I should probably being by describing a bit about my cats to give as much info as possible.

My oldest of the three is a girl, Peaches. She is a huge suck, to the degree that if you ignore her, she will make sure you give her attention by standing in your view or just standing on you. I call her Princess Peach as a nickname. She is fixed and declawed.

The middle kitty is named Stubs, or Stubby(due to his rabbit like stub for a tail), and he is stubborn as he doesn't come when you call(the others do), and he is very much a 1-on-1 cat and prefers to be with someone when they are alone. He is also fixed and declawed.

The last cat is called Baby, as he is a huge suck. He loves nothing more then attention and even knows how to do the "Hello" meow which I always found comical. He is about three so he isn't named Baby because of his age, and lack of a creative name. He isn't fixed, or declawed though.

The other night Baby, and Stubby got into a huge fight like never before. I've never heard Stubs yelp so loudly, and we tried to stop it as quickly as we could. Stubby got a good mark by the bridge of his nose, right by his eye and we were very glad we stopped it before it could go any further.

We assume it is territorial aggression, and now Stubby won't even let Peaches near him. Not attacking her mind you, but he will growl, and hiss. She usually just backs off. So I think Stubby is more of the defender in this case. Then again I'm no animal expert so I don't know for sure yet.

She has been able to approach him a few times when he calmed down, but if it is within 25 minutes as least within seeing Baby he also shows hostility towards her. She did at one point walk right up to him, and sniff him in the last few hours and he payed her no mind. The issue is if Stubby does keep up the aggression towards her, do we give him up? It's honestly the last thing we want.

Baby is the one I've always seen charging, as even with Peaches, Stubby's reaction is just sit back, get defensive and hiss and growl. The thing is we also love Baby to death, and we don't want to get rid of him either, but he seems to be the aggressor.

The issues I have is will Stubby be the same with him, or more so if he do HAVE to get rid of Baby will he show the anger towards Peaches still. It is the last thing I would want honestly, and I couldn't forgive myself if I gave Baby away for Stubby to never be the same again.

Then again, I don't want Baby charging at him, and he doesn't do anything to Peaches, he doesn't even care and only focus' on Stubby which is what makes me feel it's territorial. I just haven't seen them go at it like this before, and my family is all worried about them. We don't have the money for a vet trip to concretely figure out what's going on. Our assumptions are our best thing we can do at the moment, but the last thing we want is to make the wrong choice.

Both are still showing signs of hostility on the second day, and Baby even charged him again earlier which I quickly broke up(not without scratches though). After this Peaches got nosy again and Stubby won't let him near her...again.

So any tips, or should I just wait it out and see. The possibility of one going within the new few days seems like a very real chance though. All three of them got along very, very well beforehand none of them are actually family, but they always acted like it.

I'm new at this whole owning cats thing but I think you're right about it being territorial. Why it's coming up now might be something to figure out, but I think just keeping them apart for a while might help the situation and then maybe reintroducing them to each other. My cats were having the same issue and my boyfriend locked up the aggressor (against my consent) in the traveling cage during the night to keep them from fighting. despite me not liking the idea it did keep them from fighting again, so it might be something to consider.

Your first mistake was getting them declawed. Declawing is a horrendous and inhumane thing to do to a cat. It removes the first knuckle of their paws, and leaves them feeling defenseless and *probably* aggressive. That's probably why your kitties snap so easily, is because their declawed, and their primary source of protection is now gone. :/

Thank you for the second posters comments, but to the third. I agree with the idea of of the inhumanity of declawing, I don't like it but I am only 19, and we've had these cats before I had the true "ability" to say they shouldn't do it, as it's not my choice and it was my parents. That isn't the point here though, and disregarding the entire issue.

These cats have lived together since they were born, all three gotten as kittens. All three lick each other, and as I mentioned are pretty much like family otherwise. Stubby may be a bit stubborn naturally, but his stubbornness was never matched with hostility. All three are very kind to one another I feel and I have never had to really pry them apart.

Now they won't leave each other alone, I have been alternating locking up the aggressor, and the defender as I don't feel locking one up for long periods of time the right thing to do, so I give them both stretching room(since I like in a two bedroom apartment). Declawing aside these cats are pampered to the highest degree.

At the moment none of them seem to have changed but I will keep them separated for now and hopefully by morning they will have simmered down.

Cat hierarchies are matriarchal-based. So the two males may be disagreeing with who comes below Peaches in the hierarchy.

I am unfortunately, VERY experienced in this problem!! We had Quinnie (our oldest girl), then got Lucky, (boy), then adopted Lucy (girl). All of them are fixed. Lucky and Lucy played and got along well for the first 6 months, then we bought a house in town where there were always strays in the yard. (Ours are indoor cats) One day, they were all looking out the patio doors watching a stray, and Lucky went absolutely psycho on Lucy, chasing her through the entire house acting extremely vicious. He got in several bad scratches and bites and at one point, jumped at her so hard he knocked her clear through the window screen. It was HORRIFYING! We'd separate them a few days, but it would happen again and after 3 times we decided we were never going to be able to let them together again. Like you, we love them all so much and giving ANY of them away was not even an option for us. The vet really couldn't offer any help; he said it was "transferred aggression" and medicating Lucky would cause bad side effects for him in the long run. Our solution was to buy a screen door and placed it in what was approximately Half of the house. With the screen, air can still flow, etc. We lived that way successfully for years. Neither of them felt "locked up" or secluded, and we also would let them trade places so they could enjoy all parts of the house. I hope you will consider this instead of giving one of them away! Yes, the screen could be a hassle at times, but it was certainly better than the alternative!!! Let me know how it goes! BTW, we sadly have since lost both Lucky and Quinnie; both this year. We are NOT replacing either of them till Lucy is gone, because she is so traumatized from the experience, she'll never be sociable with another cat! She seems perfectly happy being an "only".