Bully Cat

I need some major advice here. My cat, Thumper, has always been kind of a bully. She is very spoiled and used to getting her way. She thinks she is royalty. She has been here the longest of all of my cats, and she is next to oldest. But lately, she has become even more of a bully than she was before. She is always chasing, slapping, and fighting with the other cats. They are very afraid of her and do their best to stay clear of her. But she picks fights and chases them away all the time. I haven't gotten any new cats lately. She is chasing the cats that have been here for years. I hear major fights going on outside all the time and have to go run out there to check on them and break it up. I just don't know what to do about her. She has always had kind of an attitude - towards cats and people both. That family line of cats has it in their blood or something, because her mother, grandmother, and one sister were the same way. Her sister, Mitzi, was being chased by her so much that she left home and moved next door to my brother's house. Another cat, Iddie Bit, stays in the woods all the time and only creeps and sneaks out a couple times a day to get something to eat. And Jitterbug, who just took up with us, and followed Stinkie around everywhere, was also being chased by her. He started staying away. One day he came back starving to death and we fed him. That was two or three weeks ago. I haven't seen him since. It's really bothering me. I don't know what to do about Thumper. Any advice? Anything I can do to make her sweeter?

It might help to simply let her be the ruler of the household. If you always give her attention before giving attention to the other cats, always feed her first, always let her have the best places to sit, etc. you will be reinforcing her Queenhood rather than her having to prove her superiority by beating up the other cats.

Also, have many elevated perches for her to sit on. The Queen cat will always select the highest perch. Having many perches at different heights tends to reduce aggression in multiple cat households.

Finally, you can try some of the herbal remedies. I am most familiar with Bach's Rescue Remedy which calms stressed cats. But I think there are some out there that help curb aggression.

Good luck!

I reccomend a product called Feliway, a scent that mimicks "happy cat scent" and can be very useful with cat on cat or cat on human aggression. You can read about it at www.feliway.com. Some pet stores also sell it. Its not cheap but I've seen it work very well.