Still At Odds

[ShereKhanDickon]

Two summers ago, Shere Khan and Dickon were fast friends. It was SK who first reached out to Little D and invited a scared, hissing walk-on kitten to join us at the front porch feed. They are nominally outside cats, but they often come inside.

SK is now three, while D is two. Seemingly, their fighting accelerated when Big D stopped backing down. They are each ten pounds or even more.

I have the new litter that I wanted and I now have seven cats. My two guys were both fixed on May 2 (and the girl is scheduled).

It's been over four weeks since their change in life, but I still cannot trust them together. SK and D are allowed supervised-only visitation. Each one will relax on the porch. If one rises and begins to walk away, the other will rise and follow. Slowly, then faster, faster, faster. The fur flies if I don't intervene.

I thought "the fix" would turn this behavior off. They are both more attached to me than ever. Can I expect continued improvement as time moves forward? Each makes a fine, lone house cat, but we don't want a full-time house cat.

 

[fionasmom]

Do Cats Get Jealous? (and What To Do About It When They Do) – TheCatSite Articles
Cat Aggression Toward Other Cats: Steps for Changing Aggressive Feline Behavior
How To Fix An Unsuccessful Cat Introduction – TheCatSite Articles

I am not sure that this is jealousy, but there might be a few ideas here that will help. Since they are primarily outdoor cats, some of the reintroduction techniques will be harder to implement. It could be that as time goes on both will begin to calm down. The usual period for hormones to decrease is one month and it has just been about that.

How old is the new litter? Are these cats around the other SK and D?

 

[ShereKhanDickon]

I'll keep trying the simultaneous, supervised outside time. Their behavior seems to be improving. The younger one growls. Separating them so much of the time causes me to wonder if they are becoming strangers. I want to return to normal life which would be the both of them outside all night. I'm afraid one or the other would be limping in the morning.

Both of my guys spend individual time with the eight-week-old litter and their mother. Of course they do this individually. I don't want the kittens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. The kittens stalk one another and then wrestle. The adult males stalk, but then lick the little ones.

 

[fionasmom]

I have seen adult males go after kittens, so be cautious when they are together.