- Joined
- Oct 29, 2022
- Messages
- 66
- Purraise
- 38
I posted back a couple of weeks ago and am still concerned about the interaction between these two cats. Jeter is a neutered 12 year old male who has always been an only cat. He did accept an adult female golden retriever who was raised with cats - they don’t snuggle or play or anything but will occupy the same couch peacefully. He is a beast - 14 lbs and irritable in general, completely unmanageable at the vet, for example, due to fear-based aggression (or so they say) and is hyper reactive - doesn’t like being moved and will snap, will hiss if you brush by him sometimes especially if you have another cat’s scent on you, etc. So he’s quite challenging and i assume very territorial.
The current problem is with an adult female Dolly (of uncertain age who was rescued by my son and his wife a few years ago) who’s been living with her two other housemate cats in a separate building on the same property with my son’s now ex wife (too long of a story.) She is pretty docile but playful. A couple of months ago she was brought into the main house where I live with my son, the retriever, and Jeter. The reason was that my ex daughter-in-law was fostering five kittens and two puppies and Dolly kept trying to get outdoors (she was formerly an outdoor cat) so the thought was that she’d be happier in the main house. However, she terrorizes Jeter despite being smaller. Somehow she manages to corner him and he hisses and growls and she hisses back and won’t back down but he can’t seem to figure out how to escape from her. Someone on this site suggested she might be trying to play and he wants no part of it - I can usually either chase her away from him or physically move her to another area but obviously can’t always be present and am worried about what could happen if no one is home. My ex daughter-in-law has had tons of cats and is rather blasé about this and believes that Dolly is happier in the main house. That’s great but I hate seeing Jeter intimidated. There isn’t a way to rearrange furniture to help because he always seems to get himself backed up against a wall and he won’t run past her. They’ve not made physical contact yet so I just am wondering if this is more likely to stay the same or more likely to escalate to the point of a physical fight. I am reluctant to “leave it to them to working out” but can’t always be there to rescue him either.
Also want to add that Dolly is definitely a huntress. Jeter has caught a few mice that have inadvertently wandered into the house but Dolly has had more experience.
The current problem is with an adult female Dolly (of uncertain age who was rescued by my son and his wife a few years ago) who’s been living with her two other housemate cats in a separate building on the same property with my son’s now ex wife (too long of a story.) She is pretty docile but playful. A couple of months ago she was brought into the main house where I live with my son, the retriever, and Jeter. The reason was that my ex daughter-in-law was fostering five kittens and two puppies and Dolly kept trying to get outdoors (she was formerly an outdoor cat) so the thought was that she’d be happier in the main house. However, she terrorizes Jeter despite being smaller. Somehow she manages to corner him and he hisses and growls and she hisses back and won’t back down but he can’t seem to figure out how to escape from her. Someone on this site suggested she might be trying to play and he wants no part of it - I can usually either chase her away from him or physically move her to another area but obviously can’t always be present and am worried about what could happen if no one is home. My ex daughter-in-law has had tons of cats and is rather blasé about this and believes that Dolly is happier in the main house. That’s great but I hate seeing Jeter intimidated. There isn’t a way to rearrange furniture to help because he always seems to get himself backed up against a wall and he won’t run past her. They’ve not made physical contact yet so I just am wondering if this is more likely to stay the same or more likely to escalate to the point of a physical fight. I am reluctant to “leave it to them to working out” but can’t always be there to rescue him either.
Also want to add that Dolly is definitely a huntress. Jeter has caught a few mice that have inadvertently wandered into the house but Dolly has had more experience.