Young Cat Terrorizing Older Cat

[doddsington]

Hi all!!

I rescued a 1.5 year old cat from a feral colony I assist an older lady with. She said orange kitty, now Wilson was dumped with his bag of food in her colony. Middle of February in Michigan!! the week before temps hit -20!!! So I drove over, he greeted me with a desperate meow, I scooped him up, he licked my face and now he lives with myself, boyfriend, dog, and my BELOVED 11 year old tuxedo, Rudy. Wilson LOVES rough play and hunts Rudy. Rudy cannot catch a break. Wilson also bites Rudy in the back and doesn’t let go, not even with Rudy’s social queues. That worries me. I have to separate them and give them time away from eachother. Wilson also doesn’t understand when his behavior is not favored by us. I understand he is a cat, not a dog, but, Rudy understands a lot of what he is not supposed to do. When I pull Wilson off of Rudy, and distract with a toy, Wilson then hunts me and jumps on my angles and feet. Seems like he loves a challenge lol. Can anyone help or give thoughts, advice on his behavior? Wilson does groom rudy, but that quickly turns into rough housing. He will be 2 by February and i thought he will calm down. We had him neutered. My wild child!

 

[Furballsmom]

Hi! I don't know, but in case you haven't seen this, would there be anything here?

How To Introduce A Kitten To An Older Cat

 

[ArtNJ]

Super common, there are a million posts on here that are similar. I'm afraid most of the suggestions either aren't too useful (i.e., play with Wilson more, as if you didn't think of that, and as if you could exhaust a young cat with a few more games) or are controversial (get a kitten) (might work really well . . . or not). Some alone time for the older cat, as you are doing, now and then is useful, although if you overdo it you get christmas morning effect where the playful cat gets overeager and the older cat never sees the young being chill. So I would mostly use alone time for some close door affection for the older cat. I personally do not believe discipline does anything in this situation. Distraction helps in the precise moment, but you can't hope to keep that up.

What does work? Time. Eventually. Most cats do start to calm down some by 2. Sorry the news isn't better, but at least this case doesn't sound especially severe in the scheme of these things.

 

[doddsington]

Thank you both for the help and reassurance! I mostly feel guilty that my “first born” has to put up with Wilson now and watches his back . Hopefully as you stated, artnj, Wilson will grow out of it by 2

 

[Furballsmom]

Depending on how you feel about it, you could try hissing, --a loud firm hiss, at your rowdy one. There are TCS members who have found results with it.

By the way, can you build a catio or take him for walks? There's a lot of energy or something that needs to be depleted/decreased somehow. He does seem a little old to be so full of drama, and your resident cat needs the time without the stress.

Just in case you're interested for either cat or both, there are these;

Only Natural Pet has a product called Just Relax Calming spray with essential oil (catnip oil).

There's this one, be sure and scroll all the way down the page;
Bach Flower Remedies - Rescue Remedy Pets Dogs Cats Horses Birds

Richard's Organics Pet Calm-this one is drops that you put on the tip of the tongue. Also, HomeoPet Anxiety Relief, Head to Tail Calming, Relaxivet Quiet Moments Cat treats, GNC Calming formula, and there is Calm-o-mile, Sentry calming collar, Natures Miracle calming spray, Vetri-Science's Composure is another item to look at, Pet Remedy - UK (it has valerian) is yet another, as is Essential Pet Pet-eze, Pet Organics No Stress, Only Natural Pet (brand and website) has other calming products, Pet Naturals also has one I believe, and there are others.

Also Thunderease has diffusers as does Sentry, Comfort Zone and feliway, although diffusers are expensive and not always an answer.

Lambert Vet Supply is a website to look at, and of course chewy, also there's Petwishpros, animaleo, 1-800-petmeds, Petco and PetSmart, and other pet stores.

There is also a product called a lickimat which could be helpful for your resident kitty, as cats can be calmed by the process of licking. The LickiMat - Food Puzzles for Cats

This post talks about some other products;
Calming Treats For A Very Picky Cat

 

[maggie101]

Thank you both for the help and reassurance! I mostly feel guilty that my “first born” has to put up with Wilson now and watches his back . Hopefully as you stated, artnj, Wilson will grow out of it by 2

I have the same problem. I agree with ArtNJ. Disciplin does not work. What helped was having a place for my cat Peaches to Jump high then Maggie will walk away. Also clicker train her to come when called. Night time is the worst. I sometimes lock Maggie out of my bedroom til she calms down 15 minutes later. If she is only interested in chasing Peaches Maggie will not play with me and stares at Peaches. One reason I like the Purrfect Bouncer. I can shake it fast in front of her on the ground so she is annoyed and distracts her

 

[maggie101]

I just realized, since I have been going to bed at 10 instead of 12, I get 2 hours of sleep before her "playing" starts

 

[She's a witch]

Who knows, maybe he understands that you don’t want him to play rough with Rudy, but maybe he just choose to ignore your wish For most cats pleasing themselves is more important than pleasing their humans. Plus, the need to play may be way too strong for him.

I’d actually say that playing with Wilson more may really help. He has lots of life and energy that needs to be used, time indeed may “help” in a way that he will quiet down but some cats stay high energy for way more longer than 2yo. I don’t think any calming products are helpful here since you’re not dealing with the anxious cat, but simply playful - I don’t believe you can calm the energy down, but try to wear Wilson out instead. I’m sure you’ll find a best way to play with him. Good luck!

 

[Furballsmom]

. I don’t think any calming products are helpful here since you’re not dealing with the anxious cat, but simply playful - I don’t believe you can calm the energy down, but try to wear Wilson out instead.

you're likely right, regarding the rowdy one.. I just now saw in another thread by the OP that a calming collar was utilized earlier, at least for a while but I don't know how effective it was.

The more I think about this, I'm wondering if music would help your older cat to relax a little, classical harp music can be quite useful and members have had lovely results

 

[She's a witch]

you're likely right, regarding the rowdy one.. I just now saw in another thread by the OP that a calming collar was utilized earlier, at least for a while but I don't know how effective it was.

The more I think about this, I'm wondering if music would help your older cat to relax a little, classical harp music can be quite useful and members have had lovely results

Oh yes, I didn’t mean the calming products won’t help Rudy, I’m sure they will! I just meant Wilson, the “rowdy” one
He doesn’t need to be calmed just because he is full of energy, the energy needs an outlet instead of being “killed”, otherwise the playful cat that won’t be allowed to play will be bored and may get stressed because of that as well. It’s simply a bummer situation when older, calmer cat was paired with the playful one, but since it was a rescue situation, it is what it is. It’s natural for a young/playful cat to want to play, and it’s natural for an older cat to want to rest and not play. I don’t envy the OP

I’m going off topic a bit but I used to be a fan of calming collars but I’m having a problem now - we’ve just moved and my cats wear them, and maybe they work great in a way that both cats have adjusted great within one and two days, but they scratch so much around it that I wonder if it’s worth it... they’re not used to wearing collar so I’m wondering if that’s the reason.

 

[Furballsmom]

but they scratch so much around it that I wonder if it’s worth it...

I don’t envy the OP

me too, hoping walks or a catio are options

 

[maggie101]

When I rescued my very active 5 week old kitten, my old cat did not like her but later they became bff and started grooming each other.