Older cat hissing at kitten and us now

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Emorton90
New Cat Chatter
Posts: 2
Joined: Sun Dec 11, 2022 9:43 am

Older cat hissing at kitten and us now

Post by Emorton90 »

Hi,

I’m hoping for some advice. I have had cats nearly all my life and up until Oct this year we had Bella and Zeus, both amicable with each other but knew their boundaries (no fighting but no play fighting either). Bella is a moggy female and is 7, Zeus is a Birman male 3 years. We have now got Apollo moggy and he is nearly 4 months old, Apollo is feisty it’s fair to say very confident, and when he first came we separated him in his own room and swapped scents, let them all explore each others areas without coming together, got them to feed either side of the door and then did supervised play time. This was over a week and apollo and Zeus hit it off, grooming each other, play fighting, sleeping together. Bella took a while longer and didn’t take to apollo but Bella never did to Zeus either (she would prefer to be the only cat!). Fast forward to now, when Apollo engages Zeus with play fighting Zeus is not happy he hisses growls bites swats apollo and I don’t think is play fighting (ears are back etc). Apollo won’t stop either and keeps jumping on Zeus so I shout loudly clap my hands and have used time out once for Apollo to physically separate them. No blood or fur yet …. Zeus this past week has hissed at me and my partner when we have had him in our arms (he doesn’t hiss growl nothing at the start but as soon as Apollo gets near zeus reacted in this way - he never did this before ever!). Zeus away from Apollo is actually a really sweet natured cat and highly affectionate especially around me as I feed them etc. I was surprised he hissed at me but I think it was fear. Apollo tries jumping on Bella but Bella is so fierce with her reaction apollo knows with Bella the boundary, and despite Bella not being favourable to Apollo they are actually better than Apollo and Zeus are. I’m gutted as Apollo and Zeus got off to a great start, what do you suggest I do? I’m pregnant almost a full 8 months so I’m keen to address this before our baby comes due to the stress. We had a feliway plugin so I’m going to get another refill but I need some advice how I can protect Zeus and get him confident again, set boundaries with Apollo and also get them to cohabit ok again - they are all indoor cats too due to where we live. Just to add Zeus and Bella are neutered, but apollo is not as he is too light for the criteria but as soon as he is 2kg he is going in too.
Emorton90
New Cat Chatter
Posts: 2
Joined: Sun Dec 11, 2022 9:43 am

Re: Older cat hissing at kitten and us now

Post by Emorton90 »

Oh and just to confirm these reactions aren’t all the time either I’ve just witnessed them kiss each other, and every now and then Zeus will play fight with apollo. But the behaviour happens more when Apollo disturbs Zeus when sleeping, wants to get where Zeus is or is just looking to irritate Zeus. Zeus randomly meows at times by himself and Apollo always goes to see if he’s ok, so I do think there is hope
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