Little Princess

Hi there, I am going to try and make a long story short. I have 2 cats right now, and they do not seem to be getting along. Princess who is around 10 years old is being a little bit to much of a Princess to our almost 3 yr old Oreo. Now a little background. I've had Princess since she was a few months old. She has always been with Stache, but unfortunately, we lost our 15 year old boy to cancer in Feb of this year. This happened very suddenly. 2 weeks after Stache passed we decided to get a new kitty. Princess has always been very rambunctious (we think she is part Bengal) and we figured a younger cat would do, so we went to the Humane society and picked out Oreo. Princess has been in a few different homes with 6 different cats in her years with me, never once has she had an issue with any of them. We brought Oreo home 2 weeks after Stache passed. I figured all would be good since she had been around lot of male cats before and she has never had an issue with any other cat, well was I wrong. Oreo is VERY talkative, and I think she takes this as a bad thing. I don't know if she feels like he is sassing her or what. Oreo LOVES to snuggle, Princess is a if I want to sit with you, I will come to you kinda girl. You don't pick her up, and you don't touch her tail. Lol. Whereas Oreo, he will allow anything! Oreo was always with other cats in the shelter and was brought in with 7 other cats, so he LOVES other cats. I think he is just trying to sit with her, but she hisses and takes off. She will hiss or growl at him even if she is just walking by him, or he walks by her, she doesn't even have to look at him. Oreo will "talk" to her and she will just growl. I find the only time she doesn't seem to mind him is during breakfast time when I give them wet food. She seems to tolerate him then. Every once and a while she will try to scrape with him. He just kind of takes it. She will jump on top of him and smack him, they will both make noise and I tell them to stop. Oreo then will still try to go up to her right after. It's like he just loves her so much and she won't let him near her. Is there anything I can do for these 2? I am so sick of the constant hissing! It really wears on you after like 6 months. Any info would be great. Thanks

@shadowsrescue said composure works.

Aww, poor little Oreo lol. He sounds adorable. Have you tried a Feliway diffuser? or even some of the comfort zone spray. We just introduced a new kitten with our 3 others and after a week of using the diffuser the hissing was cut in half. Its been a month now and there is almost no hissing, they just give Noriel a bop on the head when they are not in the mood for her games.

That being said, Feliway does say that it make take a month or more to notice a difference in certain households. 

I would try keeping them separated from each other, and only let them see each other during meal times. While they both eat you should try sitting on the floor with them both and praise them and pet them while they are eating. This will make the both of them associate good things such as food and love while the other cat is around.

After finishing their meal, if she tolerates Oreo, then leave them be for a few minutes, but definitely separate them BEFORE any hissing begins. Over time, you can SLOWLY increase the amount of time they spend with each other, but for now, they should only see each other when eating (or when something positive is taking place, like treats, or food related, so Princess will begin to associate Oreo with positive things, and vice versa).

I've personally used the Sentry Calming collar for my girl Jet during a cat intro process, and it has worked MIRACLES for her..So i would recommend it for your Princess. 

some things to keep in mind, hissing, yowling, meowing between cats is normal. Often times during play one or both cats will hiss and growl. You should not separate them, and just let them "duke it out" so to speak. Princess and Orea need to establish a hierarchy between them, and they do this by displaying body language, and hissing, and swatting and growling. 

I would recommend going to youtube, and viewing some videos of cats at play, and also viewing some videos of cats in an actual fight. study these videos and compare them to the body languages displayed by princess and oreo when they are near each other. Cats can be very aggressive when they play, and sometimes to us humans it seems violent when it's really not...so its good to keep an eye on your cats when they play or interact with each other, if you feel like its turning into a fight or getting out of hand, distract them by throwing a soft cat toy in their direction, and then separating them.  

Good luck.

Thanks for the suggestions. Princess has been wearing the calming collar off and on for around 2 years. I was off work for 6 weeks and when I went back she started to throw up everywhere! Took her in and the vet said there is nothing wrong with her, so I got her the collar and she has been fine every since. We moved a year ago in May and she didn't even have issues then. As for separating them, how would I do that? I know Oreo will cry and cry. Neither of them will like being stuck in a room. If I am in the bathroom and the door is closed, they are both scratching to get in. I just can't see locking them up.

