Stealing His Thunder

Stealer is about 12 or 13 years old now. We're not sure exactly how old he is because he was a rescue. We've had him since (we guestimate) he was a year old. Stealer is (or was) our Alpha Male. If you look closely at his picture, you'll see that he has a chunk out of his right (your left) ear missing. That's from one of his many, many scraps.

Lately, Stealer has been slowing down. He still plays and he still gets into squabbles with the other cats (we have four altogether). But lately, he's been the one to back down. All three of the other cats have taken to showing Stealer his place. That's pretty normal when there is an "Alpha Male" position opening up. What's not normal is that Winnie has also been putting Stealer in his place. Until now, Winnie has been more of a female cat. He grooms the other cats, he cuddles them, and he's been the "mom".

Now, Stealer walks across the living room to get to his favourite spot on the heating vent and it's like crossing a battle field. One or another of the cats will stare him down until he turns away or take a swat at him and eventually pin him down until he he's able to get up and run away.

It's a sad thing to watch a leader fall from the podium. Sad until you remember that what they are doing to him, he did to them. Except he showed now mercy where they are showing some.

I've said it before and I'll say it again -- What goes around comes around so be nice to the other cats in your home.