My cats hate each other

[skelly]

I've got a female cat who is about 2 years old and when we got her she was very timid and withdrawn. Now she's settled in and made the place her own. So at Christmas we decided to get her a wee pal and found a six month old male kitten at the cat and dog home who was similarly quiet and withdrawn. Apparently he had been beaten up by his brothers and sisters. We took him home and kept the two cats apart for the first couple of days but the oldest cat stayed upstairs and wouldn't come out the bedroom. We then introduced the two cats but the young kitten chases the older cat whenever he sees her and poor Susi is back to being withdrawn again and hiding in corners. Should we keep forcing them into the same room or does anyone know how to deal with this. The male kitten is due to be neutered next month, will this make a difference?

[andy hughes]

Neutering probably will calm your tom down, but establishment of an initial pecking order is normal when two or more cats are together. Hopefully as the youngster grows, he will mature in his behaviour and feel less the need to tease or intimidate his housemate.

[WendyW]

Like Andy says give it time. Hopefully they will sort themselves out and peace will break out between them .. the trouble with young cats is that they want to play and many older cats don't like it.

[mikewith]

The bad news: our newest/ youngest cat has never settled with one of the older ones... they hiss and growl and occasionally chase each other around. This after two years! The better news: Junior gets on fine with the other two. Moral: get two more cats: *some* of them are bound to like each other!

[rinkytink]

I think it's a cat 'personality' thing. I believe that some cats may never get on. My Mum (who has her own cat) had to take in my sisters two cats for over a year. They never got on and my sisters two cats always used to duff up Mums cat. Mums cat became withdrawn and it wasn't until the other two moved out again that she got back to normal. I can honestly say that I don't think that Mums cat would ever except another cat in 'her' home.