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donnab212 · Jun 2, 2008, 09:07 AM

We have 17 cats that get along pretty well. Once in a while there is a fight but one of our cats Chester who is about 5 years old is acting strange around Jackson, about 1 year old. It seems every time the 1 year old mewos or is vocal the 5 year old jumps on the one year old back and bites his neck. Why does he do that.

wildandblue · Jun 2, 2008, 09:41 AM

An older male will treat a much younger male like he is a female, basically push him around and boss him. Asserting his dominance. New Q why 17 cats? That is an awful lot of cats.

donnab212 · Jun 2, 2008, 09:55 AM

One reason is that my husband and I did volunteered for an animal rescue and we took some home with us tha were not being adopted. Basically, it is just my husband and I and we have a big home. We love our kitties and oour dog who thinks she is a cat (licks her paws after she eats and stalks like the cats) but loves the cats too. My dream is someday to get a farm upstate and open an animals rescue.

wildandblue · Jun 2, 2008, 10:02 AM

Well keep it under your hat. Cause once you have the farm and love animals everyone you know will be anxious to give you their unwanted cats. And getting mad at you if you say no thanks. Some don't even ask, just drive by and leave them off at the end of your driveway. Really sad, once they are out of the cute kitten stage at lot of people don't want them. And a cat can live 30 years or more.Best of luck to you.

donnab212 · Jun 2, 2008, 11:06 AM

Believe me the last 3 were left in our back yard as kittens. But Samantha, Wilson and Aloysius are really fun cats. They are now about 3 years old. Our vet works with us and he spayed and neutered all our cats for his costs. In fact we found one that was about 12 years old and she was really sick, had pneumonia and infections. Our vet took her in and only just us for the meds to get her back to health. Well today pumpkin is about 19 years old and still going strong.

morgaine300 · Jun 2, 2008, 11:58 AM

30 years or more? I don't think I've ever seen a cat make it past about 22-23. Must be some super-cats going on there.

Donna, I appreciate what you do! There are so many strays out there, and so many unspayed cats just producing more cats and more strays. (I'm blown away by the number of posts around here about preganant cats & new kittens, etc. Hey, all you posters, get your cat spayed!! ) And nice vet also.

Oddly, I'm more inclined to not take the kittens (even though they are terribly cute) and get an adult instead. They're closer to being calmed down and no one wants them. (Although a younger one is easier to train the way you want, and gets to know you from a very young age.)

As for the neck biting, this isn't just an age thing. My seven year old, when he was younger, used to do that to a much older cat. (A cat who didn't want to play anymore and was very annoyed over this.) Partly he was just a brat and yeah, I'd believe it's a dominance thing too. The older cat was actually in charge, but was very tolerant of most behaviors, except for a couple of things he put his paw down on and wouldn't tolerate. So this may have been the one way the younger cat could pretend to be dominant. He's also a biter -- I've gotten him somewhat trained on that, but he has never totally stopped. I was always concerned he'd actually hurt the other cat doing that.

He's now the eldest, and the younger one is female, and he does not do this to her. He'll chase her around, and sometimes he backs her into a corner and just sort of "stands guard" while she growls. Another dominance thing, in a different form. I do think it's making a difference that she's female. He's never been around a female before.

donnab212 · Jun 2, 2008, 12:22 PM

The one thing I remember we had an older cat (alexander who had a bad heart and since died)) and he would jump on Chester when he was a kitten and made noise (just to let you know that chester and chelsea were left in a box in front of the store were I did my volunteer work). I think its just that the meowing gets on their nerves. Lol

But to let you know we take in any age cat, who ever needs a home

wildandblue · Jun 3, 2008, 09:21 AM

When you get that farm, take in chickens! You'd be amazed at how much chickens and cats have in common, which seems odd, with the whole preying on birds thing cats have going. The rooster is definitely "top dog" among our cat/chickens. They are easier to feed, live only avg. 4-6 years and hey, you get tons of eggs, a free wakeup call and have a lot of chicken soup eventually. I mean, even if you're rich you will be spending a lot on catchow. Our free range chickens eat garden slugs, weed seeds, dandelion flowers in addition to cracked corn.

donnab212 · Jun 3, 2008, 02:05 PM

Wildand blue
Thanks for your info. I see you are in orange county, is that in New York? My cousin has a farm in va. She loves it and she was a jersey girl from freehold.

wildandblue · Jun 4, 2008, 09:30 AM

California actually but our vacation place is in Maryland. I see ads in the paper all the time for land in upstate New York and have a lot of relatives living in the Finger Lakes wine country and also around Lake Placid. Those farms are really going for firesale prices. But I have heard that once you move in to some areas and start fixing up a run-down property they jack your taxes up sky high because they are so run down and desperate for revenue.