How to Break Up a Cat Fight

I personally think witnessing a cat fight is one of the most horrifying things you can see – and hear!  I made the mistake once of throwing down a piece of chicken onto my kitchen floor for my cats, not realizing they’d both lunge for it at the same time and the nastiest, meanest fight I’d ever witness would ensue.

And these were house cats – I can’t even imagine what fights between outdoor, stray, or “wild” cats must be like.  I shudder just thinking about it.  If you find yourself in this terrifying situation, try these tips on how to break up a cat fight.

Avoid hitting.

Hitting can make the situation worse and may cause the attack to be turned toward you.  Not to mention it creates even more stress and fear for the cats who are already in a terrible situation.

Don’t get your hands in the way!

Don’t get your hands anywhere near their mouths.  It’s best not to use your hands at all – your hands and arms could be torn to shreds pretty quickly with cat claws moving wildly about.  Here’s a great tip – use an UMBRELLA to separate the cats.  Open the umbrella and use it to “scoop” one of the cats away from the other.  Just managing to get the umbrella between the two may be enough to get one or both to flee. A broom may do the trick as well – hold the broom between the two cats to separate them (do NOT hit them with the broom).

Prevent the fight from starting in the first place.

When two cats are in a frozen position, snarling and growling at each other but not yet fighting, try putting a magazine or newspaper between the two of them to block their vision of each other.  It allows an opportunity for the frightened one to run away and for you to pick up the dominant one if it’s tame. Don’t try picking up either of the cats unless and until you have done something to block their vision of each other.  Otherwise, your touching one of them might actually start the fight.

This works most times:

The fastest way to break up a cat fight is to make a loud hissing, spitting sound.

For more information about the reasons why cats fight, read this article, How to Stop Cats From Fighting

For More Help With Your Cat

If you need more help with your cat’s behavior or any other cat issues, I recommend a cat training program called, Ultimate Cat Secrets.  It’s a 12-part audio program that covers every cat behavior issue you can think of!  It’s only $37 and comes with a 100% money-back guarantee.  For more information, go to Ultimate Cat Secrets.

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