Need advice for aggressive cat

Hi all,

Would appreciate some advice on this. My girlfriend and I adopted a cat about 8-9 months ago. She's playful, a little bit on her terms, but a friendly cat. Never had any hissing or growling (apart from trying to give her a bath early on).

Little over a month ago we ended up adopting a second cat. She's timid, but absolutely loves being pet and is almost always purring. We gave her the master bedroom, bathroom, and closet for her to get adjusted. Over a few days, we introduced their scents to each other via towels/blankets they would lay on. They would also see each other through the bottom part of the door. Old cat would hiss occasionally, but we tried to associate the cats with good things (treats, meals).

Got a pet gate after a week and a half. Again, some more hisses from the old cat but nothing really aggressive. she just does it and walks away. We would also site swap periodically. Usually both cats would want to go back to their "territories" but we would distract them with playing. Did this overnight a few times as well, with one of us on the couch to keep the other company in a place they aren't normally at.

After the pet gate and some site swaps, we brought the new cat out. There were some hisses, but old cat would just watch from a distance for the most part. No running up on her. Again, just tried to play with them both to keep them entertained. The new cat usually just relaxes on the couch, occasionally investigating the apartment.

Well, after a few weeks of this, the old cat has gotten REALLY aggressive. She'll run up on the new cat (fortunately hasn't clawed her yet, but one of us is also usually there to ward her off) and then stare her down. New cat usually isn't phased, but she won't really defend herself - just kind of stands there. Even if we try to play, she'll ultimately be engaged with the new cat. As soon as they are separated, everything goes back to normal. But when new cat is out here, the old one doesn't like being pet whatsoever, and is just really annoyed. Eyes lit up, tail swaying back and forth, the whole 9 yards..

We honestly don't know what else to do. Reintroduction might be an option, but I feel like we did a lot right the first time, for the most part. Medication is something we're willing to explore, possibly to calm the old cat. Since she does run up and then turn away and watch from afar, I wonder if she's just kind of scared of the new cat, but new cat has given her no reason to feel this way. Other option is re-homing a cat...which is definitely something we wouldn't like to do, but it's at the point where the new cat is wanting to be outside of the bedroom, and a cat shouldn't be cooped up in there.

Please help lol

tl;dr our old cat has gotten worse with the new cat in the house after over a month, feel like we tried most options. Need advice.

submitted by /u/Iron_Tampa
[link] [comments]

from Pets https://www.reddit.com/r/Pets/comments/bfbxue/need_advice_for_aggressive_cat/