I'm getting so tired of being the police mom...

Ok, in an effort to introduce my newbie Harley to resident Monty we bought a tall pet gate thats 44" and put it in the doorway in Harley's room. Monty (the aggressor) was sitting on the other side and I hoped Harley would just come and sniff Monty and get themselves used to each other. For some reason Harley scaled the gate and jumped into the livingroom with Monty running after him and me running screaming...I removed the gate and Harley ran back to his bedroom and Monty jumped on top of him with fur flying and both were pushed toward our baseboard heaters..I smelled fur burning! :: Well someone got their tail singed I think, yikes, this could have turned into something really BAD. I used a broom to break them apart but I don't know when this will all end? I may end up having to find a home for Harley but he is still semi feral and would be hard to place. I have to add that we have another cat Zena who is gentler and older and Monty likes to stalk her at night and attack her. They are not the best of buddies either but Zena just tolerates him and has her hiding spaces. Aside from that Monty is really a good cat, if not a bit spoiled. I'm just getting really tired of being a police mom here. Had to vent.

Introducing cats can be hard but have patience. It took April Joy 3 months to accept Christopher Cody. Now I see them happily playing together all the time. It's hard at first but there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

I'm venting right there with ya. We've had our new little boy for just two weeks as of tonight... and when his new big sister isn't around he is just the silliest little sweet purr ball of a kitten. BUT, when she comes around he gets visibly nervous. She was always dominant with the last male we had but he knew his boundaries with her. Our new boy hasn't figured it out yet and it's very frustrating... Especially watching a 10 pound grown up attack a four pound baby who's obviously already scared of her!

We've been completely separating them when we're not home, and when we are and see her starting to be aggressive we've started squirting her with water. It may not be the best thing to do but I can't think of anything else that will make her back off so he's not so frightened!!!

It can take a while for cats to be comfortable with sharing their territories.

What about replacing the door with a screen door temporarily? This is really your best option.

In the meantime, to help, you can take a hand cloth and rub it all over Monty and place it in Harley's room - put treats on it. Do the same thing with Harley for Monty. You can also use the same principle, but place the cloth under their respective food bowls. The idea is to help them associate good things with the smell of the other.

You can also try purchasing Feliway spray or plug-ins. It is a synthetic pheremone that mimics the "friendly" markers in the scent markers in cats' cheeks. It has always helped calm the crew down when we have a foster or new intro.

I second everything Laurie (LDG) said, introducing cats can be very difficult. You may want to think about starting the introduction process again (and completely separating them completely until they calm down before doing so)

There is a good article about introducing cats here and about how to handle cat fights here

There is also an article about cats and discipline and alternatives to squirt bottles here

I tried the Feliway spray with no success, I can try the diffuser but costs more. I'm going to try a Bach flower essence on Monty...Holly, for aggression and negative feelings..I don't have too much faith in these but it may be worth a try. I talked to my dh about a screen door and he's not crazy about the idea of putting a screen door on an inside bedroom but it may come to that after the holidays when we dont have guests coming in. I don't know if the regular door will have to be taken out to install that or not? The screening in the screen door will have to be strong too...these cats have all their claws and teeth, and Monty once pushed out the screen in a window screen and got out on the balcony.