Help - My new cat is hurting my old cat!

I have a cat (Bob). He's 1 year old and has never lived on the street. He was raised in a family of cats, in a house, and then came to live with us as an "only child". We recently decided to get another cat because we felt he was lonely during the day when we're both at work.

So, we got another cat (Jake). The animal shelter recommended getting a younger cat so that Bob would still feel like the boss. That's what we did. Jake is 5 mths old and half the size of Bob.

I head read a few things about introducing cats to one another and new the process should be slow. We kept them apart at first but they both seemed so curious about each other that we thought we'd see how they would react. We let Jake out and both cats seemed to wander around sniffing each other and the new smells in the house. This lasted for about 20 min. and then Jake attacked. He jumped on Bob and rolled around a bit and then got his neck in between his teeth. I was mortified. I didn't expect it at all. Here, the little one was attacking the big one. And to make matters worse, Bob just sat there and took it until he let out a little meow, which I thing was due to pain. We grabbed Jake and locked him back up in the bedroom. He stayed there all night, but escaped twice when we weren't quick enough to catch him when the door opened. He went straight for Bob and proceeded to get on top of him and bite his neck.

I think Jake was found as a stray, so he may have had to learn how to fight to stay alive as a little one.

I need help. All of the info on the Internet is about how to get your current cat ot accept the new one, but I'm having the opposite problem. I think Bob wants to play and was excited for the new cat, but Jake just wants to hurt him. Jake is great with us...very cuddly and sweet, but get him with Bob and he's another story.

Any tips??? This is really stressing me out. Thanks.

Your new kitty wants to be the dominant one, and it sounds like Bob is okay with that. If they aren't fighting to hurt-- it doesn't sound like they are-- you may have to let them work it out.
Are they hissing at each other? Growling? Avoiding being in the same room? These would indicate a problem, but Jake biting the back of Bob's neck just means "Hey I'm the boss around here". It isn't a bad idea to separate them if you think one of them is actually being hurt, but until they work out who's on top then they'll keep fighting like that.

Jake is he neutered? If not, he needs to be. He is alpha and dominant and will be doing this type of behavior for awhile, even after neutering, but neutering will help.

It is difficult to not assign human feelings to our cats. But they are not our "children" they are a creature born of habits and characteristics that sometimes people cannot understand. They are programmed to behave in certain ways and this alarms us at times, because we feel it is out of control. Unless you have had to rush Bob in to the vet for cat bites, this is a normal type of behavior in a multi-cat household. They will find their way with each other over time.

I think it's fine if you don't see any blood being drawn. My cats fight all the time and they like it.

My Garfield is "too rough", also. He seems like he is hurting the girls when they fight....Festus will hiss and growl back at him. But Jasmine, who is only 8 months old, lets him bite on her, then she just runs around as if it is a fun game!

No one ever gets hurt, but it really looks to rough to me...but except for saving Festie when she is hissing at him as if to say "Go away, you oaf", I let them work it out.

Probably don't leave your boys alone together yet...and maybe get some distraction toys, so you can get them chasing shoelaces or feather dancers rather than just fighting.

And definitely make sure everyone is neutered. Mine all are, but I think Garfield is more aggressive with the girls when we have an unspayed foster kitty in the house.

Are you sure that Jake is trying to hurt Bob.

Thanks for the help. Maybe I am overreacting.

No, Jake isn't neutered yet, but he will be soon. We just got him a couple of days ago, so we haven't gotten there yet. We'll get him done within a week or so.

It is sad to see my baby Bob getting attacked, but I do understand that this is the way cats are. I'm sure everything will be fine. At least now I know it's fairly normal.