This is a nice family home in which there are two pets cats who are fighting. There is animosity between them. Jackson Galaxy has been called in to try and sort it out. The video explains his three-pronged attack on resolving this difficult cat behavior problem. A not untypical problem.
One of the cats, Farnsworth, likes to sleep with the female owner every night. I guess it’s a habit. Jackson Galaxy calls it a ‘base camp’ for Farnsworth. The cat retreats to the woman’s bed and sleeps with her as a matter of course. It is his bit of territory and he gets the preference from the owner.
“There is no such thing as a human base camp. That will never work. Base camp is territory. The more he belongs to you the more resentful the other cats are going to get…”
Jackson says that this causes animosity in the other cat. It implies that the other cat can become jealous and resentful which stokes up the tension between the them. Jackson says that it must stop. He insists that there is equality of space between the two cats. I think that this is quite an interesting example of how something quite innocent can potentially exacerbate animosity between two cats in the household.
I am sure that one of the great dilemmas in multi-cat households is ensuring that there is harmony. A lot of cat adopters are not, in truth, fully aware of the potential for disharmony when they adopt a second or third cat. There is almost a presumption that they’ll get along and when they don’t it can be very difficult because the owners don’t want to get rid of one of their cats as they have become attached to them but at the same time resolving these issues can be tricky. It takes patience and a good knowledge of cat behavior, particularly behavior relating to home ranges and the space that cats naturally need.
It all goes back of course to the wild cat ancestor of the domestic cat which is a typical wild cat, a solitary creature with his home range which he occupies as if it is his home. This area might be quite large, up to several hundred acres or more. For the domestic cat it could be the owner’s house if they are full-time indoor cats. This is a relatively small area which adds to the potential for aggression between cats seeking their own space.
By inference, Jackson has implied that cats have the potential for the emotions of jealousy and resentment which is quite a bold statement. It would imply that cats see their owners as somebody special and that it is important for owners to provide equal interaction and care to their cats. Cats are good observers and they might see an owner’s favoritism as upsetting.
