how can we get two full-grown neutered male cats to get along? they don't have to be the best of friends but we want them to at least be able to share the same space without bloodshed...
we are a multi-cat-family household. it is our little family plus our housemate, we had 2 cats when we moved into our house last december, she had 2 cats. we kept them separate for a month. had swapped some blankets from each house for a few weeks beforehand to get them used to the smells. they sniffed each other through the doors, eventually let them all out together, all was well.
fast forward two months to feb. our dominant cat got sick and died. percy was very much the top cat and peacemaker in our house. he wouldn't let our kitty mo mess with our housemates cats. when perk died everything kind of went to hell and suddenly our housemates cats were having huge issues. our cat momo was fighting with both her cats. they were peeing out of the boxes because they were too scared of mo to go by him to go upstairs or in the kitchen to use the boxes. added a new box where they were peeing, one of her cats peed under the futon instead. then mo peed where he peed, and it was dominance struggles all over the place. the fighting was really bad, i have never had cats go at each other the way they were.
so we split them up again. started shutting mo into our bedroom at night. no more pee issues and our housemates cats had free range of the third floor and our guys have the downstairs. we got two kittens in may, they get along perfectly fine with mo. he has never so much as hissed at them. will play half-heartedly and loves to let the little cats groom him. the little boys are good boys, other than usual typical kitten mischief they just do their kitty thing (which is lots of sleeping playing and snuggling on laps LOL)
the two kittens play nicely with her cats, when she goes upstairs they like to go with her.
all in all in our house we have 5 cats: all males, all fixed, one - our momo - was fixed LATE. like he was 6 before he got fixed. we never had the extra money and he is a totally indoor cat who had never had any spray issues ever so we put it off. our housemates two - one (nacho) is cranky. he doesn't go after anyone he would prefer to be left alone. he spends all his time on the third floor and has no desire to be out in the rest of the house, it seems to make him nervous. her other boy (jack) wants to hang out downstairs, but when he comes down we have to put our momo in our bedroom because the second jack sees him they go at each other. fur goes flying and the noise is godawful. they really seem to HATE each other. it is not like there is any lead-in to the fighting, they literally see each other and then attack.
we really just want to get things to the point that if jack wants to be down he can be, with no bloodshed or peeing. the dominance peeing isn't too much of an issue at this point, we just don't leave the cat's who may pee out in the main house when no one will be there.
we have 6 litterboxes, spread out all over the house. there is one on the third floor, three on the second floor, two on the first. (the second downstairs box we got and put where the accidents were happening) both of the cats who are fighting with each other leave their poop uncovered in the litter box, i read somewhere that that is a sign of asserting their dominance?
we have feliway diffusers, and have tried to follow all of the rules for proper cat introductions and integration.
we tried to reintroduce the cats both when percy died and when we got the new kittens. every one and everything goes fine, except for jack and mo.
our cats have been in to the vet recently - july actually, there are no health issues. the attacking has gone on since feb.
we are a multi-cat-family household. it is our little family plus our housemate, we had 2 cats when we moved into our house last december, she had 2 cats. we kept them separate for a month. had swapped some blankets from each house for a few weeks beforehand to get them used to the smells. they sniffed each other through the doors, eventually let them all out together, all was well.
fast forward two months to feb. our dominant cat got sick and died. percy was very much the top cat and peacemaker in our house. he wouldn't let our kitty mo mess with our housemates cats. when perk died everything kind of went to hell and suddenly our housemates cats were having huge issues. our cat momo was fighting with both her cats. they were peeing out of the boxes because they were too scared of mo to go by him to go upstairs or in the kitchen to use the boxes. added a new box where they were peeing, one of her cats peed under the futon instead. then mo peed where he peed, and it was dominance struggles all over the place. the fighting was really bad, i have never had cats go at each other the way they were.
so we split them up again. started shutting mo into our bedroom at night. no more pee issues and our housemates cats had free range of the third floor and our guys have the downstairs. we got two kittens in may, they get along perfectly fine with mo. he has never so much as hissed at them. will play half-heartedly and loves to let the little cats groom him. the little boys are good boys, other than usual typical kitten mischief they just do their kitty thing (which is lots of sleeping playing and snuggling on laps LOL)
the two kittens play nicely with her cats, when she goes upstairs they like to go with her.
all in all in our house we have 5 cats: all males, all fixed, one - our momo - was fixed LATE. like he was 6 before he got fixed. we never had the extra money and he is a totally indoor cat who had never had any spray issues ever so we put it off. our housemates two - one (nacho) is cranky. he doesn't go after anyone he would prefer to be left alone. he spends all his time on the third floor and has no desire to be out in the rest of the house, it seems to make him nervous. her other boy (jack) wants to hang out downstairs, but when he comes down we have to put our momo in our bedroom because the second jack sees him they go at each other. fur goes flying and the noise is godawful. they really seem to HATE each other. it is not like there is any lead-in to the fighting, they literally see each other and then attack.
we really just want to get things to the point that if jack wants to be down he can be, with no bloodshed or peeing. the dominance peeing isn't too much of an issue at this point, we just don't leave the cat's who may pee out in the main house when no one will be there.
we have 6 litterboxes, spread out all over the house. there is one on the third floor, three on the second floor, two on the first. (the second downstairs box we got and put where the accidents were happening) both of the cats who are fighting with each other leave their poop uncovered in the litter box, i read somewhere that that is a sign of asserting their dominance?
we have feliway diffusers, and have tried to follow all of the rules for proper cat introductions and integration.
we tried to reintroduce the cats both when percy died and when we got the new kittens. every one and everything goes fine, except for jack and mo.
our cats have been in to the vet recently - july actually, there are no health issues. the attacking has gone on since feb.
