Kitty hierarchy: NOT engraved in stone, apparently

When Captain and Stanley arrived here in January, it was clear that Captain
was the more dominant and/or outgoing of the two cats. He was the one that
investigated new things while Stanley observed. If disaster didn't ensue,
Stanley knew it was a safe place to go, safe game to play, etc.

That continued until recently. But remember my post a few weeks ago,
asking for purrs for Captain's sore leg?

Well, the leg still seems to annoy him a little bit now and then. (We have
an appointment with the vet tomorrow, to get them the rest of their shots,
so I'll be mentioning the leg to her.) And in the past couple of weeks,
since he did whatever it was to make the leg sore, somehow the cats seem
to have traded roles.

Now it seems to be STANLEY who's the investigator and CAPTAIN who watches,
more often than the other way around.

But in other things, they're pretty much the same. They still chase and
get chased by one another on a pretty much equal basis, for example, and
they still play-fight pretty much evenly, too. It's not one cat
consistently initiating chasing or wrestling matches, so I'm definitely
not concerned that one cat is domineering or bullying the other.

I'm just wondering, for anyone who's had a multi-cat household... have you
seen cats, particularly siblings, peaceably trade the "lead" role over
time? Melody and Harmony were nowhere near as close as these boys are, so
their dynamic didn't shift like this.

I wonder if they'll trade roles again once Captain's leg finally stops
annoying him. (Which, considering that he's still playing, wrestling,
running around, etc as actively as ever, could take a while.) Or maybe
they're just trying to keep their Meowmy guessing... that's a definite
possibility. )

Donna, Captain, and Stanley

I'm just wondering, for anyone who's had a multi-cat household... have you
seen cats, particularly siblings, peaceably trade the "lead" role over
time? Melody and Harmony were nowhere near as close as these boys are, so
their dynamic didn't shift like this.



I do know that unlike dogs, who have a very clear sense in their own
minds of whether they're "alpha," "beta", "omega," etc, the hierarchy
with cats is much more fluid, and can change based on who is
feeling/acting more dominant at any given time. It seems as though
Captain's injury has knocked the vinegar out of him for a while,
allowing the other cat to take on the dominant role.

As for my household, Nocturne is alpha. Questioning this is heresy.
Heresy causes pain. (It's truly dog-worthy...or
dictator-worthy...behaviour.)

--Fil

Gabey8 wrote:
I'm just wondering, for anyone who's had a multi-cat household... have you
seen cats, particularly siblings, peaceably trade the "lead" role over
time?

Well, I've always been a bit suspicious of the idea of an 'alpha cat'.
I've lived with cats all my life, mostly in a multi-cat household, and
I've never seen that kind of hierarchy among cats. ISTR reading about
studies of feral colonies, loosely knit communities where no one cat was
leader. Some male may be dominant for a while, but it seems to be pretty
fluid. It's clear that neither Frank nor Nikki is the undisputed boss
all the time. I wouldn't even say that either of them is the boss ever.
They just co-exist. I suppose it has a lot to do with personality, too.
Some just have more overbearing personalities than other cats. But I
still don't like the idea of 'alpha cat'. Cats usually hunt alone
(though I've heard of cooperation between two cats), so they just don't
need that kind of hierarchy that dogs do to be able to hunt in packs.

--
Marina, Frank and Nikki
marina (dot) kurten (at) pp (dot) inet (dot) fi
Pics at http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/frankiennikki/
and http://community.webshots.com/user/frankiennikki

On Sat, 05 Mar 2005 17:41:32 +0200, Marina
yodeled:

Gabey8 wrote:
I'm just wondering, for anyone who's had a multi-cat household... have you
seen cats, particularly siblings, peaceably trade the "lead" role over
time?

Well, I've always been a bit suspicious of the idea of an 'alpha cat'.
I've lived with cats all my life, mostly in a multi-cat household, and
I've never seen that kind of hierarchy among cats. ISTR reading about
studies of feral colonies, loosely knit communities where no one cat was
leader. Some male may be dominant for a while, but it seems to be pretty
fluid. It's clear that neither Frank nor Nikki is the undisputed boss
all the time. I wouldn't even say that either of them is the boss ever.
They just co-exist. I suppose it has a lot to do with personality, too.
Some just have more overbearing personalities than other cats. But I
still don't like the idea of 'alpha cat'. Cats usually hunt alone
(though I've heard of cooperation between two cats), so they just don't
need that kind of hierarchy that dogs do to be able to hunt in packs.



Well, I've never believed that cats are solitary animals. When left
alone, they seem to live in family groups, and they like company.
But if there are alphas around-- which is questionable-- it sure
isn't the males, or only the males, anyway. It's more a factor of
individual personality.
I've lived around feral cats almost my entire life, and I've been
able to see very broad general tendencies, but I've seen exceptions to
all of those. I've seen queens who only wanted males around for one
thing, and attacked them *all* the rest of the time. I've seen mommas
and daddys live together happily with their babies. I've seen toms
that killed kittens, and toms that let kittens climb all over them.
I've seen mom cats who chased their old babies away, and I've seen
older brothers and sisters who hung around their moms for years. It's
really hard to make generalizations about cats-- they seem a lot more
socially fluid than dogs.





