HELP: 4 month old resident cat not getting along with 2 month old

Home The Daily Kitten Cat Chat Forum Cats & Kittens HELP: 4 month old resident cat not getting along with 2 month old

Viewing 4 posts - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)
  • Author
    Posts
  • #814840
    andrea
    Participant

    Hello, I am new to this forum – I came across it looking for tips on how to deal with my situation. I’m hoping you can help me.

    Boyfriend and I got our female cat Owl 2 months ago and it’s been going really great. Our only problem is she really seems to miss us when we are at work 8 hours a day so we figured we could get her a little kitty friend to play with so she’s not so much alone. We therefore took in one of my sister’s male 2 month old last Sunday.

    I know it hasn’t been very long since Sunday, and I only really starting reading up on introducing new kittens after we got him (the sniffing on opposite sites of a closed door, feeding them like that, rubbing with towel, not letting them see each other etc). I’m having a hard time following the tips for one because I live in a 2 bedroom apartment and I can’t stand locking one up only to listen to it meow and meow to get out. 🙁

    As to my actual “problem”: At first my resident kitten Owl hissed and growled at the younger one (Níels) while he just seemed apprehensive and shied away. Pretty normal right? We then proceeded to feed them on opposite sites of the door, sometimes having a little “gap” so they could see each other a little bit and with time, the hissing has almost stopped. What I expected to happen when the hissing faded away was that they’d sniff each other and start getting along but that’s not at all the case.
    Owl has stopped seeing the new kitten as a threat so she’s not at all afraid of him anymore. Instead, if he or she gets into the room he’s confined in, or if we try to let them meet and great, she jumps at him like a play mouse, holds him down and frequently hits him over the head with her paws. If he meows or cries out, she doesn’t stop. At first I thought she was playing with him but in my experience, cats stop playing when they hurt each other. What do I do??? Will this just pass with time or is she just an aggressive cat?

    I’m also very conflicted because judging by what I read on the internet, I should keep them apart, in seperate rooms, etc. But I just spoke with a woman at my local shelter and she said that was not going well for us because every time we let him out, Owl would see it as him crossing “her territory” and attack. (we have swapped rooms with them though, so no one should think of any one room as “their” territory). She said what we should do is try to keep them in one room together as much as possible while distracting them by playing with them, feeding them and essentially try to keep them calm at the opposite corner at one room. What do you think? Which approach is the right one? If it doesn’t work out I will have to give the kitten back to my sister and I see that my boyfriend would be really crushed because he’s very taken with this kitten so I’m really hoping we can work this out somehow.

    Thanks in advance for your help and sorry for the long post!
    Ps. I can’t figure out how to format this better, i.e. linebreaks. ‘Enter’ doesn’t seem to do the trick.

    TL;DR: 4 month old kitten that we got 2 months ago is hitting new 2 month old kitten over the head, jumping on him and attacking him. How to get him to stop and let them become friends?

    #814908
    Kittyzee
    Participant

    Hi andrea, welcome to TDK! In reading your post I think the main thing is this: you seem to be trying everything and the resident cat is still not wanting the new kitten around. Cats ARE territorial, but that doesn’t mean that they can’t get along, especially since they are not that far apart in age. I think you need to relax, and realize you are going to have to have patience, and then more patience! This introduction thing sometimes goes smoothly for some cats, in others it may take months. You are doing the things that have been recommended and with time I’m sure it will work. Keep us posted on their progress!

    #814918
    andrea
    Participant

    Hi Kittyzee, thank you for your response! 🙂

    I agree that patience is probably all I need – and there does seem to be some progress with my cats every day. They are now willing to eat in close proximity while leaving the other alone and after a lot of play, they have tired enough to sleep on opposite ends of the same room (this was my vet’s advice, to try to get them to get along in the same room, rather then keep them seperated most of the time. I’ve started to think that the older cat’s attacks on the little one is mostly just playful but she might not realize how small he is so it sometimes gets out of hand.

    Thanks again, I will just try to be patient over the next few days and supervise their playtimes. My hope is that she will soon learn to play less rough and doesn’t feel the need to jump at him every time she sees him.

    I’ll post some kitty picture with this as a thank you! =D
    The tortie one is Owl and tux is Níels.

    My cats

    #814920
    Kittyzee
    Participant

    Great pictures! Your Tuxie could be a twin to my Willow except Willow has a black smudge on his nose! Keep us posted on their progress!

Viewing 4 posts - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)
  • You must be logged in to reply to this topic.