Ok, first a brief description of the two cats...
Escher: got from the Humane Society when he was about 4-5 months old, doesn't really act like a cat, more like a dog (following us around the apartment) and is very talkative!
Phoebe: rescued from an alley, friends found her, she had been left there for about 2 months, spayed and declawed, they took her to the vet and we took her in. She is very much a cat, does not want to be bothered unless she approaches you, growls and even hisses at us if we pet her too much or pick her up when she's grumpy. We also think they may have had a litter due to the wideness of her hips and the fact that touching her belly or near her butt is simply not an option
I've seen posts on here about how to get your dog not to chase your cat, but what about one cat chasing the other? Escher is very agile and not so good with the cat communication as he constantly chases and approaches Phoebe despite her growling, hissing, and swiping. And every night (and usually during the day), he'll do this, resulting in full out, rolling in a ball, sometimes fur flying cat fights in which Phoebe is SCREAMING. Now I will admit she will occasionally turn around and chase him, but the majority of the time, she's just trying to get away from him, but he's very agile. This is particularly a problem at night when the fights result in running across our bed (and therefore on top of mine and my FI's body) or even in the bed (since Phoebe tends to only be nice to us at night and likes to sleep in the bed).
Is there anything we can try to do to get them to get along better? Or, if you think they're playing, does that mean when Phoebe growls and hisses at us it's not that serious? She's only hurt us (ok, me), once, b/c she fell asleep in my arms and when she woke up I think it startled her, so she clamped onto my hand with her mouth and scratched up my arm with her back claws. We also think she may have been abused as she will often cower when we go to pet her or even give her a sharp "no!" when she "scratches" at the furniture (we don't want Escher thinking it's ok, so neither of them get to do it).
TIA!
Escher: got from the Humane Society when he was about 4-5 months old, doesn't really act like a cat, more like a dog (following us around the apartment) and is very talkative!
Phoebe: rescued from an alley, friends found her, she had been left there for about 2 months, spayed and declawed, they took her to the vet and we took her in. She is very much a cat, does not want to be bothered unless she approaches you, growls and even hisses at us if we pet her too much or pick her up when she's grumpy. We also think they may have had a litter due to the wideness of her hips and the fact that touching her belly or near her butt is simply not an option
I've seen posts on here about how to get your dog not to chase your cat, but what about one cat chasing the other? Escher is very agile and not so good with the cat communication as he constantly chases and approaches Phoebe despite her growling, hissing, and swiping. And every night (and usually during the day), he'll do this, resulting in full out, rolling in a ball, sometimes fur flying cat fights in which Phoebe is SCREAMING. Now I will admit she will occasionally turn around and chase him, but the majority of the time, she's just trying to get away from him, but he's very agile. This is particularly a problem at night when the fights result in running across our bed (and therefore on top of mine and my FI's body) or even in the bed (since Phoebe tends to only be nice to us at night and likes to sleep in the bed).
Is there anything we can try to do to get them to get along better? Or, if you think they're playing, does that mean when Phoebe growls and hisses at us it's not that serious? She's only hurt us (ok, me), once, b/c she fell asleep in my arms and when she woke up I think it startled her, so she clamped onto my hand with her mouth and scratched up my arm with her back claws. We also think she may have been abused as she will often cower when we go to pet her or even give her a sharp "no!" when she "scratches" at the furniture (we don't want Escher thinking it's ok, so neither of them get to do it).
TIA!
