Cat Chat Feline Forum

Hi,

Thanks for reading this, in need of urgent help!

We have a 9 year old neutered tom cat who has always lived with other cats (apart from the past year). He is a soft gentle cat but can be territorial with other neighbourhood cats.

In December we took in a 9 month old neutered tom who is a maine coon cross after the family he was living with couldn't control their young children not to pick him up and fling him about like he was a toy.

We introduced them properly and cautiously as we have plenty of times before (always successfully) and all seemed ok to begin with.

Our main fear was the older tom would be territorial and would be aggressive to the new addition. He wasn't.

It is infact the new tom who is aggressive towards the old boy. All is fine when they are eating and they both eat together in our dining room.

The issue occurs when the old tom walks through our lounge (between the stairs to upstairs and the dining room). Watching him it is like an instinctive urge he just cannot resist but to pounce on him and pin him down and hurt him.

It started off as playing (or apparent playing) but clearly now isn't.

He is also aggressive with us if made to do/ not do something he wants to/ doesn't want to do. i.e. stop trying to pinch food from us or go outside when he needs the toilet.

I am happy to have a cat that is boisterous and full of life and energy but can't have my old boy feeling how he does (when he walks through the lounge he walk so slowly and timidly as he is clearly in fear).

We have tried all the remedies, plug ins, fellaway, serene-um drops etc and none of this is working.

I have rung around a few "cat behaviour people" who said their is nothing we can do and the relationship cannot be gotten to a point where both cats can be resident in the same household. But I have also read snippets online saying it could be put right perhaps.

If this is the case then I am prepared for that eventuality but I just want to make sure we have tried every other alternative and can say we tried everything before this happens.

I know nothing could ever be guaranteed and some cats do just want to live by themselves but does anybody know of anyone who would be willing to try and help us with this or any experts who have dealt with situations like this previously and could perhaps help us with this?

He is such a loving cat 99% of the time and happily plays with next doors cats (albeit in their territory of their house) so I know he does have it in him to be able to interact with other cats and I suspect this behaviour stems from how he was treated by the children in his first home.

Thanks for taking the time to read this.

Chris

Chris

as a first:

He is also aggressive with us if made to do/ not do something he wants to/ doesn't want to do. i.e. stop trying to pinch food from us or go outside when he needs the toilet.

what do you do to stop him? And when you say he needs the toilet, is he trying to go outside but can't or what?

Regarding the issue of the lounge, I have six cats - 3 male and 3 female. Thankfully I am really lucky in that they tend to get on just fine, but the oldest of the boys (Monty) just hast this thing about the 2nd of the boys (Harry) and will always growl at him whenever he sees him. Harry thankfully is a bit daft so just looks rather bemused and trundles off. But I have now learned that one of Monty's major trigger points is when he thinks his 'escape route' is bloked by another cat. So if he wants to go from one side of the room out via the door and one of the other cats is there then he again gets quite defensive aggressive and growls. I (and the other cats) now know that they just need to make sure Monty has space and he's fine.

With your two I suspect that the 9 month old is actually looking to play but just hasn't quite twigged that older cat not only doesn't want to but actually really really really doesn't want to. Young cat is not deliberately hurting the older one. One of my girls Ava is a Norwegian Forest cat - so whilst not quite as large as a MC still a big breed cat. A few years back I had Molly was was 21 years old and Ava would take great delight in body splatting poor Molly whenever she saw her. Poor Molly generally couldn't compete or escape from under Ava but Ava really wasn't being malicious.

The fact that he happily plays with the cats next door, I wonder if your younger cat is just bored at home and needs more stimulation? When the two of them are 'at it' for want of a better word, what do you do? Have you tried distraction techniques, do you engage with the younger cat and play with him to tire him out?

Sorry lots of questions, but the more we know the more we can hopefully help.

I agree with Meriad, it sounds like he may be bored and needs to burn off energy. Does he have free access to outdoors? When he pounces on your old lad, try distracting him with play, preferably toys where your hands are kept safely out of the way.

You can't always make cats get on.

I've had many cats over the years and they've all got on, up to 4 at any one time. The odd hiss but nothing major.

However, the current resident male and female cat took an instant dislike to the new cat three years ago and nothing we have tried makes any difference, they don't get on and any attempt to integrate them has ended in bloodshed.

So now they live in different parts of the house with the door shut firmly inbetween, Smoky and Bluebell in the back with access to the back garden and Willow in the front with a microchip recognition catflap so the others can't get at her at the front of the house and never the twain shall meet.

It works for us, our house is small but we have a big garden and it's always been laid out in two halves with a door inbetween so it works quite well. We love them all and couldn't bear to get rid of any of them so we just live with it and hope they will mellow with age.

It's a problem. I have two cats from the same litter and they've never got on but have lived in the same house by agreeing to avoid each other. 4 weeks ago my daughter rescued a long cat who was going to be put down. This has caused mayhem. Although there was a phased introduction, it hasn't worked. Midnight has fallen in love with Lola (the new girl) and follows her around. His sister now hates both of them and I fear leaving them in the house together. Magic likes going out so she spends more time outside, coming in to eat and sleep. I feel sorry for her but when I stroke her, she bites me! I can but hope this resolves but it's not looking good at the moment. I can't easily part with any of them but the fighting is vicious between Lola and Magic. Midnight gets in the middle to separate them and then cat wars break out. Sigh!!!