When one cat is more dominating than the other is this healthy or bad?

[di and bob]

I would continue to separate for a while longer. The only fights mine get into is when we are gone. Then we come home to hair on the floor. So supervision helps! A kickaroo is a elongated cat toy that is about a foot long and shaped like a hot dog with a tail. I see them in those magazines that are sent out in the mail with different stuff to buy, found my latest in Walmart in the pet section. The cat ones are the best they stuff them with some catnip I think, although there are some for dogs too. My cats don't like them as well. Good luck!

 

[razz]

UPDATE:  About the same, and it's becoming more and more clear that Persy has pent up energy from being isolated and is releasing it (and fixated) on Schrodi.

I feel that I need to do something more than isolate Persy and have him share a towel with Schrodie to address the issue, but I'm unsure of what can be done.

Most of the guides are about all out aggression, and Persy just reeeally wants to play with an older (but smaller) cat that's completely uninterested and uncomfortable.

When I'm here I'm slightly confident that with the right kitten toys I can distract him from Schrodie, but what about times when I'm not home I wonder?

It seems as though both cats are interested in each other the way they paw at each other through the door and mew...

Until I can think up or find out something to add to this I'll just continue to keep them separated and switching a towel between them.

I'm starting to worry more because I told my sister it can take two months or even more for cats to adjust to each other, and she sounds like she's not interested in keeping this up that long before she assumes that Persy will need a new home.  :<

 

[duckdodgers]

I had a similar issue a couple of years ago when I brought home a 5 week old feral kitten to live with me and my 16 year old lady cat.  The old cat wanted zero to do with the kitten, the kitten was entirely fascinated with the old cat, and her feral nature in combination with being taken from her cat family far too young made it a difficult situation to manage.  Old lady cat was very tiny, so when the kitten inevitably outgrew her she'd go so far as to take flying tackles at the old cat, sending her flying just for fun.  Things improved with time, but the kitten was still overly rough with the old cat until old cat died a year and a half later.  I also had (and still do have) issues with the cat playing far too rough with humans, biting (though not drawing blood) and getting too overstimulated, and those have lessened slightly with time.  They do grow up eventually... I promise

What worked the best for me was trying to redirect the kitten's excess energy to a more appropriate activity than harassing her companion.  I tried to redirect her to stuffed toys or similar things to give her something to tackle that wasn't a cat or my hands.  If I had time to spare at that moment then I'd do things like throw toys to her, play with her using dangly toys, try to make her run and bounce off the furniture.  I made regular times to do this throughout the day anyway, as I feel people should be doing with their cats.  I was living in a one bedroom apartment at the time, so when I left the house I'd lock the kitten in the bedroom/bathroom area to give the old lady a break.  It basically split up the living space 50/50 for each cat, and I knew that nothing would happen between the two while I was gone.  I also brought her in with me at night, so old lady would have a full night to sleep, prowl, and generally do what old lady cats do uninterrupted.  If I was in the middle of doing household activities like cooking dinner and kitten got too rambunctious I'd toss her in there, though I'd try to play with her first if I could.  Basically, I played with the kitten to get her attention off of the old cat when I could and separated them when I couldn't.  I provided climbing and hiding space for the old cat, but she preferred to sleep on the couch.  Getting another cat was not an option for me. 

This went on until I moved to a bigger apartment and finally started leaving them out together.  I still took the kitten to bed with me at night, but the extra room seemed to make things more settled for them.  I tried to train her to be less rough, but that didn't really work.  Managing the situation did, though. 

 

[razz]

I can't seem to get Persy to redirect his energy onto me or a toy.....he's still fixated on Schrodie when he gets the chance!
I even used his favorite toy, he barely  notices it.
I'm starting to worry that we'll really have to give Persy to someone else...it's not healthy for Schrodie to have to deal with this, and Persy isn't handling being isolated very well.
My sister says that if by mid March or so Persy still isn't getting along with Schrodie that we'll have to give him up for sure.

 

[razz]

Update, hope this isn't too soon to post again...

I almost gave up and was gonna give Persy's info to a rescue organization so they can advertise him for a new home eventually, but after a pep talk from some friends I've decided to continue to try to get this to work.

To help with his isolation and energy issue, which was that it was hard to visit him and play with him in that little, cold room, we're cycling the cats to where every two hours or so we'll switch between which cat has to be in another room and which cat gets to wander in the living room and etc.
To make things even easier I moved my computer to my room (was originally in the living room) so that I can multi task computer stuff while entertaining and comforting the confined kitty.
....  
What can I say, I'm on the computer a lot.... >.>
This helps with the issue of Persy not getting enough attention and play time that we had when he was in the library, but I'm aware that I should try something more as well to help them adjust to each other specifically without fear of a fight happening.
I'm not sure the blanket scent thing is doing enough...

Some friends suggested to just let them at it every now and then so that the whole alpha cat stuff can be taken care of and they'll understand each other, but even if that works in the long run I don't want to see Schrodie get so stressed that it messes with his health or behavior so I'm not doing that at all.