Theresa
Stinky Pictures: http://community.webshots.com/album/125591586JWEFwh
My Blog: http://www.humanitas.blogspot.com

Well, I've always been a bit suspicious of the idea of an 'alpha cat'.
I've lived with cats all my life, mostly in a multi-cat household, and
I've never seen that kind of hierarchy among cats. ISTR reading about
studies of feral colonies, loosely knit communities where no one cat was
leader. Some male may be dominant for a while, but it seems to be pretty
fluid. It's clear that neither Frank nor Nikki is the undisputed boss
all the time. I wouldn't even say that either of them is the boss ever.
They just co-exist. I suppose it has a lot to do with personality, too.
Some just have more overbearing personalities than other cats. But I
still don't like the idea of 'alpha cat'. Cats usually hunt alone
(though I've heard of cooperation between two cats), so they just don't
need that kind of hierarchy that dogs do to be able to hunt in packs.

Yeah, that's Nox...her personality is to insist on absolute dominance
over everything, including the other cats, us, any company we have
over, etc. She doesn't work in a "pack dynamic," but she DOES see
certain areas as her territory and the other cats DO NOT BELONG THERE,
period. Between Smokey and the two bitties, it's very much a
co-existence dynamic, but as for Nocturne, she has HER pillow, HER
chair, HER part of the bed, HER place on the sleeping people...and if
she catches another cat there, she attacks them. She also refuses to
go on the couch, because it's "contaiminated by Smokey," even though
he happily shares it with the kittens. Same with the foot of the
bed...that's where "The morons" sleep. For her part, she tends those
under her care as if we were all kittens (except Smokey). Sick people
are carefully monitored, groomed etc, and warning cries rouse the
other if one person is having trouble breathing. She takes her job as
"apartment president" very seriously.

Kreisleriana wrote:

On Sat, 05 Mar 2005 17:41:32 +0200, Marina
yodeled:


Gabey8 wrote:

I'm just wondering, for anyone who's had a multi-cat household... have you
seen cats, particularly siblings, peaceably trade the "lead" role over
time?

Well, I've always been a bit suspicious of the idea of an 'alpha cat'.
I've lived with cats all my life, mostly in a multi-cat household, and
I've never seen that kind of hierarchy among cats. ISTR reading about
studies of feral colonies, loosely knit communities where no one cat was
leader. Some male may be dominant for a while, but it seems to be pretty
fluid. It's clear that neither Frank nor Nikki is the undisputed boss
all the time. I wouldn't even say that either of them is the boss ever.
They just co-exist. I suppose it has a lot to do with personality, too.
Some just have more overbearing personalities than other cats. But I
still don't like the idea of 'alpha cat'. Cats usually hunt alone
(though I've heard of cooperation between two cats), so they just don't
need that kind of hierarchy that dogs do to be able to hunt in packs.




Well, I've never believed that cats are solitary animals.

I don't believe that, either. Most cats I know like to have another cat
or several around. Of course, there are exceptions. Some cats are
loners. Yet again, no rules apply to all cats. ;o)

When left
alone, they seem to live in family groups, and they like company.
But if there are alphas around-- which is questionable-- it sure
isn't the males, or only the males, anyway. It's more a factor of
individual personality.
I've lived around feral cats almost my entire life, and I've been
able to see very broad general tendencies, but I've seen exceptions to
all of those. I've seen queens who only wanted males around for one
thing, and attacked them *all* the rest of the time. I've seen mommas
and daddys live together happily with their babies. I've seen toms
that killed kittens, and toms that let kittens climb all over them.
I've seen mom cats who chased their old babies away, and I've seen
older brothers and sisters who hung around their moms for years. It's
really hard to make generalizations about cats-- they seem a lot more
socially fluid than dogs.

I've read that a tom will kill kittens that are not his own, but this
rule doesn't apply to every tom, either. Some are natural-born
babysitters. Frank hadn't been neutered yet when I brought in Nikki, and
he cared for her like a mother.

--
Marina, Frank and Nikki
marina (dot) kurten (at) pp (dot) inet (dot) fi
Pics at http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/frankiennikki/
and http://community.webshots.com/user/frankiennikki

Marina had some very interesting things to
say about Kitty hierarchy: NOT engraved in stone, apparently:

I don't believe that, either. Most cats I know like to have another cat
or several around. Of course, there are exceptions. Some cats are
loners. Yet again, no rules apply to all cats. ;o)

Felix is fine with Ava, and would probably love to have a d*g around,
but he hates other cats. He's nearly as weird as his humans. :-)

I've read that a tom will kill kittens that are not his own, but this
rule doesn't apply to every tom, either. Some are natural-born
babysitters. Frank hadn't been neutered yet when I brought in Nikki, and
he cared for her like a mother.

I had a tom who was a very good kitten-tender (both before and after
he was neutered). Did everything for kittens but nurse them.

--
"The universe is quite robust in design and appears to be
doing just fine on its own, incompetent support staff notwithstanding.
:-)" - the Dennis formerly known as (evil), MCFL