Hi
We moved to our house 2 years ago and brought with us our 3 neutered males. The people over the road had an unneutered male (whom we have since called Oscar), who has fought mercilessly with ours since then. When their cat has got into our house on occasion he has sprayed, and we had to have a programmable cat flap installed that just allowed our own cats to get in. If we ever saw him in our garden we would scare him away to deter him from trying to get in.
However, during autumn the people over the road moved, but left the cat behind. It got to the point where he was getting thinner and thinner, and his owners were obviously not coming back for him. So after much soul searching and talking to local cat rescue places we decided to give him a home.
We have had him neutered, innoculated and he is no longer infested with fleas or ticks. He is really healthy and very loving and affectionate.
Unfortunately our eldest cat Billy has not taken to him at all. Our other two tolerate him, and will lie with him on the settee. But Billy is becoming more and more withdrawn and he is slowly starting to lose weight. Oscar is much more the aggressor and will go after Billy, as if he is trying to antagonise him. He will push his face up against Billy and howl at him. It is really awful. Then this evening whilst I was watching TV, Oscar jumped up onto Billy's favourite perch and sprayed on the wall.
We are starting to despair and do not know what to do. We have the Feliway spray and plug-ins, and have bought catnip to help chill the cats out. But what can we do to help Billy and Oscar start to accept each other, or will they always be arch-rivals? And now that Oscar has sprayed in the house how can we prevent it from happening again???
Your input would be much appreciated.
Thanks
We moved to our house 2 years ago and brought with us our 3 neutered males. The people over the road had an unneutered male (whom we have since called Oscar), who has fought mercilessly with ours since then. When their cat has got into our house on occasion he has sprayed, and we had to have a programmable cat flap installed that just allowed our own cats to get in. If we ever saw him in our garden we would scare him away to deter him from trying to get in.
However, during autumn the people over the road moved, but left the cat behind. It got to the point where he was getting thinner and thinner, and his owners were obviously not coming back for him. So after much soul searching and talking to local cat rescue places we decided to give him a home.
We have had him neutered, innoculated and he is no longer infested with fleas or ticks. He is really healthy and very loving and affectionate.
Unfortunately our eldest cat Billy has not taken to him at all. Our other two tolerate him, and will lie with him on the settee. But Billy is becoming more and more withdrawn and he is slowly starting to lose weight. Oscar is much more the aggressor and will go after Billy, as if he is trying to antagonise him. He will push his face up against Billy and howl at him. It is really awful. Then this evening whilst I was watching TV, Oscar jumped up onto Billy's favourite perch and sprayed on the wall.
We are starting to despair and do not know what to do. We have the Feliway spray and plug-ins, and have bought catnip to help chill the cats out. But what can we do to help Billy and Oscar start to accept each other, or will they always be arch-rivals? And now that Oscar has sprayed in the house how can we prevent it from happening again???
Your input would be much appreciated.
Thanks
