Smug Sofia

Originally posted on my private blog- posted to http://indikon-tonkinese.blogspot.com/ on 06/01/11

When you have a community of cats, especially in a limited space as I do, you must be very aware of the cat dynamics, potential issues and how to ensure your feline family remains calm and mentally healthy. For example, Ava and Sofia were littermates and are still quite closely bonded. Theo likes everyone, but he's not above jumping on them, kitten like- Indigo likes it and responds in kind, Sofia will swat him on the nose determinedly and Ava will utter an agonised howl and run for safety and so on. Sometimes, there will be a clash.

In our house, it is Misses Indigo and Sofia, who face off from time to time, apparently to their mutual satisfaction. I believe the reason is this: Sofia has been top cat since she was 7 weeks old, despite being the tiniest of her litter she was markedly more confident than Ava when they came home. When Theo arrived, she added him to her dominion. However, in the wild, entire (not neutered and spayed) cats have an advantage over their altered counterparts and naturally, an entire female will come higher in the pecking order than a neutered one. So naturally Indigo, as the only entire cat in the house, feels SHE should be top cat. And so she is in a way, she lords it over Ava (everyone lords it over poor Ava) and Theo is so easygoing anyway he couldn't care less. But no-one told Sofia about this natural order, and Sofia isn't about to relinquish HER dominance any time soon.

(Incidentally, this is why the FIRST thing you should try, if your cats are clashing and if they are not breeding animals, is to neuter them... it's often the answer)

So they occasionally face off, circle each other, yowl... Indigo is more energetic about it, floofing her tail out and prancing round Sofia, howling, whereas Sofia parks herself on her fluffy behind and keeps up a low growling and refuses to back down. They are separated at night (more about that another time) and we use Feliway (and more about THAT another time as well) which keeps the situation well under control and the cats' stress levels down. As any breeder will tell you, caring for a multi cat household is not easy!

Anyway to cut a long story short, Indigo has been away this week and for the past few days Sofia has been, without doubt, super smug. If a cat could smirk, she'd be doing it.

Sorry Sofia. Indie's coming home in a bit to burst your bubble!