Recently, I have been having redirected aggression issues with my two oldest cats. I read that what I need to do is reintroduce them just as if they were brand new to each other. First of all, this breaks my heart because they have been best friends for two years! Now they are mortal enemies!
Anyway, the problem I am having with the reintroduction is that neither one of them will accept being confined to a specific area of the house. They both consider the whole house as being part of their territory, and when i try to keep one in a separate room , the one being separated gets really ticked off! I mean, they are howling and very mad at me for this! They just don't understand why they can't go through the house as normal. I've tried it now with both cats, and both of them just get so upset! It upsets me too, because I don't want the separated cat thinking I am punishing them or singling them out for something. The redirected aggression is going both ways here- I mean it's like "Sophie's Choice" trying to pick which cat should be isolated for such a long time!
I would love any advice on how to make this work, or any other clever alternatives because this is really not working out for my little kitty family so far.
Anyway, the problem I am having with the reintroduction is that neither one of them will accept being confined to a specific area of the house. They both consider the whole house as being part of their territory, and when i try to keep one in a separate room , the one being separated gets really ticked off! I mean, they are howling and very mad at me for this! They just don't understand why they can't go through the house as normal. I've tried it now with both cats, and both of them just get so upset! It upsets me too, because I don't want the separated cat thinking I am punishing them or singling them out for something. The redirected aggression is going both ways here- I mean it's like "Sophie's Choice" trying to pick which cat should be isolated for such a long time!
I would love any advice on how to make this work, or any other clever alternatives because this is really not working out for my little kitty family so far.