is there any hope for these cats?

ollie

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Is there anything I can do to stop my 12 y.o. female from "freaking out" every time she sees my 2 y.o. male? (both are fixed). We have had him for 4 months but she still throws a hissing and growling fit every time she sees him and hides. When they are on opposite sides of a door, she will either bat and claw at the door or put her paws under it, hissing and growling. He doesn't hiss at all but he will jump on her when he gets the chance, which freaks her out even more, so basically we keep them separated. There is a kitten as well that they both get along with. Unfortunately this is very stressful for all involved, including myself! His scent is all over the place but it's the sight of him that makes her freak out. We tried to introduce them slowly at first, but we had no success in calming her down so we have just kept them separate. I hope it's not too late as we don't want to get rid of him. I have tried Feliway and Rescue Remedy on both of them but nothing helped. She will eat on the other side of the door from him with it partly open, but if he looks up at her she freaks and runs away. She will also eat with him in a crate nearby but if he's out she freaks.
 

hissy

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Have you tried the vanilla extract trick? Put a small amount on the cats three times a day in three spots under their chin, between their shoulder blades and at the base of their tail.

It almost sounds like you might have introduced them to quickly for her to adjust to him. Plus with him jumping on her, he goes from feline friend to predator in nothing flat.

If he has been recently neutered, she could be responding to his leftover testerone level she smells. You also might want to investigate the Bach flower essences basically Impatience would be the one to give your resident cat. Also did this new one replace an older cat that perhaps passed away? Sometimes the resident cat will see the new one as the cat who harmed her friend, and animosity will result.

You can find the Bach remedies here:

http://www.spiritessence.com/

Cat Faeries is another company that carries these.
 

jlitt

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4 months isn't all that long in cat introductions. When I introduced my boys (then kittens) to Puss (then 16), she hid in a corner for 4 months.

She did eventually stop hiding, but she still hisses and growls at them if they get too close - and this is 3 years later!

I clicker train my cats, and I found that helpful - but it's not an immediate fix; it takes time. The Yahoo Cat clicker list is a good one - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Cat-Clicker/

One of the boys liked to jump her, too, but that has mostly stopped as he got older. No one ever hurt anyone, but Puss is elderly & has kidney disease, so it was stressful at first. Now she stays mostly in a couple of rooms, of her own volition, and the boys mostly leave her alone.

She doesn't hear too well anymore, and I think that's why she throws a hissy fit when they haven't even done anything. All of the sudden they're just there.

The other day she was sleeping on the floor in my office next to me. Simba came in, walked by her without touching her, and she hissed and swatted at him. This happened several times.

Apparently Simba couldn't take it anymore, and he jumped on her - for which he got yelled out, so he ran away. I felt bad - it really wasn't his fault, but I can't have him doing that, either.

Still, that doesn't happen very often anymore.
 
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ollie

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Thanks for the replies. At this point, I will try just about anything. Hissy, have you had success with the Bach remedies? I tried Rescue Remedy for a while but it didn't seem to help.
 
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