I’ve had a lot of people reach out to me about how one of their cats is also targeting their other cat(s). I think it’s unfortunately fairly common, but every case is different.
I thought it may be helpful to share some of the things we tried to curb Dylan’s “pouncing” attacks and help the cats get along. With the caveat that ultimately we weren’t able to resolve things 😔
However, sometimes I’d feel like we were making progress so perhaps some of these things would work for other cats and less intense situations:
1) Feliway Optimum (pheromone) and Pet Remedy Diffusers: we had multiple of these running 24/7 in different rooms. I think these took the edge off some of Dylan’s aggressive/pouncing behaviour, and helped the girls feel more at ease, especially when Dylan was smaller.
2) Calming Supplements (Zylkene and Tryptophan): Similar to above. I gave all the cats these supplements for several months and whilst they initially seemed to help, it wasn’t a lasting solution.
3) Increased resources: To reduce any potential territorial stress over resources, we added extra litter trays (some people recommend to have the number of cats plus 1, but unfortunately we did not have space for more than 3. Our behaviourist thought this should still be OK though as we weren’t having issues with the cats not using the litter tray), 3 water stations and lots of bowls of dry food around the house. What’s important is ensuring the resources are well-spaced out. 2 litter trays next to each other is no more helpful than just 1. Also lots of cat trees and beds.
4) Positive reinforcement: Giving them treats when they were together calmly. Playing with them together – although this was difficult because playing would often trigger Dylan to pounce on/attack the girls.
5) Increasing the “victim” cats confidence: It’s said that sometimes when cats attack other cats they are treating them like ‘prey’, and if the target runs away it can reinforce this, so I worked hard to increase the girl’s confidence. Playing individually with cats can help, as cats are often shyer about going for a toy when other cats are around. To be honest though, I didn’t feel like the girls were not confident, as they would usually be vocal and tell him off if he suddenly pounced on them, but he never seemed to learn to stop doing it. Maybe he’d not do it again that day if one of them really told him off, but then the next day he’d be back to his usual ways 😅
6) Increased play sessions: I knew that playing was very important, but this was complicated because Dylan would often attack the girls when he was hyped up from playing, and even for some time after playing I had to keep him away from the other cats. So I had to mostly play with him separately and then keep him in that separate room for some time after. But no matter how much I played with him (sometimes I’d spend hours), he would still often go for the girls only a few hours later.
7) Food after playing: Our behaviourist advised some of Dylan’s attacks were likely because he had a strong prey drive and was treating the other cats like prey. So she advised to give him high-protein treats/food after playing, so he would feel like the hunting cycle was completed. Unfortunately this still didn’t stop the attacks so I don’t think it was just that he was treating the other cats like ‘prey’.
8) Thundershirt: This is basically a vest that can calm some cats down. I think this actually had the biggest positive impact. It calmed Dylan and reduced the pouncing a lot, but it had the side-effect of making him quite lethargic, he didn’t seem to walk as easily in it and it matted his fur. It didn’t seem fair for this to be a permanent solution.
9) Vet checkups: Sometimes health issues can cause aggressive behaviour, so I made sure Dylan (and my other cats) was healthy. The only issues he had is occasional IBD symptoms, which seemed to be linked to stress as they mostly went away when he would wear his Thundershirt. We did full PCR stool tests which didn’t show any obvious pathogens. A special GI diet also helped, but in his new single-cat home he doesn’t need to wear the Thundershirt or eat a special diet (apparently he has perfect poops now!) Our vets and behaviourist advised IBD symptoms are very common due to stress. I think it was from having to share his territory with the other cats. Behaviorists talk about how the “bully cat” can often be very stressed as they feel they have to constantly defend their territory.
Also, Dylan was neutered at 4 months old, but there was a slight complication as one of his testicles couldn’t be found. The vet did an additional surgery to hunt for it but couldn’t find it, so they advised likely he was born without one. They cut off the blood supply just in case it was retained somewhere (can happen, sometimes they even migrate to random parts of the body!) and said this would mean it would never develop if there was one. However, I’d read that in rare cases the blood supply can become re-established and lead to testosterone -producing tissue and my vet confirmed this. My vet also thought his behaviour was quite similar to that of an unneutered male (especially as he would sometimes bite the girls’ necks like cats do when mating) so he did a blood test to check his testosterone levels. But they came back totally normal for a neutered male. I had hoped this might be the explanation for his behaviour as if it was it could have been easily resolved.
10) Indoor Enrichment: We got the cat wheel initially for Dylan but he wasn’t very interested in it (unless the other cats were on it 😅). I also got lots more cat trees, climbing wall units and a ceiling height climbing post.
11) Other behavioural strategies: There’s a lot of different and conflicting guidance out there, it can get very overwhelming. But I will share a few that we tried. Of course if you’re implementing one strategy you have to be consistent and not mix strategies.