I really think she just doesn't like that he "talks" a lot. Its actually quite comical to watch them. He makes a little noise and she gives him the death stare, one more noise and a hiss comes out. lol. Oreo has never hissed or swatted at her. When I picked him up from the shelter, there was a cat there who oreo wanted to sit with, and the cat hissed at him, but didn't move, and oreo sat with the cat anyways. I think he is hoping Princess will love him at some point. He tries and tries. He will try to rub up against her, and she just hisses or turns away from him. Its so sad for the poor guy. They have played a few times, sitting in the cat condo, her on top and him in the middle, but that is very few times.

I will look at some videos. I don't want one of them getting hurt and I don't want this to get worse, that is my only fear.

Thanks again! Princess has been wearing the collar for over a year now, she had not gone a day without since we moved into our new house in May of 2013. I don't know it is just that she misses Stache, or what, but she just doesn't like Oreo. They are 2 totally different cats. BUT we make sure to talk to both of them and give them both love as much as possible. My hubby also LOVESSSSSSSSS cats, so Princess is his little baby, while Oreo, likes hubby, but wants me. Princess is Hubby's baby..she will yell at him till he sits down so she can sit with him. She is a very sweet girl, I love her very much. She is fine with kids and just kind of keeps to herself. I think him being so talkative just erks her. Maybe I just need to let it be. Should we yell at them when she is hissing? If Oreo tries to run after her and play, and she hisses, do we yell for them to stop?

Your cats are beautiful! Wow, what a nice bunch! Here are my babies Princess is the Tabby, Oreo is the Tuxedo

            

wow your cats are beautiful!!!!

and Princess definitely looks like she lives up to her name!

How long has it been since you changed the calming collar on her? usually they last about 1 month. I've already gone through 3 collars with Jet. Maybe its time to get a new one?

When Princess hisses at Oreo don't yell at her to stop. That will confuse her...because she isn't doing any thing wrong or out of the norm. She's hissing at Oreo to let him know "Get out of my space!". It's form of communication. Pay attention to her body language, that's how you'll know if the hissing will eventually lead to fighting. But like i said, you have to let them duke it out. If princess is the boss she's gonna show that to oreo. Unless you see any biting, blood, fur flying, or injury taking place, just leave them be to sort it out. Could it also be that your Princess is a bit of a prima donna? My girl Jet will scream and yowl like she's being murdered if one of my other cats bother while when she wants to be left alone, or if they are play fighting (usually when she's losing). But it's usually nothing.

If you feel their play fighting is more than just play, then you should separate them for a few mins to one hour in different rooms. I know you don't want to keep a cat locked in, but sometimes it helps them to de-stress and clam down. 

The way i see Princess and Oreo sleeping together, they seem so lovely and like they love each other. Maybe she is not used to a talkative cat. Just leave them be, and if she hisses do not yell at her to stop. 

I strongly recommend doing a re introduction for both cats, even a short one if possible. You can also put a collar on oreo, one that has Princess' scent all over it. i did that with Gunther and Jet..it helped a bit...

Thanks so much, I think they are pretty cute   She allowed Oreo to sleep with her, as she was already sleeping. LOL. He woke up, made a little noise, she woke up, hissed and took off. Lol. It lasted about 5 mins. He will not give up though. I mean he doesn't badger her, he just tries whenever he thinks he can! Its quite cute.

Princess has had this collar on around 3 weeks. We put a brand new one on her when Oreo was coming back from the Vet after a 2 night stay. Oreo has some health issues. He has an issue with gum swelling and we just found out he also has crystals in his urine.   Breaks my heart for him, but after almost 3 weeks, he seems to be handling the new food well.

I agree with you, I don't think they are fighting. I just think she is trying to rule the house. Stache kept to himself, he never bothered her, and she didn't bother him. They got along, but as I said, they just were.