Alpha cat not getting along with 5 month old kitten- Someone HELP!

I have had my Alpha cat - Mae - since she was 6 weeks old, she is now 2, 1/2. She has always been very dominant over the household, she even swats at friends/family whenever she feels like it! She only gets along with me, and her adopted brother - Theodore - a 3 year old male cat.

This November I found a homeless kitten that I knew I could give a forever home to - Mini (for Mini-Mae...they look identical) who is 5 months old. Mae and Mini are having the hardest time getting along. I did the standard, put the kitten in a "safe" room and let them smell under the door. After two days they seemed OK, and I let Mini out to meet Mae. When they met Mae went hysterical, she began swatting at the kitten like MAD! I immediatly seperated them, and gave comforate to the kitten.

Now, the kitten is terrified of MAE! who wouldn't be? She wont leave my bedroom, she barley comes out from under my bed. She wont use the litter box properly because Mae constantly stalks her! When I leave the room for one second, I hear screaming and hissing coming from the other room and the kitten in a little ball growling with fear and Mae standing over her! It has been a couple weeks, and this is still going on! I have started seperating them all day while I am at work, and in the evenings when I go to bed. SOMEONE PLEASE HELP!! I dont know what to do!

Feliway spray will help to calm the kitten its a pheromone which alters the smells in the house, it can lead to calmer cats and less fighting and whole bunch of other things. I have seen the spray really help terrified cats.

I don't know about socializing cats but other people on here will be able to help

good luck

This can be a social signals issue. Theodore sends the right signals and Mae gets what she wants from him. When a cat reacts in the wrong way, such as the poor kitten did, Mae now considers her annoying. She will continue to ask, so to speak, and the poor kitten doesn't have a chance of asserting herself to answer properly.

Also, it sounds like Mae has been spoiled by the household allowing her to throw her weight around without anyone telling her they find that annoying. It was probably cute at the time, but is now causing problems.

To get Mae and the kitten to get along, Mae will have to change. She must be taught that respect is expected from her. When she terrorizes the kitten, she must be the one put in a separate room for a time out. She doesn't have to like the kitten, you are just asking her to leave the kitten alone.

It was a mistake to think of Mae as the "alpha cat" and that she's just doing what she is supposed to. Mae is a dominating personality, but cats don't have pack behaviors. Mae simply likes things her own way, as we all do, and has the ability to impose her wishes on other cats, and apparently, people as well.

To make this situation work, you must patiently and respectfully create situations where Mae learns she cannot always have her own way. Mae will still want things, but she must act properly to get them, and terrorizing the kitten will have to be one of those things she is not allowed to do.

Either you must decide Mae is no longer allowed to be a bully, or find the kitten a home where she can be the cat she needs to be. It was a mistake to let Mae do whatever she wants. That's not spoiling; that's ruining. Mae hasn't learned what to do when her wishes are thwarted, but you can teach her, by redirecting her exasperation with the new rules into things she likes, which she gets when she behaves well.

When she swats people or other cats in a belligerent manner, she should be isolated. This doesn't let her get her way all the time. She will fuss at first, I'm sure, but it can be done.