Firstly, a lot of people recommend putting the aggressor cat in a separate room for a few minutes if they attack, to let them calm down and also as negative reinforcement (to hopefully help them learn that attacking = being alone in a different room). But this didn’t help in our case. Dylan would get extremely distressed about being in a different room by himself and when I let him out he would soon resume the unwanted behavior. Most research also shows negative reinforcement is not helpful in cats and can rather worsen their behavior by causing stress.
Secondly, I read a lot about how you need to break the cycle by catching them just as they are about to pounce. Sometimes Dylan would truly go from looking uber chill to pouncing on one of the cats so this was actually pretty difficult. But if I saw him get into the hunting position (e.g. crouching, flattened ears, staring at one of the other cats) I tried firmly saying “No!” in a deep voice and staring at him. Or I tried distracting him with a toy. Sometimes it would work for a few seconds then I’d turn my back and he’d have pounced 🤦♀️ Or it might work for the rest of the day, but the next day it was like he’d forgotten. Like how he seemed to quickly forget after the other cats told him off – they’d growl, hiss or slap him if he pounced or they noticed he was going to pounce and sometimes he’d then stop targeting them for the rest of the day, but the next day he’d be back to his usual tricks. Whether it was a human or cat telling him off, it didn’t seem to make a difference 😅
I wouldn’t be surprised if there are some effective behavioral strategies out there which a lot of people just don’t know about. For example, when I was having problems introducing Daisy because the other cats kept hissing at her, especially when they smelt her, I found a great tip on a Facebook group about brushing corn starch through all of the cats fur (using the same brush) so it neutralizes their natural odor and makes them all small like each other. It worked really well!
So I thought I’d share this comment from one of our Instagram followers @alleycatortiz was interesting:
“We bought a Sturdi Pet “Show Shelter” to confine our new rescue kitty who started attacking my adult female cat out of the blue after 2 months of harmony. Being confined in plain sight did the trick. After 48 hours we let him out. Any attack, he got put right back in. Tried this over a 4 day period. By day 5 we let him out and he just took a seat. Finally stopped attacking. And it turned out he became besties with my male Oriental Shorhair and let my female be the independent Queen that she was. I don’t know why it worked but it did and I recommended to a friend with a similar issue and it miraculously worked for her too. He was a very dominant boy but he loved people so the association of confinement after aggression and love and attention after ignoring/not attacking just clicked for him I guess. Probably wouldn’t work with all cats but glad it did for him. I got to love him for 19.5 years.”
I would definitely have tried this with Dylan, but I’m not sure it would have helped based on past experiences with trying timeouts.
I tried many strategies but unfortunately nothing seemed to curb the pouncing behaviour. I do think this is because Dylan is a reeeally determined cat. Unlike my other cats who stopped jumping on the kitchen counter after I removed them from it a few times, Dylan never learned not to (but if he saw me walking over to get him down, he’d quickly jump down 😂)
12) Consultation with a cat behavourist: I had already read and watched so much about cat behaviour (there are some great ones on YouTube). But having a consultation with one who could look into our specific situation was invaluable in making sure there was nothing I’d missed and helping to come to a decision I felt at peace with. I had to complete a huge questionnaire and send lots of videos so they got a full picture of our situation. I made sure to find an experienced reputable one. She was a Certified Clinical Animal Behaviourist (CCAB) with 20+ years experience and a member of APBC, ABTC and CCAB. It’s important they are a member of at least one of those professional organizations. Some pet insurers will even cover the cost of behaviorists. The guidance of an expert was extremely helpful. I don’t think I could have made the decision without her support. Talking to other cat owners is helpful, but a behaviourist who has dealt with hundreds or thousands of cases is different. She assured me that Dylan’s attacks were aggressive (not playful like I’d hoped/wondered) and would be very stressful for the other cats. I also appreciated that she was clearly not just trying to give me false promises to guarantee further business. She was actually very upfront about the fact that she wasn’t optimistic about our case as we were already implementing almost everything she’d recommend. We implemented her suggestions but unfortunately it didn’t help.
Finally I wanted to address the issue of whether bringing in another cat might help. This was something I wondered about. I’d heard of several people in situations like mine where it was usually a larger male cat bullying smaller females (or sometimes older or docile males). But when they had a second playful male cat, it sometimes took the pressure off the females. So I wondered if Dylan had a similar cat (likely another playful male of similar size) to play with, if this would satisfy his rough and tumble needs and stop him targeting the girls. Unfortunately, living in a 2 bedroom apartment (although quite spacious for the UK), getting a 5th cat did not seem like a feasible option. There was also a risk that the new cat would also not like Dylan’s behaviour, or we’d now have 2 large male cats bullying the girls. Our behaviorist also thought another cat would not be a wise decision and recommended Dylan’s new home not to have any other cats.
I hope you found this helpful. One thing our behaviourist said is it’s important to reduce the unwanted behavior early on before it becomes ingrained as a habit and before the cats relationships become too strained to repair. My only regret is not working with a cat behaviorist much sooner. But then I cannot know if it would have made any difference.
The Floof Tales 
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