4 year old female, still hissing and growling at 4 month old male. Its been 2 months.

NicL2479

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Will my 4 year old Cherokee girl ever get over her issue with the 4 month old kitten, Charley. They are fine in the same room, but when he tries to play with her, she bats him down and hisses and growls at him, then she takes off running and he lays back his ears and chases her. He won't leave her alone and she gets mad about it. I did the proper introduction process. Any help would be great. We adopted her from the H.S.P.P.R. in Colo. Spgs, CO. when she was 6 months old, she was a stray at the time, it says on her paperwork. soo I don't think she was socialized. She is sweet to us and loves to lay with me, but doesn't like when any strangers comes into our house, she goes and hides and freaks out. We had an older cat at the time, who used to bully her, they were not good friends. When the old cat passed away, we got Charley hoping they would be fast friends, but it's not working out that way. They both came from the same place, but Charley was socialized. Cherokee is still afraid of almost everything. She won't even go near the front door, hates it outside. We think she has p.t.s.d. from being a stray and probably from our older cat who we figured out was bullying her when we weren't home. Is she scared of Charley, thinking he will be mean to her like our old cat was? I just wish she would stop it and let him be her friend. It is getting better, but man this is slow. He gets put in his own room at night and when we aren't home. They aren't left alone without supervision. We play with them with toys at the same time, but if he gets too close she hisses at him. Any help is greatly appreciated as to thoughts on how to make this better!!!!
Thankyou fellow Cat People.
 

rubysmama

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Hello and welcome to TCS. Sorry though for the situation that brought you here.

From reading your post, it sounds as though Charley is being a typical "wanna play all the time" kitten, and Cherokee just isn't interested. So she hisses and growls at him to tell him to "back off". It could be that they needed a longer introduction period, but more likely the age difference and activity level difference would still have happened.

As long as there is no actual fighting (fur flying or bloodshed) and that Cherokee doesn't show signs of stress (i.e. not eating normally, or litter box issues) I would say things are going ok-ish, and you probably just have to continue as you are for a while longer.

Once Charley is older, there's a good chance they will become friends, but meanwhile you and any other humans in the family will have to step in and play with him as much as possible so he can use up all his energy without pestering Cherokee.

Keeping them separated at night, and when you're not home, is definitely a good idea. Just to ensure the batting, hissing and growling doesn't escalate to an all out fight when they're alone.

If you feel they need to be totally separated, and re-do their introduction, here's a TCS article that might be helpful:
How To Fix An Unsuccessful Cat Introduction | TheCatSite
 

FeebysOwner

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:yeah: As long as Charley continually comes back to 'play' with Cherokee, and Cherokee hasn't retreated to hiding, and they can actually spend time in the same room, I don't see there is a lot to worry about. It's only been 2 months, so more time is likely needed to get past this stage - a lot of that time will involve Charley maturing some and not being the typical annoying kitten. He may one day even 'get a clue' to know that he probably should just leave Cherokee alone. Make sure you use distraction techniques with him to stop him from constantly bothering her - that essentially means getting him to focus on you instead of her through lots and lots of play time.
 

ArtNJ

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Remember, hissing and growling doesn't necessarily mean something terrible. It can have 100 different meanings. Most are some shade of negative, but here, for example, it could mean "back off, your annoying". As FeebysOwner FeebysOwner pointed out, as long as the older cat isn't constantly hiding or acting stressed, and is only hissing and growling or running away when actively being pestered, this isn't such a big deal. Its like a grumpy old man yelling at kids playing loud music and then retreating to the house.

This is a very common issue with senior cats and kittens. A bit less common with a 4 year old and a kitten, but its something that, for whatever reason, happens sometimes. As noted, it should continue to improve and you can help by engaging the kitten. They may not ever be friends, but its not impossible.
 
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