Cat territorial & spraying

[Brat]

Hi All!

We have three cats, all brothers, all neutered, 5 years old. They are indoor cats (except for the random outing onto our balcony) however we've always noticed that one of them is way more territorial than the others.

He sits there at the window 24/7 practically "guarding" the place and whenever another cat happens to take a stroll up our back stairs, he just goes BALLISTIC. Screams come out of that tiny cat that would probably make my neighbors think we're hurting a small child!! His tail fluffs up and he basically lunges at the patio door, all the while the cat on the other side is kinda looking at him like "What the hell is YOUR problem?!" His brothers don't ever do that and most of the time they're either just curious or they run away because I assume they're terrified of their own brother. This often happens in the middle of the night so you can imagine that being a lovely way to be woken up at 4am. I've tried closing the door to that particular room before but he sits there meowing and crying for hours on end.

Also, often times when I let them out on the balcony it's as if he doesn't recognize one his brothers anymore (ONLY ONE! He doesn't have any problems with the other one). He'll hiss at him and growl and swat at him and I'm just there saying "It's your brother doofus!!! He's been chilling next to you for an hour now!"

Yesterday I noticed him standing on top of my boyfriends gym bag which was on the floor in the living room. I see him standing there and his tail is vibrating and I shoo him off and we start smelling the bag and sure enough it smells like he's been spraying there.

I don't get it.. why are some cats just way more territorial and how can I work with him on all of these behaviors?

Thanks for any advice or suggestions!

And for the fun of it I thought I'd include a picture of the BIG BAD guard cat on his guarding post, guarding away. Fixated on the balcony!



And then him just being a goof.. which he is most of the time

[sugarcatmom]

Nice pics! What a cutie.

I guess just like people, some cats are more aggro about things than others. Kind of like road rage.

Have you ever tried Feliway? Both the diffuser and the spray may come in handy for your situation. You could also try taping some semi-transparent paper (like velum) over the lower half of the windows where the other cats wander by so he doesn't see them.

[Longblades]

Why he, and only he of your three, should be this way all of a sudden I have no idea. But I do have an idea that might help. Does he have a stuffed toy he can take his feelings out on? This can sometimes help some of them get rid of energy they feel compelled to spend on beating up their neighbours and friends and your feet and arms sometimes too. Some cats just seem to have a more strongly developed urge to fight hard and dirty and a stuffed toy is a way to allow them to get rid of that urge safely. I don't think it even has to look like a cat but if it does I wouldn't have it look like one of the brothers, just in case. It should be cat size or a bit bigger so he can give it a thorough trouncing. Helped one of our boys.

[chico2]

brat,my rocky(my boy)was exactly the same.even looked like your brat
he however went further and attacked me,if i interfeared when he saw another cat outside,he also sprayed.
i had 2 feliway plugins and they actually worked to calm him down.
we went as far as blocking access to our deck for strange cats and put heavy wooden patio-door blinds to block rockys view.

in later years this behavior stopped,i don't know if it had anything to do with it,but he was on meds for hypertyroidism and this behavior stopped.he always was a very loving,very smart kitty,except for his panic-attacks seeing a strange cat outside.
i also had 3 cats,since rocky passed at 14yrs old(thyroid-cancer)i now only have 2.