- Joined
- Mar 12, 2018
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Hi everyone! I am a new member here and I desperately need help with my cats. 3 weeks ago I adopted a 1 year old neutered male named Pepper. This is in addition to Sage, a 7 year old male, and Willow who is a 6 year old female. Going into this I knew Sage was a bit of a bully who doesn't understand when other cats want him to leave them alone, but I figured their personalities could go well together since they are both super playful.
I adopted Pepper from my work so I was able to bring home some of his bedding so my resident cats could get used to his smell well before I took him home. Both of them didn't mind his smell at all and would lay on the beds and rub on them. The day I brought him home he went into our bedroom while the other cats were kept on the separate part of our apartment. Pepper had some medical issues that left him stuck in our room for a week, so during that time we just continued scent swapping and allowed them to see each other through a cracked door. There was some hissing and growling at first when they saw each other but it didn't last long .
Once Pepper was healthy we let them see each other with baby gates in the door way and it went great. They just sat there on either side and would playfully bat and each other. After a few days of that we let them into the house together supervised and that's where it got rough. The first day they were doing ok until Sage pounced on Pepper and he freaked out. Pepper lost some hair but no blood drawn. We separated them again and tried again the next day. A few days later there was a fight again in our room with Sage pouncing on Pepper. This time Sage lost most of the fur but still no blood drawn.
After that there hasn't been more fights, but Sage is still being quite the jerk. He follows Pepper around most of the time and will lay near him or just sit and stare at him. I'm decent at reading cat body language so if I don't think Sage is getting ready to attack I will let them work it out with no intervention. Usually them working it out involves Pepper hissing and growling at him until Sage leaves, at which point I tell Sage how wonderful he is and give him love. I'm trying hard to reward the good behavior and ignore him being obnoxious as long as Pepper doesn't seem to be in imminent danger. Whenever they are awake and near each other I am always right near them just in case I need to stop Sage. Sometimes Sage seems to be being playful and other times he just seems aggressive and angry with Pepper.
So far what we have tried is playing with them more often with a wand toy to get some energy out of Sage and to help build Peppers confidence. All 3 cats play wonderfully together. We also feed them treats and high value wet food in each other presence to build positive association and they do well with that too. I bought a feliway diffuser 4 days ago and we put that in our bedroom where most of the tense interactions occur. I'm thinking of getting one for the living room too but am not able to afford it yet.
Some days are great and I don't have to do anything but watch them and other days are like today where Sage runs right up to Pepper with his ears sideways and meowing in a pissed off way and then I need to intervene. Pepper is in our room separated at night and whenever we aren't home. We let them out together when me or my fiance are home, which means they get about 4 full days together and the other 3 days they are just together after work. I'm starting to get very worried that there is no hope for ever having a peaceful home where the cats can be together unsupervised, or the worst case scenario being we have to return Pepper. Sage is big cat 14 pounds to Peppers 7 pounds so I'm very worried Sage could do some damage to him. Sorry I ended up writing quite the novel. Any advice or encouragement would be greatly appreciated!
I attached pictures so everyone can see the kitties I'm talking about. The cat in the box is Pepper, Willow is the one on the blanket, and Sage is the black and white boy.
I adopted Pepper from my work so I was able to bring home some of his bedding so my resident cats could get used to his smell well before I took him home. Both of them didn't mind his smell at all and would lay on the beds and rub on them. The day I brought him home he went into our bedroom while the other cats were kept on the separate part of our apartment. Pepper had some medical issues that left him stuck in our room for a week, so during that time we just continued scent swapping and allowed them to see each other through a cracked door. There was some hissing and growling at first when they saw each other but it didn't last long .
Once Pepper was healthy we let them see each other with baby gates in the door way and it went great. They just sat there on either side and would playfully bat and each other. After a few days of that we let them into the house together supervised and that's where it got rough. The first day they were doing ok until Sage pounced on Pepper and he freaked out. Pepper lost some hair but no blood drawn. We separated them again and tried again the next day. A few days later there was a fight again in our room with Sage pouncing on Pepper. This time Sage lost most of the fur but still no blood drawn.
After that there hasn't been more fights, but Sage is still being quite the jerk. He follows Pepper around most of the time and will lay near him or just sit and stare at him. I'm decent at reading cat body language so if I don't think Sage is getting ready to attack I will let them work it out with no intervention. Usually them working it out involves Pepper hissing and growling at him until Sage leaves, at which point I tell Sage how wonderful he is and give him love. I'm trying hard to reward the good behavior and ignore him being obnoxious as long as Pepper doesn't seem to be in imminent danger. Whenever they are awake and near each other I am always right near them just in case I need to stop Sage. Sometimes Sage seems to be being playful and other times he just seems aggressive and angry with Pepper.
So far what we have tried is playing with them more often with a wand toy to get some energy out of Sage and to help build Peppers confidence. All 3 cats play wonderfully together. We also feed them treats and high value wet food in each other presence to build positive association and they do well with that too. I bought a feliway diffuser 4 days ago and we put that in our bedroom where most of the tense interactions occur. I'm thinking of getting one for the living room too but am not able to afford it yet.
Some days are great and I don't have to do anything but watch them and other days are like today where Sage runs right up to Pepper with his ears sideways and meowing in a pissed off way and then I need to intervene. Pepper is in our room separated at night and whenever we aren't home. We let them out together when me or my fiance are home, which means they get about 4 full days together and the other 3 days they are just together after work. I'm starting to get very worried that there is no hope for ever having a peaceful home where the cats can be together unsupervised, or the worst case scenario being we have to return Pepper. Sage is big cat 14 pounds to Peppers 7 pounds so I'm very worried Sage could do some damage to him. Sorry I ended up writing quite the novel. Any advice or encouragement would be greatly appreciated!
I attached pictures so everyone can see the kitties I'm talking about. The cat in the box is Pepper, Willow is the one on the blanket, and Sage is the black and white boy.
I can't leave them roam at all. Pixel will attack. I am jealous!
Staring isn't "cool" in the cat world so maybe "resetting/distracting" Sage when he stares will help. It's a good thing that they all play well together 
