Cats Fighting | How to Introduce Cats | Cat Hissing - Cat Behavior Clinic

Cats Fighting

In practice 25 years and founders of the “cat behaviorist” specialty, the doctor and Oxford-trained cat behaviorist show you how to prevent your cats from fighting, or how to stop cat fights once they’ve begun. A cat attack can be dangerous, whether from the cat’s bite, the cat’s scratching, or the danger of infection.  The clinic has a high success rate because the latest scientific research is incorporated into the behavior plans instead of antiquated book/internet tips and tricks (i.e. we don’t recommend you feed your cats near each other as part of the integration process). We have more cats purring than anyone.  Read 350 client testimonials here.

Mieshelle’s Scholarly-cited Cat Behavior Book is Text Book Curriculum to Certify Other Cat Behaviorists and Help Them Understand the Different Forms of Cat Aggression.

Important Zoom Appointment Update: we are currently scheduling the doctor and cat behaviorist through April 15th.  Through March 23rd, receive the study participation reduced fee for urination or defecation appointments. Scheduled cat owners can also become part of Mieshelle’s Discovery Channel’s cat behavior show (the most-watched cat behavior show in the world with over 125 million viewers).

In Your Aggressive Cat Behavior Consultations You’ll Learn Strategies Rooted in Cat Psychology:

• how to create an environment that decreases or eliminates territorial thinking that leads to hostility between cats (this is a big one that most behaviorists leave out).  Do your cats have a social hierarchy established or are they like roommates living in captivity together?
• The importance of gene-encoded behavior and the cat instinctual brain when integrating cats
• Why cats that were once best of friends, are now fighting with each other and higher-level behavior strategies to re-integrate them
• learn the Nagelschneider Method from scienced-based research on natural affiliative cat behavior in domestic cats.  This social method based on wild felid behavior is proven to improve any cat to cat aggression issue
• how to prevent cats from fighting through informed selection, socialization, and training of new kittens
• why punishment and reprimands don’t work, could make aggression worse or cause new behavior issues, and will ruin the bond between yourself and your cat
• how to apply non-aversive and positive behavior modification methods to eliminate or manage aggressive behaviors
• how to rule out possible medical causes — and cure the behavioral issue even after the medical cause has been treated
• how to identify which form of aggression your cat is exhibiting: play, predatory, maternal, or petting-induced; or territorial, sexual, or pain-induced; or the little-understood but most common redirected aggression
• how to stop unwittingly rewarding or even causing aggressive behavior
• learn why treating the symptom (aggression) of the bigger problem (intercat social issues, inappropriate and natural predatory aggression, or fear-based aggression) will get you nowhere.

Excerpt from Mieshelle’s New York Times Acclaimed Feline Behavior Science book, The Cat Whisperer, on Intercat Social Issues

Reintroductions and the Nagelschneider Method

If your existing cats are in an intractable pattern of aggression, you’ll
need to perform a re introduction, along with the rest of the C.A.T.
Plan from Chapter 7. Just follow the instructions for introducing Newcat
and Homecat—with a few differences. Reintroductions, unlike
first-time introductions, will almost always take place between only
two cats. Also, reintroductions will always feature a barrier between
the unfriendly cats; first-time introductions will not include such a
barrier unless one or both cats prove to have persistent difficulty relaxing
around each other. My own reintroduction process is called the
Nagelschneider Method.

First Impressions: Desensitization, Habituation,
and Counterconditioning

The process of desensitization will involve slowly and gradually
exposing each cat to the sight, sound, and, especially, smell of the
other cat—always making sure that the stimulus presented is below
the cat’s fear threshold.

Habituation will happen when each cat becomes acclimated to
the once-novel stimulus of the other and they appear either enthusiastic
about each other, or indifferent to or bored by each other. At the
end of the introduction or reintroduction process, your cats may get
along famously. But if, during or after the desensitization and habituation,
your cats seem like they could not care less about one another, you will still  have achieved wild success—and that may be just the beginning of the good news.

We’ll also use counterconditioning on the cats by pairing desirable
activities, such as playing or eating, with the smell, sound, or
sight of the other cat. Play will be a very important tool in this process.
Keeping a cat in an animated state of play prevents him from feeling
fear, for cats simply cannot engage in play behaviors and feel fear at
the same time. Food and treats given outside of normal feeding times
will also play a big role. Be sure to break any treats up into smaller
pieces so that you don’t treat your cats so much as to interfere with
their normal nutrition.

In an attempt to capture at least some of the many permutations
of events that could occur during an introduction,
these instructions are highly detailed.  Most owners will not
require all the detail. But for some owners, there may not
be enough detail. If you are in that minority—your cats
are reacting negatively or not getting along no matter which
suggestions you try, and you can’t figure out what to do
next—it may be time to go to www.thecatbehaviorclinic.com or your nearest
search engine and look up an experienced and certified cat behaviorist
to walk you through the process dynamically, by phone
or in person.

Read just some of our testimonials on solving feline aggression issues. Are you ready for help that will last the life of your cats? Book a consultation now.