7 month old and 4 year old don't get along

floggin

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So my household consists of me, my grandmother, my dad, my little brother, my cat Buddy, my grandmothers cat Miss Kitty, and our dog Nugent. Me and my cousin where up at his dads house one day when we seen two little kittens out in the woods. He had a pile of stuff right on the edge of his yard and the woods and there was 3 kittens curled up inside a small pipe. They were only maybe a week old at the most. Well we gave away 2 of the kittens and I decided to keep one. Well when I brought Buddy home he was good. He gets along well with our dog and they are always playing with each other. My grandmothers cat though wants nothing to do with Buddy and all he does when my grandmother lets Miss Kitty inside the house is chase her around the house. Well today Buddy finally attacked Miss kitty. I'm not sure why he keeps trying to attack her (most of the time i put him downstairs in my room until Miss kitty goes back outside). My grandmother gets scared and freaks out and runs after my cat with a fly swatter thinking thats going to help. What should I do to get them used to each other? My grandmothers cat Miss kitty is ALWAYS outside. She maybe comes in a night once in a while but most of the time its outside, and she is always getting into fights with other cats...she is really almost wild she always attacks me and other people, but won't attack my grandmother. At first my cat would try to go up to Miss kitty and play with her just like he does with the dog, but she doesn't want to play ever. So now he just stalks her every time shes in the house and tries to attack her. What am I to do?
 
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floggin

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Thanks for the welcome. My cat Buddy has been around the 4 year old since i brought him home in november. The 4 year old is almost always outside (basically wild but comes in when it wants to eat but only converses with my grandmother) and usually when she comes inside I have to take my cat buddy and put him downstairs away from her cat because all he does is try and play with her and she doesn't like it. When he totally attacked her the other day it was way out of the blue. He has been neutered. I just don't know what to do everyone is talking about maybe I should get rid of him...but honestly I think its more in the problem of my grandmothers cat. She will not let anyone pet her, she is always outside (almost wild), always getting in fights with other cats(at least a 6-8 fights in the last 2 years). I dunno what to do. The vet said something about a feline distemper shot i believe i dunno.
 

beandip

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Is your grandmother's cat spayed?

Cats who go outdoors definitely should have their shots...however the distemper shot has nothing to do with any mental conditions, despite the name. But OTOH, cats who are sick can have behavioral issues, or healthy cats can strike out against sick ones....hard to tell without going to the vet with the details.

Why would buddy "attack" Miss Kitty - if Miss Kitty isn't spayed, that could be it - most likely #1 reason. A 2nd possibility might be that Miss Kitty smells like other cats who she comes in contact with outside.

I'm sure some more ideas will come up.
 

urbantigers

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Buddy is still a baby at 7 months whereas Miss Kitty is all grown up and probably doesn't want anything to do with all that kitten nonsense! I'd guess that Buddy is just wanting to play and/or is challenging Miss Kitty in a dominance way. Mosi has been pretty much the same with Jaffa - even though he was neutered at 7 months he's still a dominant cat who's also very lively. He "attacks" Jaffa just in the way you describe Buddy attacking Miss Kitty. Fortunately Jaffa doesn't mind too much and will either play with him or tell him where to go!
Sometimes he just wants to play and at other times there's definitely a dominance angle to it. Even though Buddy and Miss Kitty are different sex Buddy may still want to assert himself and show her he's in charge. But given you say she doesn't ever want to play I'd guess that's the problem. Buddy does want to play and he doesn't understand why she doesn't so he tries to force her into playing with him. At his age jumping on top of another cat and "attacking" is mainly play.

I'd suggest getting feliway to calm the situation a bit and hopefully help Miss Kitty feel a little more secure around Buddy, but also trying to spend more time playing with Buddy so that he has less need to approach Miss Kitty for play. If Miss Kitty is really not liking the situation you many need to keep them separate when no-one is around to play with/distract Buddy. Do you have any other cats apart from Miss Kitty? Another kitten might help provide an outlet for Buddy's need to play, although as Buddy grows up his need to do this is likely to lessen. Some cats do stay kittenish well into adult life though.
 
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