- Joined
- Nov 5, 2021
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- 157
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After three months my original cat, Willow, and my new cat, Dude (both middle aged cats) were being friendly, even showing sighs of affection and playing together, and we shared some truly adorable moments with the two of them.
She's been very friendly with Dude until recently, dominant, but cheerful and not at all aggressive, just pushy.
But over the last coupleof weeks it's really deteriorated. Seriously. There heven't been any fights, but that's because Dude is very submissive and backs off or runs away. Willow is obnoxious, constantly chasing him and whacking his rear as he runs, lurking by the balcony cat flap and whacking his head when he tries to come in, jumping on him, and blocking him at the top of the stairs. She stares at him all the time. It's as though she's become obsessed with him. He now avoids her much of the time.
We have high spaces for Dude, separate bowls and feeding areas, separate litter boxes. We have three Feliway Friends around the house. We try to give the cats the same amount of affection.
Everything was going so well. A month ago I was predicting that these two would become real friends and was really happy with the situation, really confident that we haad two very compatible cats. But now I feel like I need to do something, because it's getting worse. Today has been particularly bad. I think she must be harassing him at night because normally they're both at my bedroom door in the morning, and this time Dude was nowhere to be seen. She's been chasing him all day and seems angry, which is totally out of character for her. She's the most cheerful animal you can imagine, normally.
One thing I've noticed is that on the rare occasion that Dude turns tables on her by playfully chasing her a few feet or tentatively swatting at her, she acts a tiny bit frightened. Also, he's very lively when he plays and sometimes when he's running around past her she acts a bit scared. Not terrified, but on the odd occasion her back fur has gone up, just a little, sort of a tentative hackle.
Just now I was playing with Dude with a wand toy and when he got tired I tried to get her to play, but she got up and literally left the room. That's never happened before.
I feel as though after several months of peaceful cohabitation she sees him as a threat all of a sudden, and I really don't know what to do.
She's been very friendly with Dude until recently, dominant, but cheerful and not at all aggressive, just pushy.
But over the last coupleof weeks it's really deteriorated. Seriously. There heven't been any fights, but that's because Dude is very submissive and backs off or runs away. Willow is obnoxious, constantly chasing him and whacking his rear as he runs, lurking by the balcony cat flap and whacking his head when he tries to come in, jumping on him, and blocking him at the top of the stairs. She stares at him all the time. It's as though she's become obsessed with him. He now avoids her much of the time.
We have high spaces for Dude, separate bowls and feeding areas, separate litter boxes. We have three Feliway Friends around the house. We try to give the cats the same amount of affection.
Everything was going so well. A month ago I was predicting that these two would become real friends and was really happy with the situation, really confident that we haad two very compatible cats. But now I feel like I need to do something, because it's getting worse. Today has been particularly bad. I think she must be harassing him at night because normally they're both at my bedroom door in the morning, and this time Dude was nowhere to be seen. She's been chasing him all day and seems angry, which is totally out of character for her. She's the most cheerful animal you can imagine, normally.
One thing I've noticed is that on the rare occasion that Dude turns tables on her by playfully chasing her a few feet or tentatively swatting at her, she acts a tiny bit frightened. Also, he's very lively when he plays and sometimes when he's running around past her she acts a bit scared. Not terrified, but on the odd occasion her back fur has gone up, just a little, sort of a tentative hackle.
Just now I was playing with Dude with a wand toy and when he got tired I tried to get her to play, but she got up and literally left the room. That's never happened before.
I feel as though after several months of peaceful cohabitation she sees him as a threat all of a sudden, and I really don't know what to do.
