Cats fighting, what to do?

[ihatesissycars]

Hello everyone,

Me and mrs ihatesissycars are having cat troubles. We have 3 Bengals, one is 2 1/2 yo called princess (I know but she however is a full on princess and it was better than 'tropicalstorm hurricane' which the breeder named her, ffs!), the other two are brother (Bruce after Bruce Lee) and sister (Mindy - from Kickass!) and about 22 weeks old.

We picked up the 2 yo about 6 months. She was a breeders cat whom had complications and ended up being spayed hence rehoming. She was reportedly not very sociable at the previous home electing to keep away from the other cats at the breeders. She was very quiet and only became active during the initial viewing when she was alone. Since coming to us she has come out of her shell and has become very loving, fun, active, vocal and has very much staked her claim to us and our home.

I should point out that of the two litters she had at the breeders she pretty much showed no interest in caring for them as this may or may not have something to do with our problem.

Anyways, we always wanted more than one cat so got ourselves a boy kitten bengal who was 14 weeks old. He was very attached to his sister whom the breeder wanted to sell as a pair so one kitten became two, a boy and girl! they're about 22 weeks now.

SO, we did the usual, separate room for the little ones, seperate litter trays (the kittens share one, the older one has her own) seperate feeding, at the same times but away from each other but no line of sight. We waited for the kittens to settle dna get used to us being around and handling them which didn't take long. We also began swapping beds, blankets toys etc to distribute smells and it was clear that all the cats knew who was in the house. After a short while they made it very clear that they wanted to leave their room so again, the usual, distant sight of eachother (kit's and oldie) supervised, gradual increase in time together etc. All by the various books.

However, its been about 3 weeks now that we've been letting them intermingle around the house (we still seperate them when we're not around and they're always supervised/observed) but the 2yo has only gone so far with accepting them. If the kit's are in the room she's awalys growling under her breath and she only lets them get so close before she swipes and hisses at them, about 50cm ish is the threshold! IF she can be on top of something away from them she will.

The kit's show her little attention and are only interested in trashing everything and eachother. They don't try to play with the oldie, at most, give her a sniff every now and then.

The problem is that she's gone this far and stopped. Her level of defiance is not encouraging and shows no sign of abating at all. She's shown no signs of fully warming, letting up, calming, nothing. Whats the answer to a happy household? Continue as we are? bk oldie? Catnip?

[missdiane]

I've not tried it, but get some of the Feliway stuff, supposed to chill them out a bit

We had a similar issue with our two, it did seem a long way off getting them to be friendly and they were about a month in before oldie accepted newbie and now they are best of buddies, grooming, playing etc. Oddly enough, the oldie used to greet us in the morning with several chirrup and mews, she didn't do this for about 6 months from when we got kitty, I reckon although she accepted little one in much sooner than 6 months, it took 6 months to fully accept her
Now I get morning chirrups and mews in both ears at silly o'clock

I suspect your oldie feels double threatened as there is two instead of one; who get on well
Alikat would be your best helper, she knows Bengals well so I am sure she will be on soon enough

[K77 CTR]

I had a 4 year old British shorthair male and introduced a 3 month old rescue moggy. The kitten has always tried to be the others friend but he's not interested at all. He will still after 3 years hiss and growl at the younger one, the closest they get is both being on either side of the bed.

The only time they have ever cuddled up with each other was when they were in a Cattery and only lasted a few days before they were back to their normal selves.

[omgus]

My two simply tolerate each other most of the time. Rescue female of indeterminate age and a 3yo male and mostly they ignore each other.

They are only really a team when being territorial or under stress. The were inseparable for the week after i moved house, and if one of them gets ill or injured the other one will tend to be nearby for a while before realising the don't really like each other and buggering off.

[ali_kat]

missdiane said:

I've not tried it, but get some of the Feliway stuff, supposed to chill them out a bit


Alikat would be your best helper, she knows Bengals well so I am sure she will be on soon enough

Feliway should help - although I've only had kitten that reacts to it.

Thanks for the vote of confidence Di Mine are a Bengal crossbreed, so there are some differences Although Pricess is a perfect name for a Bengal It was one of Bast's nicknames

However, it took me a week to get Bast used to Pepi in 2009, and we picked Beauty up last Tuesday... by Friday night she was running around the house with just a bit of hissing & spitting from Pepi, they are now playing happily, although he still growls when he wants a rest (she's blind so can't see his signs). We used the Feliway in her room & it helped her settle.

