Mention the phrase “sibling rivalry” and images of kids fighting over toys or the best seat in the car emerge. But did you ever think about what your pets go through whenever you bring a new one home?
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Anyone who has ever watched as their pets interacted with one another knows exactly what I’m referring to. Just like kids grabbing the last cookie or calling “shotgun” to get the front seat, cats and dogs will push each other away from the food bowl or hog up space on the coziest couch cushion.
Our little darling, Artemis, is quite the bully. She will stalk her older “sister”, Kiki, and pounce on her whenever she thinks she can get away with it. She has the Old Man convinced that she is an angelic creature because she always makes sure she does her evil deeds when he isn’t looking. You think I’m joking or exaggerating, but really, on more than one occasion she has coming running over to harass Kiki right in front of us and then suddenly veered to the side when she realized he could see her.
I don’t know if I can say that Kiki doesn’t deserve some of it, though. When she was quite the little tyke she had a few not-so-innocent moments, herself. An older cat of ours who has since passed on, Merlin, was having a hair ball fit (at the ripe old age of 19!!) and was struggling to get it out. Kiki, waiting with her behind wiggling and whiskers twitching, watched until poor Merlin was almost at the coughing up point and then she pounced. Right on him. Mid hack. It wasn’t pretty. What’s your favorite animal sibling rivalry story?
Mostly Greek 
Loved reading your story! I’m not allowed another cat because Louis Catorze is already troublesome enough, but my mum’s adult male cat was not pleased when she got a (male) kitten. And, when we pointed out that the relationship wasn’t working out, she would say, “Oh well. I got the kitten for me, not for him.”
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That’s funny! I’ve been petitioned many times to add another kitty, but Artemis is such a bully she actually chased one off a few years ago, and we haven’t seen her since. No more until she is gone, I think. 🙄
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It is not funny when your cat attacks a younger cat you’ve decided to bring home. it is not the same as “sibling rivalry” nor will it ever be, when your older cat ends up clawing out the eye of your younger cat or causing it to be so stressed it spends its day and night fleeing the older cat trying to find an area it can be safe from the older cat. We were feral cat rescuers for many years, it takes a lot of training and patience to teach feral cats and existing house cats to get along without them trying to kill each other until the feral cats were tame enough to be adopted.
I will never understand why so many “oh isn’t that cute” cat owners find this type of thing funny or hilarious to watch when in fact it is extremely cruel, and in some cases lead to very large vet bills unless you simply discard/dump the younger cat in a wooded area like so many poorly informed cat owners do.
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While I understand where your comments come from, I don’t think you will find anyplace where I said it was cute or funny. We actually do what we can to intervene when Artemis picks on Kiki (Artemis the aggressor is actually the younger cat). Also, you may want to check into the family history of humans and see how many medical bills are caused by sibling fights. I know of kids sent to emergency rooms with broken limbs, abdominal injuries from being hit in the gut with a bat, concussions, etc. Humans are far more nasty. We have also decided not to adopt any more cats after Artemis chased off one we had brought home a few years ago. We recognized that she would be problematic. We do care about our pets wellbeing.
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