New Cat Aggression

We recently purchased two new female cats (aged 1 and 2) from the local human society and brought them home and introduced them to our resident male cat (aged 5) we saved from abandonement who is a very mellow guy and has been with us for about 6 months. One of the new cats is now terrorizing the male cat and looks for opportunities to chase him and fight with him. Even though he is twice the size of this new cat, he runs away and hides. He now is beginning to show some resentment to us and is very cautious when walking around his house. What can we do to reign in this new cat so that they can get along? Our male cat did not originally display any aggression toward the new cats, but now hisses at them and growls. There does not seem to be any real hostility between the other new female cat and the male beyond normal "getting to know you" interactions.

Perhaps you introduced the three of them too quickly? It is always a good idea to keep them seperated at least 2 weeks and introduce their scents to each other before actually introducing them. This is done by switching bedding between the cats and feeding them close to closed doors, with the newcomers on one side,and the resident cat on the other. The male cat was clearly head of his house and now here come these two females, with one wanting to be the Alpha of the three. His slinking around and hiding is his way of posturing and telling the female she can have the position, otherwise you would be breaking up immense cat fights. She however, is young and not able to understand his giving up his position, but she will catch on. Since they already are introduced to each other, seperating them would be moot. I would give your old guy lots of attention and play with him in a room seperate to her and then let him out when you are done. You can also buy a flower remedy to stop the aggression should it get out of hand. Look in the Health forum at the top of the page and find the flower remedy post for the right formula for your house. Good luck!

Thanks for the helpful input. I agree that they met too quickly - unfortunately the new comers escaped almost immediately after we got them home and ran into the male before we could introduce them appropriately. We've been trying to lavish attention on the male and keeping the two new comers out of his bedroom which seems to be helping his mood. I might try the flower spray if the new female continues her aggression beyond a few more days.

those type of things happen all to often. Here is a link that a friend of mine put together to help those who have problems with aggressive cats.Hope you will find something there to help.

Tallyville