It sounds like you have done everything right. But Princess is one of those Bengals that prefers to be on their own, she had that opportunity after an unhappy start and now you have introduced interlopers to her territory.

I'm hoping Bex or TheVet will be along soon to assist, as I know that TheVet has much better knowledge of Bengals than I do. However, I would try to help Princess destress and chill out, along with Feliway (and here I go on my soap box again - I really should get paid a retainer by the Company!! ) I think you should chat with your Vet and see if he suggests using Zylkène which has been fantastic for Pepi (who gets very stressed very easily! ) it has made him a different cat

[Ekona]

I think part of the answer here is simply time. You've done everything right that I can see, but sometimes it can take years for cats to accept both other cats and even people.

My two have only in the last year started coming to my missus for attention/food, and she's been here for 6 years. Likewise with the cats next door, one of mine is a right grumpy tart but in the last week or so she's tolerated the young cat that occasionally sticks its head in the garden rather than hiss and chase.

[Jasandjules]

Ekona said:

I think part of the answer here is simply time. You've done everything right that I can see, but sometimes it can take years for cats to accept both other cats and even people.

This. Give them time. Feed them together, give them treats together so they can be near each other without being aggressive. Frankly, what we did was lock the cats all in the house for three days. After that they are a lot better.

[Blue Cat]

You might just have to accept the fact that they are never going to get on. I have two cats - a Somali who is 14 and a Tonkinese who is 16, they have lived together since Basil, the Somali came to live with us at 6 months old and after 13 plus years the best that they do is tolerate each other and it's not that they are different breeds. My first Somali and Tonkinese loved each totally.

[bexVN]

I think unfortunately the biggest mistake you have made here is to not appreciate your older cats needs.

This happens a lot and it can be very unfair on the cats that are forced to live in an environment they can't cope with.

You have acknowledged in your opening post that in her first home that she wasn't sociable and didn't interact with other cats, this should have been your biggest clue it's been ignored and you've taken on 2 young kittens that has really upset what she thought was a secure and trusting environment for her, does this seem fair?

I've had people ignore my advice re: not getting another cat (based on their cats character) but they still do then wonder why they have problems (most extreme of this was a cat that was previously a home bod, nervous and prone to stress related behaviour, he started going out to avoid the new cat and got run over and killed, tragic and really was avoidable )

I am being harsh I know and I am sorry to be so but I just need you to know what you may have taken on.

However it is not all hopeless so I hope we can find some solutions to help them all settle down and you have done everything right re: trying to get her used to them, it is still early days, you are probably looking at a minimum 6 month plan to get them through to an acceptable state, what I would say if there is no significant change in 3 months then you will need to look at rehoming her or the youngsters

So Feliway plug ins upstairs and downstairs, get Princess onto Zylkene and Kalmaid. Ensure she has her own space that the kittens cannot get to, make sure she is fed well away from them. You need 4 litter trays (I'm assuming they are indoor cats)place them in different areas.

http://fabcats.org/behaviour/introducing/index.php

To check for signs of stress in Princess
http://fabcats.org/behaviour/introducing/index.php

This is a very detailed article but it may be useful
http://fabcats.org/behaviour/cat_friendly_home/Env...

This is a brilliant organisation who really know cats, leading experts in their fields and an easy to read website, as you can probably tell I do refer to it quite a lot!
http://fabcats.org/behaviour/cat_friendly_home/Env...

I hope this gives you a bit of hope and useful support and even with everything I've said (and I know I've been quite aggressive!) I really hope it can work, it doesn't matter if they don't become best buds, you just need Princess to be relaxed when the others are around. Good luck.

Edited by bexVN on Saturday 8th September 22:31

Edited by bexVN on Saturday 8th September 23:09

[gd49]

bexVN said:

So Feliway plug ins upstairs and downstairs, get Princess onto Zylkene and Kalmaid. Ensure she has her own space that the kittens cannot get to, make sure she is fed well away from them. You need 4 litter trays (I'm assuming they are indoor cats)place them in different areas.

I'd second this advice, especially about the litter trays. I'd also make sure you have at least 4 water sources, again in different locations, and food in 3 or 4 locations, kept topped up if this practical depending on food type and the cat's tendancy towards obesity.

Stress and aggression for cats is about resources, you can't do anything about the amount of space available but you can at least maximise the amount of important resources within that territory.