna or Midnight. He didn't even seem to understand cuddling or play. Luna would try to cuddle with him. He'd be asleep, wake up see her next to him, scream and run away. When Midnight tried to play with him, he'd just run away as fast as he could. He'd hiss and growl at them. Luna took the hint and would back away, or lay there showing him her stomach, trying to show him she was a friend. Midnight wouldn't just keep trying to play. But Lynxx was sick. No one wants to be bothered when they're sick. I do think if he lived he and Luna may have become friends. I doubt he'd ever have been friends with Midnight.

When it comes to Luna and Midnight. They play very rough, but most of the time it's still play. They will fight each other for food. They seem to think if they attack each other, I'll make their meals quicker. They will fight over sleeping places. If 1 is sleeping, the other wants to sleep there, they'll fight. Very rarely will they sleep next to each other, unless they fall asleep fighting for the spot. I've got pictures of those rare moments when it happened.

We have to stand over them when they eat, otherwise Midnight will attack Luna for her food, and she will not fight him back. She'll just sit there watching him eat her food. Even though he's got his own dish full of food, he still tries to go for hers. If we aren't watching he'll attack her. If we are watching, when he's done he'll just walk away.

Sometimes Luna will block Midnight from using the litter box. She'll get in before him and block the opening, or she'll stand next to the opening and not let him in. Midnight will scream, so we know when it's happening, and we have to chase Luna away. Then Midnight still won't go in because he wants Luna in there with him.