How do I get my two adult cats who have lived together for 2 months get along?

Question

My boyfriend and I recently moved in together into a new house. He has a cat that is about 4 years old and I have a cat who is about 17 years old but in very good condition. We moved them in about two days apart. They have both been living in our house for about 2 months now. My cat chases the 4 year old cat around anytime she comes out from hiding. The four year old used to put up a fight but now she is very afraid of my cat. She stays on our bed all day long because my cat cannot jump up there because she is older. She wakes me up every morning to walk her down to her litter box because she's so scard of my cat. It is becoming a hassle and getting very annoying. She has even peed on my comforter because she was so afraid to get off the bed. My cat, the 17 year old, will not leave the 4 year old alone. She chases her, jumps on her and hisses at her. This cannot keep happening but I do not know what to do to get them to get along. Any suggestions?

Answer 1

I used to have the exact same problem, but it takes a while for the cats to accept the fact that they are no longer the only cat in the household. Usually one cat will take dominance over the other, but it's nothing to worry about because after a while they will both get used to each other and leave each other alone. Right now the older cat is protecting what's his, and trying to get the other cat to leave, but soon enough he will learn that the other cat isn't a threat, and will leave him alone.

Answer 2

I have a multi cat home and have suffered through (what feels like) everything with these hooligans. One thing I never let my cats do is get to the point of being aggressive with each other, the minute I hear something I seperate them and usually place the aggressor in an undesirable location. I also have severaL litter boxes(one more than I have cats) and have placed them in several different but feline desirable places. And for every cat I have ever introduced I have done so through closed doors over a 4 week period and then through supervision for several months before I allowed the new cat into the fold completely.

I would try to seperate both cats and since the older one seems to be the more aggressive one I would lock her up in a room with a box , food dishes, and toys and keep her there for a few weeks and let the other cat get used to walking around and not being harassed. After say about 3 to 4 weeks reintroduce the older cat in a controlled manner, have her on leash and harness and over a period of several weeks increase her time out of the room in this way, until you feel she will not attack the other cat immediately and then let her roam off leash for a couple hours (only when You are home) after a while you can then let the older cat rejoin the family unsupervised.
Cats are all very different some get used to eachother overnight, some over a period of weeks or months or even sometimes years.
A really good place to go for help is your vet.

Answer 3

My cat did that. It helped to have a sanctuary to hide in. My apartment has high cupboards that only he could get to.

Unfortunately your cat has picked your bed as its sanctuary. Go purchase one of those cat towers (cat trees or houses that are 5 feet tall). They sell them at Costco and Petsmart. The 17 year old will not be able to get up to the top, but the 4 year old will. That will help the 4 year old establish their territory and leave the 17 year old as the alpha female.

It will take time. They may never get along. Ours got along after we fed them treats together. It took about 4 - 5 months of occassional contact. Sometimes I would lock them in a room together and intervene with a squirt bottle when things got too rough. I have had some cats though that never got along; they instead respected each other at a distance.

Answer 4

I have two cats that have lived together over two years and I've come to the conclusion they entertain themselves by growling, hissing, and stalking each other. They don't actually like each other but no one gets hurt so it's no big deal.