I have always found Chris’s bad behavior to be annoying but at the same time loveable, like a toddler that is more adventurous than most. Lately though, that bad behavior has gone from cute to somewhat mean.
I’m talking about Chris’s treatment of our newest addition, Frankie. No longer, it seems, is he the cute, mischievous child but he now acts like the ruthless corporate executive that needs to stay on top at all costs. Okay, that last part is a bit exaggerated, but he has put himself in a position of being “less lovable.” Rose has even used harsher words than that when referring to Chris.
I don’t want to imply that there is a war going on in our house. It really isn’t that bad. Most of the time Chris and Frankie can be in the same room without a problem, although they are by no means friends.
The problems usually occur in the evening when Rose and I are home trying to relax. It starts with Chris wanting to get close to Frankie for a good smell. Frankie, not sure what Chris is up to, gets nervous and starts to hiss. This triggers the fight or flight response in Chris, only Chris doesn’t have a flight response.
At this point Frankie has hidden himself behind the chair or some other object and Chris in now in hunter mode, pursuing his prey, which happens to be Frankie. This ends any chance we have to relax and one of us has to deal with disciplining Chris. I will usually grab Chris by the scruff of the neck and hold him down until I think he is more concerned with what I am doing and will stop going after Frankie. I also want him to know that there is an alpha male in the house that is not named Chris.
This sometimes works but usually Chris just gets up, gives me a piece of his mind, and then starts looking for Frankie again. Now it is time for Rose to step in. She picks Chris up and puts him in “time out.” In other words, she puts him in our bedroom and closes the door. She did that last night and when she let him out we discovered he had broken a picture frame above Rose’s jewelry box, and he did it without even knocking it off the wall. Somehow Chris always finds a way to counter what we do to try to stop his bad behavior.
While I am concerned about Chris losing his lovable status, I did hear something that may keep it intact. We went to the other coast of Florida to Visit Rose’s dad on Friday and when we came back on Saturday our cat-sitter, who is also our neighbor, said her little boy loved coming with her to visit Chris. Apparently, Chris played with the boy and gave him attention while Puck and Frankie stayed away.
Bad Cat Chris 
Have you ever seen Discovery channel’s ‘My Cat from Hell’?
Perhaps, if your cat is focusing on your other cat in the evenings, you should distract the aggressive cat with a toy. Actually, I think the idea is to, at first, have both cats be playing with something but separately. After a while, they’ll start hunting together, and then they’ll be cool with each other….
That’s a great idea. We used to have a Cat’s Meow toy (https://badcatchris.com/2013/09/05/the-cats-meow/)that Chris and Puck would play with together but we gave it to my sister-in-law. We should probably buy another one for a good group activity. For now maybe I can get out the laser pointer.
If you can find a cheap cat teaser that has elastic, cut off the toy at the end. My cats absolutely love that! Seriously, cat teaser with toy at the end, no interest, cut off toy so it’s just elastic on a stick – they love it so much that they walk around the house with it, and have been doing it daily for over a year…
Wow, I’m surprised they have maintained interest for so long.
Me too! I try to get them to play with other things, but they’ll only bat at it for a minute or two and then go and seek out elastic on a stick. They won’t even play with their laser toy anymore…
I will have to look for one this weekend.
I got my latest one (new) from Good Will. It’s more difficult than you’d think to find a cheap cat teaser that has elastic…
Poor Frankie. I love that you’re alpha maleing it up to help solve the problem! 😛
Alpha is not really my style, I am more easy-going, but Chris does not understand that being the boss has responsibilities. You can’t just call yourself the boss so you can whack everybody.
Haha indeed! I feel this is highly relevant in both the feline and human world. I maintain you can be easygoing with an edge of alpha still! 😉
we agree – maybe diverting Chris might help. though who are we to talking considering we have our own stalker here (yep – Junior we are talking about you)
There’s one in every crowd. 🙂
well, The Kid Sage is the stalker…she won’t leave me alone…I hiss, growl, grumble…and she is relentless. Mostly I go UTB or BHC yet she still tries to get to me. I know she is not attacking me…she wants a sniff…but I am terrified of other cats…we may not last much longer with our house divided…will break all our hearts; but I, Savannah, was first and no one wanted me until Mom and Dad came along after a whole year…we know Sage is very very sweet and can make adjustments…not me. Hope it works out for all to be happy
Thanks and I hope everyone learns to get along in your home too.
Reblogged this on Bad Cat Chris and commented:
Thankfully, Chris is much nicer towards Frankie now.
I am glad they get along now. It gives my hope with Brody and Sammy. I gave Sammy a time out in the bathroom the other day when they were fighting.
I think there is hope. Good luck.