- Joined
- Apr 15, 2016
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I have two little kitties.
Benji: 7 years in July. I've had him since he was 4 weeks old or so and he lived in my arms since I was recently graduated from undergrad at the time and home a lot. We did everything together with him in my arms. This has resulted in a very loving, and trusting but bratty kitty. =P I'm definitely alpha and I can bathe him, brush his teeth, do whatever and he just kinda puts up with it with a "But why mommy..." face. He did not have any kitty friends until I fostered one 4 years ago and he went after her like crazy, not even backing away as she hissed/scratched. He ended up with nicks in his chin and still went after her! lol. Benji was declawed as a kitten, a choice made by my parents but (at that time), there were no behaviour changes.
Tyson: Estimated 5 years old. We got him two years ago as we were fostering him but ended up keeping him because he was too sweet. We tried to keep him in the bathroom, the first night to slowly introduce the two, but he cried for hours and Benji cried for hours at the door to the bathroom so we just let him out. They interacted fine (to our unknowing human eyes) and by the second day Benji was lying down pretty much "on top" of Tyson basically saying "yep, this is my friend!" Tyson has claws and he's a crazy polydactyl!
They have no problems eating together, no problems being in the same room, no problems playing with me together or using the same litter boxes or sleeping together or sleeping with me together. They play fight together and Tyson over time started play fighting back so it definitely looks more equal now. Benji grooms Tyson so the heirarchy seems to be Me > Benji > Tyson.
Now to the problem...
Every so often, at least once a day, Benji goes nuts on Tyson and chases him all over, relentlessly. He bites down hard on his backside or neck and Tyson ends up screaming and crying. When Tyson runs away he hisses at Benji, but Benji does not give up. Tyson isn't a fighter so I don't think he's ever really scratched back and Benji never draws blood with his bites but her certainly hurts and scares Tyson! Since Benji won't jump over a baby gate (I don't really know why... he jumps on higher counters), we put it up so Tyson can jump into one of the bathrooms and be free from Benji if he needs. He uses it sometimes.
When we had another foster I rescued from the streets, Annabelle, Benji would go after her too and that gave Tyson some space. Also, Annabelle wouldn't put up with that sh*t so Benji got told via claws. =P
I've tried increasing playtime with the boys, but Benji still does that.
I've tried the baby gate, but Tyson still gets caught sometimes.
I've got Feliway going.
I'm going to see if putting bach flower in Benji's water helps some.
I still continue to give Benji tons of one on one time because he loves to be picked up and just walk around with me.
Any other suggestions? My only thoughts are 1) Benji doesn't know how to play nice with friends and 2) Benji takes out frustrations on Tyson.
Benji: 7 years in July. I've had him since he was 4 weeks old or so and he lived in my arms since I was recently graduated from undergrad at the time and home a lot. We did everything together with him in my arms. This has resulted in a very loving, and trusting but bratty kitty. =P I'm definitely alpha and I can bathe him, brush his teeth, do whatever and he just kinda puts up with it with a "But why mommy..." face. He did not have any kitty friends until I fostered one 4 years ago and he went after her like crazy, not even backing away as she hissed/scratched. He ended up with nicks in his chin and still went after her! lol. Benji was declawed as a kitten, a choice made by my parents but (at that time), there were no behaviour changes.
Tyson: Estimated 5 years old. We got him two years ago as we were fostering him but ended up keeping him because he was too sweet. We tried to keep him in the bathroom, the first night to slowly introduce the two, but he cried for hours and Benji cried for hours at the door to the bathroom so we just let him out. They interacted fine (to our unknowing human eyes) and by the second day Benji was lying down pretty much "on top" of Tyson basically saying "yep, this is my friend!" Tyson has claws and he's a crazy polydactyl!
They have no problems eating together, no problems being in the same room, no problems playing with me together or using the same litter boxes or sleeping together or sleeping with me together. They play fight together and Tyson over time started play fighting back so it definitely looks more equal now. Benji grooms Tyson so the heirarchy seems to be Me > Benji > Tyson.
Now to the problem...
Every so often, at least once a day, Benji goes nuts on Tyson and chases him all over, relentlessly. He bites down hard on his backside or neck and Tyson ends up screaming and crying. When Tyson runs away he hisses at Benji, but Benji does not give up. Tyson isn't a fighter so I don't think he's ever really scratched back and Benji never draws blood with his bites but her certainly hurts and scares Tyson! Since Benji won't jump over a baby gate (I don't really know why... he jumps on higher counters), we put it up so Tyson can jump into one of the bathrooms and be free from Benji if he needs. He uses it sometimes.
When we had another foster I rescued from the streets, Annabelle, Benji would go after her too and that gave Tyson some space. Also, Annabelle wouldn't put up with that sh*t so Benji got told via claws. =P
I've tried increasing playtime with the boys, but Benji still does that.
I've tried the baby gate, but Tyson still gets caught sometimes.
I've got Feliway going.
I'm going to see if putting bach flower in Benji's water helps some.
I still continue to give Benji tons of one on one time because he loves to be picked up and just walk around with me.
Any other suggestions? My only thoughts are 1) Benji doesn't know how to play nice with friends and 2) Benji takes out frustrations on Tyson.