Two cats hating each other

[colleen02030507]

I recently acquired 2 cats (brother and sister). My kids and I love them; they are lovable, cuddly and mostly well-behaved.  Unfortunately, I already had a cat which is completely psychotic.  She hates people barely lets us touch her let alone pet or cuddle her and she also hates other cats even more.  So now she is locked in my bed room while the other two cats have the roam of the house.  When they do end up together (when the male darts into my room) he tears her apart. She already has bald spots on her hind legs when she could not get under the bed fast enough. 

So my big problem is that the two of them are tearing holes in my carpeting under the door trying to get to each other.  Is there anything I can do to stop this?  And would it be wrong of me to find a home without kids and other animals for my psycho cat.  We have had her three years but she is barely more than furnitcure to my kids as they never see her  as she simply darts unde rmy bed if they are around.

 

[wingwalker]

How is she with you, when the kids are not around?

 

[colleen02030507]

She is sort of normal.  After 3 years I have finally managed to actually pick her up to move her and she does like to be petted for about 5 minutes before she gets annoyed and goes back under the bed.  She will talk to me sometimes.  My bedroom is fairly large with a walk in closet and bathroom so she does have a fair amount of room but I am not sure which would make her happier being an only cat or being in her home of the last 4 years.  Even before the other cats arrived she spent about 40% of her day under the bed (75% if it was summer vacation and my kids were home).

How do I get them from ruining anymore of my carpeting?  If I keep her I am looking at 15 years of this.  The male just went through a stress issue of peeing blood because I tried to make too many changes. He is fine now but I don't want to do anything to traumatize him either.

 

[scratch n dent]

Ya, introducing the new cats was a bad idea knowing your existing little feline didn't like other cats. In addition, the new male sounds quite aggressive (at least towards her). There are some good resources on how to introduce cats so you may want to try that, if you can keep her safe. Who knows, maybe they might work out However, it does not sound like you are attached to the original shy kitty and maybe rehoming her would be appropriate. What you call psychotic is what many of us call shy and nervous.

 

[onirin]

As far as carpet tearing under the door you can place a plastic mat, like a shower mat or a large mat for bog dogs water bowls.

That only fixes your door problem though.

I dont really know how t deal with a cat that really hates other chats that much.  I hope your able to find a solution that keeps them happy and healthy.  Stress is never good for a cat, it causes a lot of other bad behaviors. 

 

[colleen02030507]

She is a Bengal and I received her free from the breeder because she would go after his kittens and the other cats in the house.  Her mom was crazy (ate a litter).  He had hoped that being in a home without cats would calm her down since she did like him.  However, she will only attach to one person and that was originally my husband who left and now it is me.  Which unfortunately, left my kids without any pets that they could enjoy.  The two new cats were supposed to be temporary while a friend moved but she never came back for them and my kids adore them.  So all in all it is really hard trying to chose between giving my children animals that they can enjoy and keeping a cat that will never be a normal pet.

I will try some introduction ideas though.  I would love for them to all get along.

 

[wingwalker]

Maybe you (ex)husband can take her?

As for introduction and cat behaviour problems in general I can highly recommend Pam Johnson-Bennet. She is one of the top behaviourists and her books are very helpful. Check them out, especially if you want to try to do a proper introduction. She describes in detail on how to do it."Starting from Scratch" is a good general book on cat behavior issues, and then she also wrote one on cat-cat relationships, I forgot the name.

 

[colleen02030507]

I posted earlier about two of my cats hating each other.  I have them separated by a door.  I came home from church today to discover that the door had been left open.  there was cat fur all over my room, my female was under my bed as usual and my male was chilling in the kids room with a small cut on his ear. He outweighs her by about 2 or 3 pounds.  Am I making things better or worse by keeping them apart?  We have had her 4 years and him for 6 months.  About 2 or 3 weeks after we got him we separated them permanently as the fighting was mostly at night and nerve wracking to wake up to at 2 am.

 

[Columbine]

The best thing to do is carry out very gradual introductions. It's not quick, but patience will pay off in the end. Interactive playtime with each cat is a great way to boost confidence and burn off any excess energy, making fighting less likely. Feliway multicat might well be worth a try too. Good luck with them both. [article="32680"][/article][article="29726"][/article][article="0"][/article][article="0"][/article][article="0"][/article][article="30307"][/article][article="30316"][/article]

 

[colleen02030507]

thank you for the info. I think I may try the feliway for her.  She apparently gave better than she got but seems very stressed.  I will try some intro techniques