1 cat going after another

Hey all...

Been reading through the forum, and there's a lot of great information from a lot of great people! Hopefully you guys will have some more insight into our situation:

We've got 4 cats in the family. All are about 7 years old... my 2 brothers (Johnny & Winston), and the wife's brother and sister (Bert & Lola). Everybody gets along fine except for Johnny & Lola. It seems that Johnny has this fascination with Lola, which Lola just doesn't like. Anytime she notices Johnny, she starts hissing and growling, which seems to stimulate Johnny into chasing after her, which then results in her running under the bed amidst lots of growling and hissing. Sometimes paws go flying, but more often than not it's a lot of noise.

We're thinking of giving Johnny or Lola a new home for a week or so and then re-introducing him back gradually (one in a kennel while the other roams, get both of them used to each others' scent by rubbing towels, etc.). I've also heard mention of buspirone to ease anxiety for Lola, or Feliway to help with scents. Any other suggestions? They're all family to us, so it'd break our hearts if we have to give any of them up

Thanks in advance!

Well, has this been going on for long? They may be settling their hirerchy disputes by themselves.

You could separate them and re-introduce them. You don't need to get either of them out of the house for that. In fact at their age, moving out might be too stressful and might complicate matters. Just keep one of them (preferable the one that starts the fights) locked up in a room for a week and then do the gradual introduction like you said.

Let us know how they're doing!

Thanks for your reply Anne

They've been going at this for at least a year now... though it's seems to be happening more often now than before. We recently moved in April, and I think the relocation may have aggravated the situation?

We're going to try the trial separation, keeping Johnny in one room on his own for a week or so, and then re-introducing them slowly. Hopefully Lola will feel more comfortable in the rest of the house while Johnny is restricted to one room, and hopefully they'll learn to get along.