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So I have a 1 year old cat, he’s a very leave-me-alone kind of cat and only gives affection every now and then. In July we adopted a female kitten and unfortunately she was sick when we adopted her, so we had her quarantined for almost a month. We finally made the introduction with our older cat and the first few days he did fine, no hissing just some swatting, but he would ALWAYS chase her. So we would just put her back in our room.

Lately, he starts chasing her and trying to hurt her she has screamed/cried twice. So we just keep her in our room with some baby gates and my other cats just stays out here because I don’t want her getting hurt. I don’t know how to stop this situation; I have thought about just taking her back, but her story is just so sad and she got very attached to me and I really don’t want to. She is the sweetest little cat, but it’s also frustrating to just have her in the room and just seeing how my older cat just doesn’t leave her alone. Please, if anyone has any tips, I would appreciate them.

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  • Are both cats neutered/desexed?
    – Allison C
    Commented Sep 15, 2020 at 14:07
  • How did you actually introduce them? Did you follow the usual advice (feeding them with a door separating them, then short supervised visits, etc.)?
    – Kai
    Commented Sep 16, 2020 at 5:58
  • Yes, they are both neutered!
    – Katia
    Commented Sep 17, 2020 at 4:28
  • Well when we introduced them we just let them smell each other through the door, then we did some swapping and then we did the feeding through baby gates until we felt that they were ready. The first few days he did well no hissing no nothing then the chasing started
    – Katia
    Commented Sep 17, 2020 at 4:30

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Sometimes cats just don't get along. It is a sad fact of life. By the sounds of it, your cat sees the kitten as an intruder who needs to be driven off.

What you can do is to try to associate the kitten with good things, like snacks and others. You should also consider putting blankets that your kitten sleeps on around your older cat, so they can get used to the scent. Keep the baby cage between two cats, so they can see each others without risking the kitten. If your cat just smells the kitten, give her snacks. If he swats her, don't give snacks.

Have them supervised wandering, with older cat watching as kitten wanders around, then let older cat wander in the same area but with kitten removed.

Have two separate areas for the two, where either one can retreat. Different bowls and such. Make your cat understand that his territory is not being threathened.

In general, you want to try to have your cat associate the kitten with good things, snacks, pets, whatever he likes. However, since he is a male he might not be welcoming to strangers. Female cats are more likely to welcome new cats in their homes as opposed to male cats. You want him to get used to the idea that there is now another cat in the house.

Also be prepared that this process can take months to years. So if you want to keep your kitten, get ready for a long haul.

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  • The first sentence of this answer sums the whole thing up. I once had two kittens (sisters). I thought it would be great company for both of them. For months they were best of friends then, as they grew up, they started to resent each other. This got so bad that one of them started spending most of her time with the next-door neighbor. I spoke to the neighbour and she was happy to take over the welfare of the sister. After that they just avoided each other and co-existed happily as next-door-neighbours.
    – chasly - supports Monica
    Commented Sep 15, 2020 at 9:04
  • Indeed. If cats can form their own "home" territories, they can be suprisingly tolerant of visitors in hunting and wandering territories. By the sound of it, two cats formed home territories in the houses and had overlapping hunting/wander territories.
    – Mandemon
    Commented Sep 16, 2020 at 10:46

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