Should I stop my cats from fighting?
I have a 3 year old male cat (Floyd) and a female cat (Sophie) who is older than him, but not sure how much. She isn’t a senior or anything. Both cats are fixed.
Floyd tends to suddenly leap onto Sophie, and starts biting her neck, almost playfully (can’t tell if its fighting mode or not, he still has alot of the kitten still in him) Sophie dislikes this, and will growl and hiss and try to get him off (she’s rather plump and has a hard time reaching the slim 3 year old). The "fights" (fights or playing or Floyd just annoying Sophie?) don’t last very long, maybe 30 seconds. Most of the time it ends with Sophie exiting the room, and Floyd doesn’t follow her.
They are both de-clawed in front (I adopted them that way) indoor cats, but I take Floyd out on a leash (and boy I feel dumb with a cat on a leash!). I began to take him outside because he would stare outside, and meow constantly. When I take him outside he doesn’t start a spat with Sophie as often.
As for anyone who is wondering I do have toys for them (play mice, catnip, one of those cat tunnels to run through, feather stick etc.) and I play with them almost every day. I live in a large house with five bedrooms, lots of windows, and lots of kids, and a bird, and a hamster.
Is Floyd playing and is Sophie just a boring adult cat who doesn’t want to play? Or is Floyd being territorial, and trying to clear the room of other cats?
P.s. I only walk Floyd around the house on a leash. We don’t walk the neighborhood. I’ve always had indoor/outdoor cats (with full claws) so this is new for me. I’m not going to discontinue the outdoor trips at this point. I don’t believe in living in fear of freak accidents.
Also, last year Floyd was so bored when I went on vacation (there were other people home though) that he kept running outside and eventually broke out a window. Then he freaked because he wasn’t familiar with his surroundings and was missing for a week. I got him back via a humane raccoon trap that I set up in my backyard.
