Rescued Cat Attacks The Family Cat

[thegreystalker]

Co-worker's children took in a wandering cat whom kept coming to the backyard for food. The kitten seemed tame enough, as though it had been socialized or just naturally good natured. Well, after some time in a covered shelter in the yard, they brought the kitten inside the house. It was clear that the newcomer was uneasy around the family cats, so my co-worker kept the cats apart for about two weeks. Finally, upon returning from a one-day family outing last weekend, co-worker was alarmed to find a deep scratch down the forehead and nose of the family cat, obviously caused by the newcomer.

Now my co-worker doesn't know how to move forward on this matter. The wandering cat had been sweet and sociable with the humans in the household. They want to save this cat, but now reluctantly are considering surrendering the wandering cat to a shelter, where there is a chance of adoption. The municipally operated shelters in our area, do put down animals who remain orphans for more than two months or so. Co-worker is loathe to take the cat to a municipal shelter. I am not able to take in a second cat.

 

[Columbine]

So sorry you haven't hand a reply yet. Bumping this in the hopes that someone will have some ideas.

All I can think of is to keep the newcomer separated permanently whilst trying to find him a forever home. The other possible option, I guess, would be to separate them and carry out much slower, more controlled introductions, and to fit the newcomer with claw caps (or at least keep his claws clipped) to stop him being able to injure the others.

 

[shannon1984]

This is a tricky situation. That violent behavior is not uncommon with rescues (kitten or adult). If I understand it right, the root of it is that they are hardwired to believe the other cats (and everyone/everything else for that matter) threaten their food supply, safety, territory, etc...

I can tell you that there is hope but it may be a very long time to get these cats adjusted to the point that the violent one chills out. With lots of love and being pampered with plentiful food the rescue will most likely calm down after some time but it will take a while to override that instinct. The one thing I can suggest that would help the kitten calm down faster is to have her/him spayed/neutered as soon as possible.

I've had a violent feral breaking into my home for a long long time and she beat us all up on a regular basis (the people and the cats). I've wanted to spay her so she would calm down but was unable to get hold of her without help. I've tried for a really long time to win her over with love and food. She just moved into my shop with a litter of kittens. She is full of pregnancy hormones that make them nicer but I plan to have her spayed right away so that she will calm down. It's not only the hormones working though. She isn't just being nicer to me. She's not been violent with my cats either. That can only be because over time she's adjusting to them.

 

[Columbine]

One other thought - if the stray had been sweet and relaxed up to that point, including with the resident cat, it may simply be a case of redirected aggression. Re-directed Aggression In Cats

Do their local shelters use foster carers? One compromise option for rehoming would be to approach the best local shelter to put this cat up for rehoming, but to become his foster home until a forever home is found. This way, there's no risk of him being euthanized, he's not taking up a space in the shelter, but they'd be accessing the shelter's resources for finding him a forever home. If they really can't keep him, this is far and away the next best option.

 

[inkysmom]

I took in a little 3 month old 3 pound starving kitten from aruba when on vacation in 2010 after my mom died and I wanted to escape the holidays without her. I literally picked him up off the street and got him checked out at a vet and vaccinated and bought him a plane ticket and flew him home with me.
Aruba has many stray cats and dogs, and the dog's are loose in stray packs that attack and destroy cars and lone people and stray cats and kittens.
This must have happened to my little kitten and why he was alone with no mother or siblings because sweet as he was to me je attacked and flipped the minute he saw my last dog. Sent the poor 80 pound akita pit mix shaking into hid