Cat Fighting Crisis

Hello!
My sister has recently adopted a male stray cat (Bailee) that is about a year and a half old. She already had a small blind male kitten (Tobee). At first when she brought Bailee inside the two of them got along ok. Now that she has move to a NEW apartment, Bailee literally attacks Tobee. She can't keep them in the same room together and she now has to keep the blind kitty Tobee in the bedroom while she is at work and at night which leaves poor Bailee alone in the other part of the house at night. She loves both of her cats and is so desperate to solve the problem that she is contemplating getting Bailee declawed which is against her beliefs. If anyone has any suggestions on how to help her cats get along better we would be very grateful
Thanks,
Ginger

I am moving this to our Behaviour forum for you. Declawing is never the right answer because ultimately it creates more behaviour problems then it solves. But you said this is against her belief, so hopefully other suggestions will come in to help you.

My thoughts, are that perhaps the sighted kitty is responding to a previous smell of another animal that occupied the apartment previously? One of the ways to find this out is to go to the Petsmart link on the home page and click on search box for a black light flashlight. They are fairly inexpensive and under a black light, even the oldest urine stain will glow. This is one way to check out if there are pet stains on the walls or carpet of the new place. That is what I have to offer, hopefully other members will post about their suggestions and this problem can be traced and solved.

Declawing won't stop one cat from attacking another or from biting it severely. In fact, a cat without claws tends to bite more.

Another important aspect is that moving to a new territory is very stressful on cats. Moreso for the blind cat. The blind cat might be acting more confused and timid that he had been, which makes him a good target for the sighted cat to act out his stress on, particulary since he would seem to be "different" in how he is acting (cuz he can't see where he is going or where anything is!). The blind cat should be kept in just one room for as many days as it takes for him to know the room inside and out, upside and down, to feel 100% confident in his new territory.

This would also give the sighted cat a chance to be 100% comfortable in the rest of the house, his new territory, without the confusion of the blind cat acting confused.

Hissy's suggestion to use a black light to search for "old pee" is a good one. There might also be some cats wandering around outside that are upsetting him, and he is redirecting his feelings onto the blind cat. Cats redirect aggression a lot. I would further recommend the cats be treated like they are being introduced for the first time. Total separation for a few days (which would cooincide with the above). Then switch them out, without being able to get at each other, for a few hours each day. Then very, very, carefully supervised visits, that are stopped at the first sign of aggression. The more hostile interactions cats have, the more that becomes their habit of interacting, which one does not want to happen. During these visits, the cats should be fed their favorite canned food, to get them to associate good things with one another.

Thank you soooo much for the advice. I forwarded this link to my sister so she can read your suggestions. I hope that this will help her and her kitties out I will let you know when she tries what you suggested and if anything works. Let's keep our fingers crossed.
Thanks,
Ginger