Introducing New Cat, lots of Fights...

[Turboladdade]

I tried introducing a new adopt-a-kitty, 10 month old male to a female I've had for about 2.5 years. Both are spayed/neutered whatever the correct term is.

Upon bringing new kitty home, I kept it in a locked area of the house for about five days. The only option for contact with the other cat was under the doorway, although I never personally noticed any such contact. Inside the locked area were some favorite items belonging to the old cat.

Introducing them, at first, they seemed very cautious of each other, but now the male (new cat) seems to just viciously attack the female (old cat).

Anything I should try? I really like the new cat, he's way way more sociable than the old one ever was.

Sad day

[helloimjoe]

Ha! thought you were talking about mac os x for a minute... If they're not actually hurting each other they should hopefully get used to each other. Declawed I assume? When we first got our kitten the other cat wanted nothing to do with it but the kitten wanted to be best friends with it, now they both get along together very well... plus the dog no longer looks at the kitten like it's a meal!

[Turboladdade]

Declawed I assume?

No... we've never declawed any of our cats.

[helloimjoe]

No... we've never declawed any of our cats.

Yikes! I don't know then, if they could actually injure each other then I would be a tad worried

[minimalist]

Does the old cat fight back? If not, I would just let them fight until the young buck asserts that he is the dominant cat in the house. Once they establish who is king, there should be peace.

Of course, I know absolutely nothing about cats. But I do think that cats are very territorial. So I would guess that that's what's happening. But I could be wrong.

[Turboladdade]

The old cat doesn't fight back, but it is a female.

[minimalist]

I don't know anything about cats, so take my advice with a very large grain of salt.

I would guess that your young male cat is challenging the other cat in order to establish who has dominance. I've watched enough nature shows to realize that this is fairly normal. Although it's usually a young male challenging an older male for alpha male status. In this case, being that the older cat is female, it's unlikely that that is what's happening. Instead, it's probably more of a struggle (I'm assuming that you can tell the difference between a "vicious attack" and play. And that you've determined that your young male is not playing.) for territory.

I would suggest confining the two cats in close proximity to each other for a period of time so that they can get used to being around each other. Preferably you would want some type of situation where each cat could see, smell, and be in close proximity to the other without actually being able to touch the other cat. So if you had two pet carriers (cages with handles for travelling) that you could place side by side, that might work. You could put one cat in one carrier and the other cat in the other carrier. This way both cats would be forced to be within inches of each other without being able to harm each other.

I would suggest that you place both cats in the cages for about an hour everytime they begin to fight. I would also suggest putting them in the cages when you are not around to monitor them. You can stop putting them in the cages once they stop fighting.

Again, like I said, I know nothing at all about cats. So this suggestion may prove to be the worst possible thing you could do.

[minimalist]

So how are the cats getting along? It's been a while and I, for one, have been looking forward to an update on the situation.

I hope you don't think I'm overstepping my bounds by asking.

[Turboladdade]

They don't really fight much anymore but we've still been keeping the new one in a separate area of the house at night.

[minimalist]

What did you do? Did you just let them fight during the day?

[Turboladdade]

I'm not sure I'm not really ever at home - I attend school 240 KM away.

[minimalist]

Oh.