How do I tell who is the Alpha cat?

I my house, there is no clear Alpha of the bunch. I am not too sure how to tell. I have a hunch it may be Berkley or Sterling. Maybe it is Coco? Maybe Sasha is trying to become Alpha? Not too sure? Is there a "test" I can do to see who is the Alpha?

In my house it's who gets the food first. Twig is our Alpha of course he is 16 pounds and the rest are only 10 pounds each.

I'm not sure but Sphinx is the Alpha cat here for the time being. Kuce moves away from him and gives him room.

In my house it's the pecking order at the food bowls. Stumpy is alpha male - he eats first, unless he feels generous with a kitten and lets them jump in beside him. He simply controls the food. He is not the largest cat by any means. Scarlett is the alpha female. She simply demands top attention within the female ranks.

Both cats chose Steve over myself as their human companion (you know how cats favor one person over the other). They like me but are definitely Steve's cats. Alpha cat's in our house are always Steve's cats (for the last 16 years of our relationship). I have found that odd, but Steve claims that he controls who is allowed to be alpha in the house.

We have already predicted who will be alpha cat once Stumpy is too old to do it (he is 8-1/2 years old right now). It will be Dakota in 3 years, unless we keep Spanky (who will overpower Dakota). But guess what? Both of them hang with Steve!

In our house i would have to say our kitten Alley

When I feed my cats I put down 4 bowls and they eat at the same time. I should try to put down one bowl and see who goes for it first

My alpha (of two, so its not very complicated) also seeks out the highest perch, and will chase the other cat away if he wants to sit there. And gets clearly agitated if I am paying too much attention to the beta cat when he is on a lower level. For example, the other day I was sitting on the couch with Bailey, giving her treats, he watched for a minute or two, and then jumped up and sat on the back of the couch to watch.

I am gonna start paying alot of attention to who is the alpha. I think it is Berkley but I am not sure. She is the most affectionate and craves attention the most but does that make her the Alpha?

I have no knowledge to add to this (I have only one cat, so I guess he would be the alpha) - just a question. I don't know how cats' hierarchies work - can a female be alpha if there are male cats also? I know with my dogs there is no question at all of the hierarchy- Warren is the alpha, period.

But I've never seen a female alpha dog if there are males around, even if the males are neutered.

Our RB cat, Midnight, was Snowball's companion for 10 years. Snowball became the alpha when he was still a kitten, and kept that position the entire time the cats were together.

Here are just a few of the things we saw Snowball do as the alpha:

If Midnight was playing with one of their toys Snowball would take it away and then would play with it himself. If I was sitting in a chair with Snowball on my lap, Midnight wouldn't be able to approach me if he was staring at her. If Snowball looked away, then Midnight could approach me. If Midnight needed to use the litterbox, Snowball would follow and then just watch from a distance, and sometimes he would even try to prevent her from using the litterbox. Sometimes Snowball would make a very soft, low noise (not growling) that was directed at Midnight and she would move away. Also, Midnight was always the cat that moved away during any type of confirtation(sp?) between them. If Snowball stood sideways in front of Midnight and blocked her path, she couldn't walk around him, and would have to wait for him to leave before she could move forward again. And like Sammie5 mentioned, Snowball would seek out the highest perch.

Coco Maui, IMO the alpha cat controls the actives of all the other cats.

Peedoodle is definitely the alpha cat! Sometimes Kahu will be running towards the window where he always sits and Peedoodle will see that and will race to make sure he gets to perch there first.
Right now, Peedoodle is sleeping in Kahu's favourite spot.

Peaches is always on the highest point (or perch) in the house. And when I'm feeding them, the first bowl I put down Peaches gets and everyone else stands down and waits until I put the other bowls down!

One thing that is hillarious is that sometimes Jake marks Peaches food for her. He scratches at the floor around the food and then steps back to let her eat.

I read that if you have cats that are not altered, the alpha cat will be male. But if they are spayed/neutered it can be a female.

Originally posted by jugen
In my house it's who gets the food first. Twig is our Alpha of course he is 16 pounds and the rest are only 10 pounds each.

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A 16 pound cat named "Twig"!

Originally posted by Momofmany
Alpha cat's in our house are always Steve's cats (for the last 16 years of our relationship). I have found that odd, but Steve claims that he controls who is allowed to be alpha in the house.

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too funny!!!

I think my calico is the alpha. She always takes over the Russian Blue's favorite sleeping spots and eats out of the Russians bowl. The Russian very rarely eats out of the calico's bowl. . .maybe if no one's looking The one thing that the Russian will NOT stand for is if the calico intrudes on her human turf. If the calico get's too close to me when the Russian wants to snuggle, she will drive her off and bat the air and do other very threatening things

Originally posted by Suzy
I don't know how cats' hierarchies work - can a female be alpha if there are male cats also? I know with my dogs there is no question at all of the hierarchy- Warren is the alpha, period.

But I've never seen a female alpha dog if there are males around, even if the males are neutered.

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I always acknowledge both the alpha male and female. My take in a multi-cat household is that there will be a highest ranking member from each sex - one of those might be higher than the other, but they are both alpha's in their rights. Stumpy rules over Scarlett overall in the house.

My female dog was the overall alpha in our house, however, she did pick an alpha male as her counterpart. At our peak, we had 5 dogs - 3 males and 2 females.

Out of my two boys The Sammycat is the Alpha kitty. Oscar has on occassions tried to get the alpha postion in the house but The Sammycat always comes out on top of these squabbles. Their fighting has gotten serious at times and I have had to step in and break them up. Most of the time I let them settle their own squabbles.

I have heard that in a household with multiple males, a solitary female can be the alpha.

In my house, it's Joey, even though he is the smaller, younger cat. I notice that when new things are introduced (toy, etc.), if Squirt gets to it first, he will always relinquish it to Joey.

Curious enough it is Noddy that has made it to Alpha. She takes the highest perch, spitting and hissing and swatting at any cat that it up there before she gets there. She eats first and pushes the others away from the food. I have had to start feeding her in another room at chow time.

I only have two. Max always eats first and will push Simon out of the way if he gets there first. The funny thing is, when they are play fighting, Max always lets Simon win. I wonder if Max is food alpha and Simon is fight alpha?

Too funny!

Originally posted by cla517
The funny thing is, when they are play fighting, Max always lets Simon win. I wonder if Max is food alpha and Simon is fight alpha?

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In my current and previous alpha males, they will typically be the one laying on their back on the floor when they are wrestling-playing. They also scream the loudest. You think they are losing the fight but they are actually winning.

Coco Maui-I have 3 male cats, and at this time, I don't thing any of them are Alpha cats. My oldest cat Snoopy, I think WAS the alpha, because he was my only cat for 12 years. However, now that he's 18 he really isn't up to that. If anything, I try to make him alpha cat, by making sure he gets the first bowl of food at feeding time, but I feed them all at the same time, and I just set their bowls down according to age. Snoopy first, Shane second and Simba third. I haven't seen any real alpha behavior out of any of my cats. I think they think I am the alpha cat.