Peculiar behavior

[gailuvscats]

sometimes Fang grabs hunks of Pansy's back hair and just rips it out, then he has trouble getting all that hair out of his mouth. Pansy sits there, or once in a while he will get up and walk away. I mean it is big turfts of hair being ripped out of his back!

I am assuming this is a dominance thing, what do you think?

 

[yayi]

I find it strange that Pansy does not even react to Fang's behavior. Maybe he enjoys the occasional shave?

 

[mschauer]

This occasionally happens to Zara also. It really annoys me. I've never seen it happen so I'm not sure if it is Toby or Coco but both of them are high energy and Zara is quite low energy. I *think* it happens when T or C wants to play and Zara doesn't cooperate.

Is Fang high energy? Maybe he needs you to help him burn off some energy.

 

[goldenkitty45]

I would guess so, or else Pansy is appropriately named

 

[gailuvscats]

Pansy is definitely appropriately named. Fang is not more hi energy, in fact he is more laid back. I am suprised he just sits there too, because it looks like it should hurt.

 

[strange_wings]

I've found tuffs of fur on the floor too. Judging by the undercoat color, it's Sho's.
I've never heard Sho throwing a fit about Tomas ripping fur out, so maybe it doesn't really bother him? It's not like losing a little fur bothers Sho anyways, DH calls him "chinchilla cat" because he sheds a lot when stressed - such as during vet visits.

Who knows, maybe losing tuffs of fur like that doesn't feel the same to cats as it would to us?

 

[coaster]

When cats are stressed, their hair comes out easier. If I remember my vet's explanation correctly, the "fight or flight" response triggers tiny muscles around the hair follicles to relax, causing hair to be shed and be easily pulled out. If I remember right, this is a survival mechanism because it allows a cat to get out and away from a predator or enemy that has it in its clutches.

So, to make a long story short....it's very normal to find clumps or hair on the floor after a cat fight and it doesn't hurt the cats at all.