Old Cat, New Cat, Small Cat, Big Cat

Alrighty...the contenders:

'Honey' is about 15 years old. She is a little underweight, but otherwise healthy. She has always had the "run of the house". She is skittish; more often than not, she does not like to be touched by anyone. We respect her wishes.

'Sebastian' was a 5 month-old kitten when he was rescued by my husband, about 2 years ago. He too is healthy, and very much larger than Honey. He is energetic, but EXTREMELY friendly and docile.

Both cats have been spayed/neutered, and both cats have NOT been de-clawed.

They have been kept apart for almost 2 years, separated by French Doors. They are both aware of each other, and have been in the same part of the house on VERY rare, brief occasions.

Our living situation is about to change, and both cats must now be in the same part of the house at all times. When we bring Sebastian in for brief visits, he wants to 'play'. Honey hisses and swipes at him. Now, Sebastian has started to swipe back. He is SO much bigger than her, we are afraid he may inadvertently hurt her(or worse).

SO:
How do we get the two cats to co-exist peacefully in the same part of the house. Please help!!!

I am curious why you would keep them apart for two years? As far as hissing and swiping at each other, that is really quite common for new cats, and even though they are aware of each other, they are also technically unknown to each other. I would think that keeping them distant that long would just build up the stress inside of each of them and make the initial introduction worse for them- and for you too.

Please understand, I am not jumping on you. I am simply curious why the long separation? Cats are very social animals and usually enjoy each other's company after they get the hierarchy figured out.

Honey got sick shortly after Sebastian was brought into the house. We took her to the vet and it turned out that she had a gum infection and a kidney disorder, both of which were treated.

Originally, Sebastian was much smaller than Honey, as he had been starving. Considering the same behavioral display then as now, we were afraid she would hurt HIM. Also, we didn't want her to be traumatized by him (we thought at the time that was what made her ill), and it was just easier for all concerned to keep them apart.

EDIT NOTE:
Honey has NEVER been sociable with ANYONE; she barely tolerates me!!

Thank you for explaining that. Again, I was not jumping on you, just wondering why the separation. I thought perhaps it might be an infectious disease or something along those lines.

When a cat is ill, they don't smell right, and oftentimes they will get attacked by their housemates for that reason. Don't worry about your one cat not tolerating you. I have several like that. Each cat is different and so I just treat them the way I read them that they want to be treated.

The title of your thread made me want to read a Dr. Suess book

Good luck with your cats. The vanilla trick works, in my opinion!

Originally posted by Sicycat
The title of your thread made me want to read a Dr. Suess book

Click to expand...

Thank you--I was going for that!

Sorry! I don't know how to make the pic smaller!

lol You can open the pic up in Microsoft Paint or other photo editing program to resize it! I resized it for you though so if you want to edit your other post you can

Sebastian is very handsome

Thank you!

It hasn't been going very well.

We've put the cats together in the same part of the house. It was okay for the most part, but yesterday they had a knock-down drag out. There were clumps of fur on the floor. We were there when it happened, and we managed to get them away from each other. We put Sebastian back in his part of the house, and Honey ran and hid under our bed--something we've never known her to do. They're both looking okay physically; despite the fur clumps, there wasn't any bleeding.

I don't know if the vanilla has been a good idea. Honey seems to have a diminished sense of hearing, and the fact that she smells the same as Sebastian makes it easier for him to 'sneak up' on her. When she realizes he's there, she hisses and growls. Sometimes she chases him, but the problem is when she actually catches him. That's when the serious fighting starts.

He doesn't hiss or growl; I think he only wants to be friendly, but she wants NONE of that. She seems miserable.

Will a cat go as far as killing another cat in this situation? Remember, he's a lot bigger and younger than she is. I don't think he would do it purposely because he is so friendly, but she's a little frail...

I don't know what to do.

Sounds like my situation now. We just brought home another kitty and she's is a lot smaller and younger then our resident cat Mr. Bean. He is extremely docile and calm, and has never growled in his whole life. Lulu the kitty however growls and hisses at him whenever they fight. I've even seen Beany groom her, but she will have none of that. She just wants to play fight all the time. Well, the situation has escalated to the point where Beany's cornea has gotten scratched. They are currently seperated now and the kitty has run of the house, by Beany's choice. I guess I'll just have to wait and see what happens.....maybe she'll calm down, *shrugs*

I know this probably isn't a good option, but you could move. Years ago we had a cat that didn't get along with the others. One of our cats even needed stitches one time. There would be no hesitation...they would just go at it with no warning. We kept them apart. We moved into a new house and my husband decided to see what would happen if we let them all out of the carriers at the same time. They all walked around sniffing the new place and didn't even pay attention to each other. From that day on we all lived in peace. They were never close, but they tolerated each other just fine.