Cat/Kitty help

[dustysky]

Ok guys I need your help here. We have a male adult cat (Mr. Man), we have had him 3 years and he is our baby. However he happens to have two personalities.... one minute you can be patting him and all is good and in the next split second he will attack you and bite/scratch. But we DO love him, LOTS....
Yesterday I got a new kitten for my daughter who has wanted a pet of her own for a long, long time.
Mr. Man is NOT having this new kitten in any way, shape, or form. The baby (Roxy) will be under my bed and Mr. Man (who is very large) will sit there and make sure she does not come out.
Mr. Man is also not happy with us AT ALL, all day yesterday if any of us even tried to pat him he hissed at us.
I KNOW it can take a while for a dominant pet to adjust to a new pet BUT have any of you ever heard of pets NOT adjusting??

 

[Aurora63]

My Honey is like your Mr. Man. She will be sweet one second, but if you pet her too mcuh, she'll try to attack! The vet said it was 'overstimulation' and just don't pet her too much. She also tries to attack me when I get out of the shower, I have yet to figure that one out.

Anyway, when we first got Spotty, she was very angry at us, but now it's been about seven months, and they tolerate each other. They are not friends by any means, but they don't fight. It just took time. I'd try limiting the kitten to one room, and slowly re-introduce them for a few minutes each day until Mr. Man is not so angry. And give Mr. Man plenty of affection so he knows he's still the 'head cat.'

 

[pearlieq]

Cats are very territorial animals and routine is very, very important to them. You can't just bring home a new cat, let it out, and hope for the best.

Here's a link that describes how to introduce a new cat to the resident cat. http://www.sspca.org/Cats/Introducing.html

As for the "sudden" aggression issue, are you paying attention to the cat when you're petting it? Lots of cats have a limit on how much petting they want and will communicate to you when they've had enough. Does he tense up? Does his tail start to twitch and then swish back and forth? Does he hiss? Those are usually signs the he wants you to stop.

Here's a link that discusses that behavior more: http://www.sspca.org/Cats/AggressiveBehavior.html

Good luck to all of you!

 

[NCRedding]

Thanks for the link. We had an abandoned cat that took up with us, and does some of the same behaviors.

 

[hellokitty86]

Our cat Lily is like that. She is very moody and when we got Buddy, she was VERY upset. She was only about 6 months old when we got him. We were very concerned she was going to hurt him, so we kept them seperated for a couple days. One day, I was cleaning the bedroom and Buddy was laying on the bed, and Lily came walking in and just decided to "accept him" and layed down with him..I'm shocked how close they are now!

I know this doesn't happen all the time, actually when I was growing up I had two cats that just barely tolerated each other, but now I can't picture my cats living without each other!!

When we got Ruby (our pug), well that was just a different ball of wax

But even Lily occasionaly comes up to her and licks her! Anything is possible!

 

[Rhonda922]

Not sure if this was mentioned but you may even want to put the little kitty in a carrier and put it near the big cat. That way the big cat can see the little kitty but not smack at it, bite, etc. I mean to just do this for a few minutes -- not leaving little kitty in the carrier for a long time. Hopefully this will help the big cat get use to being around the little one by being able to sniff her and see her but not exactly being able to get to her, if you know what I mean.

 

[azgal81]

We just got another kitty about a month ago and our older one is a little older then one. I think we broke all the rules of introducing them to each other I was all concerned that we should put the little kitty in another room for a few days just so the older one gets used to the smell. My boyfriend however was all like just let them sniff each other so that's what we did. There was some hissing for about the first hour but after that they were buddies!

Although the little one wants to play all the time which I think annoys the older cat so he jumps up on the counter to get away from the kitty. That won't last long though becasue the kitty is getting so big he will be able to jump up there soon himself! Now they follow each other everywhere it's the cutest thing.

I think in some cases they get along right away and in others it takes awhile. Make sure you are giving them both equal amount of attentions and maybe if your older one likes to play still you can play with them at the same time. Those balls with the bells in them are a big hit with my two cats especially with the kitty.

 

[CheshireVal]

When you introduce a new cat to your "old" cat, they won't ever instantly be friends. Even if your cat has the sweetest disposition of all time, it will still be territorial and suspcious of new cats. It can take up to a month or two for them to fully accept each other. Even if they never get to be great friends, they will learn to tolerate each other eventually!

It's best to introduce a new kitten slowly. Keep it in a separate room and let the cats smell each other from under the door. After a day or two, let them spend small amounts of time together before you give them free range!

 

[dustysky]

thanks for all the help and info. I had posted this way after we got home (over a day) with the new kitty so keeping her in a different room was not an opption at that point.
I dont think my 5 year old helps matters much because they dont get much time to get to know each other with her around.
So far no one has gotten agressive so ...... now we will just watch and see how it all ends up.
Thanks again.