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How to stop a young dominant cat from bullying an older, submissive cat?

Updated on September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Cat | Domestic Shorthair | Male | neutered | 4 months old

My younger cat, Bosbos, male DSH 4 months old, dominates my older cat, Bosie, female Persian 5 months old. When it is feeding time, Bosie cannot eat infront of Bosbos because he pushes her and eats from her plate. He also chases her off whenever I am giving her affection or attention. How do I stop Bosbos from being overly dominant and/or Bosie from being overly submissive? They do otherwise get along and play with each other, sometimes they even groom each other and sleep together.

2 Answers

Most Helpful Answer

Megan, DVM, CVA

Answered By Megan, DVM, CVA

Veterinarian

Published on February 19th, 2019

Both of them are really cute! I would get the male neutered once his turns 5 months to prevent this behavior from getting worse. The female could go into heat at anytime so I would advise to get her spayed as well. This behavior may never go completely away as it is their personalities. You may try to put some feliway diffusers throughout the house to help calm them. Feliway is a cat pheromone that doesn't work on all but can help with this behavior. They even have a multicat household version now. I would always meal feed and feed them separately as food aggression is really hard to control. I would also make sure you have at least 2, preferably 3, litterboxes to decrease competition.

If the feliway and neutering doesn't help, I would talk to your vet about giving the more dominant one something to help mellow him out like an antianxiety medicine. Hopefully this is just a behavior he has since he is young and boisterous and he will grow out of it. I hope this helps!
Vote Icon1Pet Parents found this answer helpful

Related Answers from Veterinarians

  • Answered By Oneal Bogan, DVM

    Veterinarian

    Published on October 12th, 2017

    Hi there. Dominant behavior in cats can look like many things, but some examples are litter box guarding, food guarding, attacking, urinating outside the litter box and hissing/growling.

    I would make sure you have 3 litter boxes (the rule is # of cats + 1 litter box), have 2 places for the cats to eat so Autumn can eat in peace, and use a squirt bottle with water for Cici if he attacks her.

    There is also some calming aids you can try. One is the Royal Canin Calm diet (feed to both cats), and Solliquin (natural calming supplement, in treat form). Both can be purchased from your vet.

    Best of luck.

    Vote Icon

    1Pet Parents found this answer helpful

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