Strange aggressive behavior from older cat

[clario6372]

I have two cats, Maxwell and Frankie who are a 1.5 y/o neutered male and a 7 y/o spayed female, respectively. One of the women I live with  ended up with her mother's cat about three weeks ago, because her mom was going to send the cat, named Sosa, to the kill-shelter. My two cats are dealing with this very differently: Max, the younger boy, is VERY nervous all the time but is tentatively wanting to befriend the newcomer. Frankie on the other hand, is not at all pleased by the intrusion.

Other than the obvious aggression she would be/is displaying against Sosa (the new cat) she has started being really aggressive towards Max, who is the same color as Sosa. They have been best friends since Max was born and it makes me so sad for nervous little Max to get hissed at all the time by her.

What can I do? Please help! I really wish this wasn't happening and I'll do pretty much anything to solve this problem.

Thank you for any help you can give me

 

[mani]

Hi clario6372...

Introducing new cats can often be an issue... it's good if it can be done in a gradual way.. It may be a good idea to start from scratch (definitely no pun intended!).. Have a read of this link about introducing new cats:

http://www.thecatsite.com/a/introducing-cats-to-cats

You may decide to go that way, or you could try a Feliway diffuser to see if that helps.  Others may have more suggestions for you...

Good luck!

 

[yayi]

Frankie's behavior towards Max is redirected aggression. It happens often when a cat can't get to whatever it upsets it so it directs its frustration towards another even if it was its best buddy. 

My suggestion is to introduce Sosa to your cats as Mani suggested. Good luck!

 

[tallyamy]

I'm going through something similar to this with my cats now - we are still working on it. 

Take your time with the two cats, and keep calm - they definitely pick up on our emotions.  And the most important thing I learned - the hard and painful way - is if it comes down to a cat brawl, don't break it up by stepping in between them! 

Make sure your cats have plenty of escape routes and hidey-holes.  Over the last few weeks I've found that the sound of a can of cat food opening is a great distraction for cats that look like they might be fixin' to start something.  Have you had to separate the cats yet?  Mine have been separated almost a week now, but are able to eat facing each other through a crack in the door a few inches wide.  I don't know if you've come to that point yet, but if you have/do there's a lot of great advice here about that.  I've read that cat introductions can sometimes take longer with older cats.

Hang in there and good luck!

 

[clario6372]

Thanks so much for your responses, I really appreciate it as I've just been so stressed out about poor nervous Max. Although, I must admit I am relieved to hear that this is something that someone else has heard of as a behavioral problem and isn't just that Frankie is confused between the two black cats.

I am not able to open the link that you posted, Mani (something about the characters being invalid?), but I'll try to navigate to it through the rest of the site. In the meantime I've been being extra nice to Mr. Max, poor little picked on dude!

Thanks to both of you

 

[mani]

I am not able to open the link that you posted, Mani (something about the characters being invalid?), but I'll try to navigate to it through the rest of the site. In the meantime I've been being extra nice to Mr. Max, poor little picked on dude!

Yes, there seems to be a glitch.. I'll report it.  In the meantime, if you go up to the top of the page to Articles, then go the the 'cat behaviour' tab, you'll find in there "introducing cats to cats" and a lot of other good stuff.

Hope it works... do let us know.

 

[otto]

In addition to the other excellent re-introduction advice, I recommend:

install some feliway plug in diffusers to help with stress and territorial feelings

make sure there is enough elevated space for all three cats

make sure there are enough litter boxes (I would suggest at least four)

Your roommate is an angel to have rescued this kitty. I'm sure in time they can all learn to live peaceably together. Three weeks is a very short time.

 

[clario6372]

A little update:

The cats seemed to be getting along better...but then this morning Frankie bit Max while he was eating, and wouldn't let him near the food! It seems like the biggest problem we're having is that Sosa likes to come into Frankie and Max's "area" at night to eat their food...seems like a big territorial no no. This has been causing fights loud enough to wake me up, and I usually just sequester my two into my bedroom. This isn't ideal, since their litter boxes and food are outside my room, but they're only spending about 4 hours or so in here w/o on those nights - also difficult to think of a better solution when roused abruptly at 3:30 by a feline rumble, haha.

Sosa and Max have started doing little "almost play" activities - slowly following each other around a room, staring warily, eating treats within 2 feet of each other, timid nose sniffing, etc. Frankie is being such a problem child. I'm not sure about Sosa's aggression levels - it's hard to tell but Frankie is certainly more vocal than he is, plus I've never seen him make an "attack" move on either of the two.

Would it be best to keep Frankie away from the other two,or Sosa? Or even Max? He's the one I feel the worst for - he's just trying to be friendly and has gotten caught in some harsh crossfire.

In the meantime, I'll buy a Feliway refill and install it where most of the altercations are occurring, near Max and Frankie's food bowls.

I am worried that because Frankie and Sosa are both older (Frankie was adopted and is of unknown age, but the vet guesses 6-7 and Sosa is 8) that the problem will never be solved and one of them will eventually get hurt in a fight/their home environment will just become really stressful

. Sosa is such a sweet older guy and I just wish we could be one happy family!

Thanks again for everyone's help

 

[catspaw66]

Keep the claws trimmed and that will reduce the chance of them getting severely scratched.  They may just need more time to get used to each other.  I have seen Sheba reaching out to bite (gently) the others, so some fussing and squabbling is to be expected even after more than 2 years together.