laurel wrote:
brianj12 wrote:
I would say that you have a really good thing going there right now and have done really well. You have two cats that live contentedly and peacefully together, so I wouldn't take that for granted. Bringing it another cat could cheese off either or both cats. And if you are bringing in another cat to be with your dominant bengal cat, that could be a disaster for the new cat. I would let things be. Even if your two cats are not interacting a whole lot, I think they do get some companionship, just by each other's presence. And they do have the opportunity to get to be closer friends as time goes on, if they feel that they need that. That's my $0.02.
yes i agree. My head tells me that too. My heart though cries out for Indiya as i want to be there for her and give her all the hours she wants.
Do you think it may change over the time and Clive wanting to spend more time with Indiya ie becoming less territorial and dominant ?
I know you have 3 cats off top of my head, is that right ?
Did you experience anything similar , like change in dominance behaviour with the age within the same cat crowd ?
Do you think i can trick or train him to adjust his dominance levels ?
thanks.
I think what normally happens is that if the dominant cat is no longer physically able to enforce the dominance (because of age or illness), then the dominance may fall to another cat.
Serafina is without question the alpha of my 3, and she rules with an iron fist. Even with me, she sometimes attempts to put me in my place! For example last night she was peacefully sleeping at my feet, and when I rolled over and nudged her, she growled and got upset ("Hey hey hey, this is my SPOT!"). I don't mean to make her sound like an ogre, she is a very sweet, loving, fun cat 90% of the time. But let's just say she is stubborn and used to getting her way! The good thing is though that Gaga is her biological sister, and Neytiri was introduced when the bengals were 6mo old, so they got used to each other young. Serafina puts them in their place, and they fall in line, and the house is big enough and has enough vertical space that any cat can get away from the other two easily when they need some "alone time", and still each have some very desirable places to call their own.
Based on what you said in a later post... yikes!...would you really consider bringing a 3rd cat into that mess? I don't think that would help things, I think it would complicate things and probably make it worse. Probably a better way to help Indy would be to create some more catification and allow her some more options to do her thing without having to butt heads with Clive? Just a thought...