OK - I apologize for this long post, but I have been having issues with my new kitten, so I'm providing full details in order for you all to give me the best advice, which I will truly appreciate. It's been almost two months since I got my kitten who is now about 7 months old. He was a stray and is still a bit of a biter. He's very bold, not afraid of anything, loves water, the vacuum etc. He is neutered.
I have had another sweet, yet independant cat, Marley a 6 year female for 1 & 1/2 years now. She loved my previous cat (a nutered male -very affectionate). She would chase him and play fight but didn't hurt him. I did their introduction properly - slowly, seperate rooms for three or four days etc.
I went through a horrible experience with my previous cat Pokey, who I loved with all of my heart. I found a pea sized lump on his side, which we immediately had removed with surgery. It was lymphoma cancer. We had another surgery to try and remove it all but the day prior to the second surgery I found another little pimple that I also had removed. The second surgery cleaned the margins around the first lump but the second little pimple area had cancer in the deep muscle tissue. Numerous tests showed that the cancer didn't spread, so they recommended the 16 week chemo process as his best chance of containment and a few more years of life. When Pokey was four, I decided to stop giving him vaccines because he would be limp and sick for three days, so naturally I was very scared to put him through chemo. Knowing this, the oncologist insisted that chemo was still the way to go and assured me that his severe reactions to vaccines would not in any way be related to the way he would react to chemo. I would do anything to save my little guy so took him for his first treatment. Two days later, he went into cardiac arrest as his heart became enlarged heart with fluid around it. I took him to a cardiologist who saved him, put him on meds, but after I brought him home he went into kidney failure and died three days later.
After a few months, I got a 5 month old kitten. Although I knew better, I let my fiancee introduce the kitten to Marley on the first day I brought him home. Upon seeing each other the kitten immediately attacked Marley. I kept him, his food and water and litter box in a seperate room the rest of the night and the next day, but have since then let the two cats have free run of the house, hoping that they would get used to each other with time.
It's now almost two months later and the kitten still constantly attacks Marley. He could either be playing, trying to establish dominance or trying to mate. He bites her neck and will often have her fur in his mouth. She hisses and usually lays on her back to either fight or submit. When he's on top of her biting, I will either squirt him with a squirt gun (when it's around) or I'll remove him from her (yes, I get redirected aggression, but would rather get bit them let him hurt her). I put him in time out. He calms down quickly, come out purring but once he sees her again, he's right back at it! I now moved their food dishes next to each other to let them associate happy feeding time with each other, but their litter boxes are still in seperate rooms.
Marley just drives him absolutely crazy. She's a big furball and he just can't control himself around her which makes me think it could have something to do with her possibly not being spayed? She was a stray and her previous owners said in the 3 years they had her, she might have been in heat just once since they saw blood in the bathtub. In the 1.5 yrs I owned her she never displayed any heat like behaivors, but once I did see a little blob of goo on the floor near where she was sitting. The vet said the only way to tell since she never displayed behaivorial signs would be to check with surgery.
Because of what I went through with vets and Pokey, I'm so afraid of taking Marley in to check/spay (if she isn't already). I have had three friends pets die when they had the surgery to get them fixed. She's already 6 years old (I think). Is that too old for the surgery? Plus I hear they will be even less affectionate then before after getting fixed and she's already so independent.
With that option out, what can I do to get him to stop attacking her? I have feliway plug in's around the house. He is not affected by catnip. He's not afraid of loud noises, change in a can, water etc. When I see him going to attack, I yell "no" at him. Half the time it works as he's learning what no means, but the other half of the time he just gets too fired up to listen.
Do I have to do the introductions again or is it too late? Do they need to constantly be seperated while I am not home? I am going to try the vanilla extract applications today. I feel bad for her but I love the kitten and getting rid of him is not an option. Any advice would be appreciated.
I have had another sweet, yet independant cat, Marley a 6 year female for 1 & 1/2 years now. She loved my previous cat (a nutered male -very affectionate). She would chase him and play fight but didn't hurt him. I did their introduction properly - slowly, seperate rooms for three or four days etc.
I went through a horrible experience with my previous cat Pokey, who I loved with all of my heart. I found a pea sized lump on his side, which we immediately had removed with surgery. It was lymphoma cancer. We had another surgery to try and remove it all but the day prior to the second surgery I found another little pimple that I also had removed. The second surgery cleaned the margins around the first lump but the second little pimple area had cancer in the deep muscle tissue. Numerous tests showed that the cancer didn't spread, so they recommended the 16 week chemo process as his best chance of containment and a few more years of life. When Pokey was four, I decided to stop giving him vaccines because he would be limp and sick for three days, so naturally I was very scared to put him through chemo. Knowing this, the oncologist insisted that chemo was still the way to go and assured me that his severe reactions to vaccines would not in any way be related to the way he would react to chemo. I would do anything to save my little guy so took him for his first treatment. Two days later, he went into cardiac arrest as his heart became enlarged heart with fluid around it. I took him to a cardiologist who saved him, put him on meds, but after I brought him home he went into kidney failure and died three days later.
After a few months, I got a 5 month old kitten. Although I knew better, I let my fiancee introduce the kitten to Marley on the first day I brought him home. Upon seeing each other the kitten immediately attacked Marley. I kept him, his food and water and litter box in a seperate room the rest of the night and the next day, but have since then let the two cats have free run of the house, hoping that they would get used to each other with time.
It's now almost two months later and the kitten still constantly attacks Marley. He could either be playing, trying to establish dominance or trying to mate. He bites her neck and will often have her fur in his mouth. She hisses and usually lays on her back to either fight or submit. When he's on top of her biting, I will either squirt him with a squirt gun (when it's around) or I'll remove him from her (yes, I get redirected aggression, but would rather get bit them let him hurt her). I put him in time out. He calms down quickly, come out purring but once he sees her again, he's right back at it! I now moved their food dishes next to each other to let them associate happy feeding time with each other, but their litter boxes are still in seperate rooms.
Marley just drives him absolutely crazy. She's a big furball and he just can't control himself around her which makes me think it could have something to do with her possibly not being spayed? She was a stray and her previous owners said in the 3 years they had her, she might have been in heat just once since they saw blood in the bathtub. In the 1.5 yrs I owned her she never displayed any heat like behaivors, but once I did see a little blob of goo on the floor near where she was sitting. The vet said the only way to tell since she never displayed behaivorial signs would be to check with surgery.
Because of what I went through with vets and Pokey, I'm so afraid of taking Marley in to check/spay (if she isn't already). I have had three friends pets die when they had the surgery to get them fixed. She's already 6 years old (I think). Is that too old for the surgery? Plus I hear they will be even less affectionate then before after getting fixed and she's already so independent.
With that option out, what can I do to get him to stop attacking her? I have feliway plug in's around the house. He is not affected by catnip. He's not afraid of loud noises, change in a can, water etc. When I see him going to attack, I yell "no" at him. Half the time it works as he's learning what no means, but the other half of the time he just gets too fired up to listen.
Do I have to do the introductions again or is it too late? Do they need to constantly be seperated while I am not home? I am going to try the vanilla extract applications today. I feel bad for her but I love the kitten and getting rid of him is not an option. Any advice would be appreciated.