Cat Chat Feline Forum

Hi all

I posted in another section before Christmas. A neighbour's cat has moved in with us because the neighbours have got dogs and the cat won't go home. We love her to bits but the problem is she is intimidating one of our own cats who we have only had for a year. He is 13 years old and is petrified of the new one. She isn't being that aggressive, but she is guarding the catflap and staring at him. It is stopping him using the cat flap and he won't eat in front of her or come in a room if she's in there. Reintroducing as if new won't work in this instance because of how we acquired this cat - we can;t isolate her for instance as she would yowl and scratch the door down. I'm starting to think the only option is to stop her coming in to our house but I feel that is pulling the rug from under her feet. On the other hand, it makes me so sad to see our poor Fred so frightened and intimidated in his own home. Any thoughts or advice would be hugely appreciate

This is a tough one, but all I can suggest at the moment is feeding them in separate rooms, making sure your boy has lots of places he can get away from the new cat (eg up on shelves etc) so he can observe her from a height and not feel so threatened by her, and make sure you give him lots of love and reassurance. Play with him while she's out of the room, so he can rebuild his confidence and his place in the family, and let him take himself off (or separate her from him) so that he has private quality time. Stay calm and relaxed around both of them, and scoot her away from the cat flap from time to time (we have a female puss who guards the cat flap and it's a real pain sometimes!) so that she gets the message that she's not in charge.

It's really hard seeing cats work out the new heirarchy, but it's likely that over time they will figure this out for themselves and "come to an understanding" even if they're not best pals. Many cats prefer to be only pets for a variety of reasons, and your boy may be one of those, and may never be entirely happy about her presence, but don't despair just yet. They may yet sort this out between them.