How to Properly Break Up Cat Fights

It's nature – if you have more than one cat in your home, chances are you will have to break up cat fights at some point in time. As natural as it is for cats to fight, why do they fight? And, how do we properly break up cat fights?

Why cats fight
There are many reasons why cats will fight, but you will often notice, no matter how many cats you have, that the cat fights are limited to one on one fighting. Most often the reason for cat fights is for 'alpha leadership'. Regardless of the gender of your cats, although alpha leadership cat fights are much more common in male cats, one of your cats is the alpha cat – the cat who rules the household. Occasionally, you will see cat fights as one cat challenges another for the alpha role in the house, even if they have lived together for a long time.

As your alpha cat ages, the younger cats will occasionally instigate a cat fight to see how strong the leadership is and if they can overthrow it. This behavior is similar to that of a person's race to the top of the ladder in their workplace environment as well.

The alpha cat will see many challenges for the top position in his or her lifetime, as other cats come into your home or as your other cats see weaknesses in the leadership. If you bring another cat or kitten into your home, chances are you will have to break up a cat fight between them as the new feline in your home struggles to find his place in the totem pole of leadership and placing in your home with the cats.

It is the job of the alpha cat to fight for his or her position and to 'win' the cat fight to maintain his or her position as the alpha cat in the home. Most often, it is the oldest cat in your home who maintains the position of alpha cat, however the largest and strongest cat will often be the one instigating cat fights in order to overthrow the lead cat.

How to break up cat fights
It's important to allow your cats their fight for the top – to an extent. Cat fights are normal, and unless they are really hurting each other, it might just be best to leave them be.

If you need to break up cat fights, there are a few things you can do to get the felines to separate from each other and stop fighting.

• Spray the fighting cats with water – most cats hate water and even if your cats like water, the immediate spray of water from a water bottle will curb their fighting and allow them to break away from the situation.
• Yell or 'psst' at them – fighting cats will stop to see what you are doing if you yell or 'psst' at them. Often it frightens them or makes them jump, again giving them the time to break away from the cat fight.
• Pull one cat away from the situation – not the wisest decision, because you will probably get bitten or clawed in the process of pulling the cats away from each other.

If you really look at the behavior of your cats, you will find that you can tell when a fight is imminent and when it's not. It's not an easy job breaking up cat fights, but sometimes you have to do it to keep the peace in your home.